DOCSLIB.ORG

PEACE Info (August 17, 2018)

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
PEACE Info (August 17, 2018) PEACE Info (August 17, 2018) − Officials seek legal advice on Karen Martyrs Day organisers − UWSA Plans Major Military Celebration in 2019 to Mark ‘30 Years of Peace’ − Military tension climbing higher due to Shan battles − Civilian Drivers Injured in Shooting on Northern Shan State’s Muse-Kutkai Road − 2018 by-elections campaign to start in September − Ministry issues notice to proceed for Deedoke hydro project − Military and Police Forces patrol near border fences in Rakhine State − Drug Abuse Leaves Many Palaung Women to Fend for Their Families − အပစ္ရပ္အဖြဲ႕ ထိပ္သီးေခါင္းေဆာင္မ်ား အစည္းအေ၀းစက္တင္ဘာလဆန္းတြင္ ျပဳလုပ္မည္ − ၿငိမ္းခ်မ္းေရးလုပ္ငန္းစဥ္တြင္ ေျမာက္ပိုင္းမဟာမိတ္သုံးဖြဲ႕ပါ၀င္ႏုိင္ရန္ အေရးႀကီးဟု UWSA တာ၀န္ရွိသူေျပာ − ပင္လုံညီလာခံေတြက နိုင္ငံေရး ကစားကြက္တခုပါ − ၿငိမ္းခ်မ္းေရး လုပ္ငန္းစဥ္အေပၚ ေလသံေျပာင္းလာေသာ KNU ေခါင္းေဆာင္ − “ကရင္အာဇာနည္ေန႔”ကို ကပ်က္ယပ်က္ျဖစ္ေအာင္ လုပ္တာ ဘယ္သူလဲ − ပဒိုမန္းၿငိမ္းေမာင္အပါအဝင္ငါးဦးကို အမႈဖြင့္ႏိုင္ေရး ဥပေဒ႐ံုးအႀကံဉာဏ္ေတာင္းခံထားဟု ဟသၤာတၿမိဳ႕နယ္အုပ္ခ်ဳပ္ေရးမွဴးေျပာ − ကရင္အာဇာနည္ေန႔ ဦးေဆာင္က်င္းပသူ ၅ဦးအား အေရးယူမည့္ကိစၥ ေခတၱဆိုင္းငံံ့ − ရွမ္းလက္နက္ကိုင္ႏွစ္ဖြဲ႕အၾကား တိုက္ပြဲ ဆက္လက္ျဖစ္ပြား − လားရွိုးၿမိဳ႕ေျမာက္ဘက္မွာ မဟာမိတ္တပ္ဖြဲ႕နဲ႔အစိုးရတပ္ပစ္ခတ္မွုျဖစ္ပြါး − TNLA ဖမ္းသြားသည့္ နမ့္ခမ္းသူတဦးလြတ္ေျမာက္ေရးအတြက္ SSPP ထံနမ့္ခမ္းၿမိဳ႕ခံမ်ားအကူအညီေတာင္း − ဒါရိုက္တာ မိုက္တီး မူးယစ္မွုနဲ႔ အမွုဖြင့္ခံရ − က်ပ္သိန္း တေသာင္းေက်ာ္ တန္ဖိုးရွိ မူးယစ္ေဆးဝါး သယ္ေဆာင္သည့္ လူငယ္ ၃ ဦးအား လားရွိုးတြင္ ဖမ္းဆီးမိ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 1 of 31 Officials seek legal advice on Karen Martyrs Day organisers Chan Thar 17 Aug 2018 Photo: Aungmyin Yezaw / The Myanmar Times Local officials in Hinthada township in Ayeyarwady Region are still awaiting legal advice whether to sue the organizers of the Karen Martyrs Day event held last weekend, township administrator U Than Naing said. He said his office on contemplating on filing charges against the organizers of the event, including Phado Mahn Nyein Maung, a central executive committee member of the Karen National Union (KNU) for holding the event on Sunday without securing permit. “We haven’t filed a claim yet. I’ve requested legal advices from my superior. I’m not sure whether general administration department would provide advices,” said U Than Naing. He said that in a request for permit submitted to his office, the organizers said the event would be an awarding ceremony for excellent students and a Kayin traditional wedding ceremony. The request did not mention the Karen Martyrs Day celebration, which is a violation of the Ward and Village Administration Law. According to section 21 of Ward/Village Administration Law, requests must be made to respective administration department for public celebrations and entertainment and if celebrated without permission, the organizers can face up to six months imprisonment or a fine of K50,000 (US$33) or both. Pado Mahn Nyein Maung, said suing the organizers would raise a question over the sincerity of the present government in its national reconciliation programme. “It is a special day for an ethnic race. They show that they don’t know about this special day,” he said. Kayin ethnic people hold Karen Martyrs Day commemoration since 1956 to remember the death of Saw Ba U Gyi, chair of Karen National Union (KNU), who was killed in Hto Kaw Koe village on August 12, 1950. https://www.mmtimes.com/news/officials-seek-legal-advice-karen-martyrs-day- organisers.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 2 of 31 UWSA Plans Major Military Celebration in 2019 to Mark ‘30 Years of Peace’ By Lawi Weng 17 August 2018 United Wa State Army soldiers march in Pansang, in Wa territory in northeast Myanmar, in October 2016. / Reuters MON STATE — The United Wa State Army (UWSA), Myanmar’s largest ethnic armed group, has begun preparations for a large-scale military parade next year to mark the 30th anniversary of its ceasefire agreement with the central government and to display its continued military strength, according to a party spokesperson. Nyi Rang, a Lashio-based spokesperson for the UWSA, told The Irrawaddy that the special celebration will be held on April 17 next year. He did not say exactly how many people would participate. At its schools and military bases, the UWSA is training local youth to march with various types of weapons including rifles and artillery pieces, Nyi Rang said. Footage of these parade drills, including some featuring young women, could be seen on videos posted to his Facebook page. Earlier this month, Nyi Rang told The Irrawaddy that the armed group would use about 500 youths for the military parade and for traditional cultural music and dance performances at the event. It will select 40 to 50 youths, both male and female, aged around 20, from each of the 10 townships under its control for the event, he said. Discussing the reason for the 30th anniversary celebration on Friday, Nyi Rang told The Irrawaddy, “Our region has been peaceful for many years. We strongly want it to remain peaceful and to understand the value of peace; therefore, we celebrate it.” The UWSA plans to invite State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to attend the event, according to the spokesman, who had no information on whether she would be able to do so. The group also plans to invite the leaders of other ethnic armed groups. The organization intends to complete construction of a paved road network through the Wa region by the time of the celebration to show that the area has developed in the 30 years since the ceasefire. “We are working hard to complete paved roads in the Wa region,” Nyi Rang said. The UWSA has not yet signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA). It serves as the chair of the Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee (FPNCC) alliance, some of whose members are still fighting the Myanmar Army. Page 3 of 31 The Myanmar government has pressured the UWSA to sign the NCA, but it and other members of the FPNCC want the government to amend some parts of the agreement. The Wa Army is estimated to number 30,000 troops and 10,000 auxiliary members, according to Myanmar Peace Monitor. It signed a ceasefire with the Myanmar military in 1989 after splitting from the Burmese Communist Party. Some Wa leaders are the subject of US arrest warrants and have been placed on international blacklists for involvement in drug trafficking. https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/uwsa-plans-major-military-celebration-2019-mark-30- years-peace.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Military tension climbing higher due to Shan battles Submitted by Eleven on Fri, 08/17/2018 War victims sheltering at the Boedaw Monastery in Hsibaw Township, northern Shan State (Photo-Nang Mwe Seng) TAUNGGYI- While military tension are already high enough due to flash battles that took place in Namtu and Hsibaw Townships, northern Shan State, over 1,000 locals are now fleeing to safer places, according to the sources. In the morning of August 15th, the skirmishes between Shan State Progressive Party (SSPP), Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), occurred in Panglon village beside Namtu-Hsibaw motor road in Hsibaw Township. Those clashes had led to more than 1,000 villagers taking shelter at Mansan village due to frequent clashes between three ethnic armed groups. Despite RCSS being a part of the signatories that signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), the scale and frequency of clashes have been noted to be on the rise between the RCSS and TNLA. “There weren’t head-to-head battles. Both sides took up positions and fired rounds at each other. The skirmish between RCSS, SSPP and TNLA started first. Later, we found out that military troops were also involved in the fighting since the beginning of August 14th. Battles occur almost daily. On August 14th, the RCSS was waiting for their rivals by digging down bunkers as well as baiting their rivals to spray their fire to their surroundings. Due to their acts, almost all locals from Mansar village had fled to Mansan Refugee Camp,” said one of the locals. Page 4 of 31 Frequent skirmishes between three ethnic armed groups occurred in Mongmu and Mansan villages in Namtu Township, northern Shan State since the beginning of August 11th leaving casualties between both sides. Now, the villagers have worries about the frequent battles. They fled towards downtown Hsibaw Township but some villagers remained in the village as temporary guards. “War victims are now arriving at the Bowdaw Monastery in Hsibaw Township. So, we had invited the well-wishers to donate the meals for the displaced persons. We are going to compile and report of total required aid to the authorities as the days will be longer. Now, there is an urgent need for food,” said MP Nan San San Aye from No.1 Constituency of Hsibaw Township on August 15th. At present, there are a total of 153 war victims sheltering at the Bodaw Monastery in Hsibaw Township but some have now moved on to accommodations at safer regions. Aiming to stop frequent skirmishes took place in Shan State, the RCSS met with the SSPP in Taunggyi Township, on August 9th and 10th under negotiation of the Shan State Alliance Committee. During the meeting, both sides agreed not to write hate speeches on their social media pages and to discuss the possibility of ceasefire between both sides. Skirmishes occurred between army, RCSS and TNLA frequently in Namtu, Hsipaw and Kyaukme townships in northern Shan State and locals are running away from their homes.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • B U R M a B U L L E T
    B U R M A B U L L E T I N A month-in-review of events in Burma A L T E R N A T I V E A S E A N N E T W O R K O N B U R M A campaigns, advocacy & capacity-building for human r ights & democracy Issue 60 December 2011 • Tatmadaw offensive and attacks against civilians in IN THIS ISSUE Kachin State and Northern Shan State continue despite President Thein Sein’s order to cease KEY STORY military operations. 1 Hostilities in Kachin State • The regime gives itself three years for peace in 2 IDPs and refugees on the edge ethnic areas, providing Naypyidaw with political 3 Ceasefire meetings cover to continue its brutal offensives in ethnic INSIDE BURMA areas until the next general election. 4 Burma’s opium production up 4 NLD re-registers • Regime sentences Karen leader Nyein Maung to 17 4 Daw Suu meets Chinese envoy years in prison for ties to the Karen National Union. HUMAN RIGHTS • UN General Assembly resolution condemns the 5 Karen leader sentenced regime’s ongoing and systematic human rights 5 Monk harassed violations. 5 Union denied registration DISPLACEMENT • US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton makes historic 5 Rohingya repatriation trip to Burma and tells the regime that more reforms 5 Rohingya exodus continues are needed if the US is to lift sanctions. INTERNATIONAL • China welcomes improved US-Burma relations and 6 Clinton visits Burma calls for the lifting of sanctions against the regime. 7 China welcomes engagement 7 UNGA condemns regime • NLD re-registers as the regime announces that ECONOMY parliamentary by-elections will take place on 1 April 7 Burma at the bottom of indices 2012.
    [Show full text]
  • August 13, 2021)
    PEACE Info (August 13, 2021) − Military forbids celebration of Karen Martyrs’ Day in birthplace of Karen revolutionary − As junta directs its attention elsewhere, AA strengthens its hold over Rakhine State − More Than 1,100 Myanmar Troops Killed in Clashes With Local Militias Over Two Months − Myanmar Junta Troops Killed in Sagaing and Kayah − Myanmar’s Military Chief Staged a Coup. But He Did Not Act Alone − Demystifying the Narratives on the Myanmar Military − Military apologizes to China for shells landing on its territory − Thai Arms Manufacturer Denies Involvement in Murder Plot Against UN Myanmar Envoy − Myanmar Ex-Dictator Than Shwe, Wife Test Positive for Coronavirus − “�ပည�သ�လ�ထ�က �က��မ��တ��စ�န��ခ�မ�န��ရင�ဆ��င��နရတယ�”- NCA-S EAOs ��ပ�ခ�င��ရ ဦ�မ����ဝင�� − အ�ဇ�နည�မ���၏ ခ�မ�တ�ထ��သည�� လမ��စ��အတ��င�� ယ�ံ�ကည�စ�� �လ��က�လ�မ��ရန� KNLA ဒ�စစ�ဦ�စ��ခ��ပ� တ��က� တ�န����ပ�ဆ�� − နယ�စပ��ဖတ��က��� �ဆ�င�ရ�က�တ�� အ��ခအ�န�ဖစ��အ�င� ဝ��င���ပ�� ပံ�ပ���တ� − NUG အစ���ရက �အ�င�လံလ�င��ခ�����ဦ�ထ�က�� ဩဂ�တ� ၁၅ ရက� စတင��ရ�င��ခ�မည� − ��စ�လအတ�င�� စစ��က�င�စ�ဘက�က တစ��ထ�င��က��� �သဆ�ံ���က�င�� NUG ��ပ� − က�လ��မ ���နယ�တ��က�ပ�� စစ��က�င�စ�ဘက�က င��ဦ��သဆ�ံ���က�င�� PDF ��ပ� − PDF ဗ�ံ�ခ��တ��က�ခ��က��ခင����က�င�� စစ�က�� ၂စ�� ဗ�ံ�ထ�မ�န��ပ�� စစ��က�င�စ� တပ�သ��၂၀ �က��� �သဆ�ံ� − စစ�က��င��တ��င��ဘက� တ��က�ပ��သတင�� PDF န�� စစ��က�င�စ��က�� ��ပ�ဆ��ခ�က�က��လ�� − ဒ�ပ�ယင��က ဖမ��ဆ��ခံ �ဒသခံခ�နစ�ဦ�က�� �ပန�လ�တ��ပ�ဖ��� မ�သ��စ�ဝင��တ� �တ�င��ဆ�� − ဒ���မ��ဆ���မ ���နယ� အ�ရ��ဘက��ခမ��တ�င� KNDF��င�� စစ��က�င�စ�တပ�တ��� တ��က�ပ���ဖစ� − မ�က���လတပ�စခန��ထ��ပ�က�က��မ� တ��က��လယ����လ�စ�� ပ�က�စ��ခ����က�င�� �ဒသခံ�တ���ပ�
    [Show full text]
  • The Situation in Karen State After the Elections PAPER No
    EBO ANALYSIS The Situation in Karen State after the Elections PAPER No. 1 2011 THE SITUATION IN KAREN STATE AFTER THE ELECTIONS EBO Analysis Paper No. 1/2011 For over sixty years the Karens have been fighting the longest civil war in recent history. The struggle, which has seen demands for an autonomous state changed to equal recognition within a federal union, has been bloody and characterized by a number of splits within the movement. While all splinter groups ostensibly split to further ethnic Karen aspirations; recent decisions by some to join the Burmese government’s Border Guard Force (BGF) is seen as an end to such aspirations. Although a number of Karen political parties were formed to contest the November elections, the likelihood of such parties seriously securing appropriate ethnic representation without regime capitulation is doubtful. While some have argued, perhaps correctly, that the only legitimate option was to contest the elections, the closeness of some Karen representatives to the current regime can only prolong the status quo. This papers examines the problems currently affecting Karen State after the 7 November elections. THE BORDER GUARD FORCE Despite original promises of being allowed to recruit a total of 9,000 troops, the actual number of the DKBA (Democratic Karen Buddhist Army) or Karen Border Guard Force has been reduced considerably. In fact, a number of the original offers made to the DKBA have been revoked. At a 7 May 2010 meeting held at Myaing Gyi Ngu, DKBA Chairman U Tha Htoo Kyaw stated that ‘According to the SE Commander, the BGF will retain the DKBA badge.’ In fact the DKBA were given uniforms with SPDC military patches and all Karen flags in DKBA areas were removed and replaced by the national flag.
    [Show full text]
  • A History of the Burma Socialist Party (1930-1964)
    University of Wollongong Theses Collection University of Wollongong Theses Collection University of Wollongong Year A history of the Burma Socialist Party (1930-1964) Kyaw Zaw Win University of Wollongong Win, Kyaw Zaw, A history of the Burma Socialist Party (1930-1964), PhD thesis, School of History and Politics, University of Wollongong, 2008. http://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/106 This paper is posted at Research Online. http://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/106 A HISTORY OF THE BURMA SOCIALIST PARTY (1930-1964) A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree Doctor of Philosophy From University of Wollongong By Kyaw Zaw Win (BA (Q), BA (Hons), MA) School of History and Politics, Faculty of Arts July 2008 Certification I, Kyaw Zaw Win, declare that this thesis, submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy, in the School of History and Politics, Faculty of Arts, University of Wollongong, is wholly my own work unless otherwise referenced or acknowledged. The document has not been submitted for qualifications at any other academic institution. Kyaw Zaw Win______________________ Kyaw Zaw Win 1 July 2008 Table of Contents List of Abbreviations and Glossary of Key Burmese Terms i-iii Acknowledgements iv-ix Abstract x Introduction xi-xxxiii Literature on the Subject Methodology Summary of Chapters Chapter One: The Emergence of the Burmese Nationalist Struggle (1900-1939) 01-35 1. Burmese Society under the Colonial System (1870-1939) 2. Patriotism, Nationalism and Socialism 3. Thakin Mya as National Leader 4. The Class Background of Burma’s Socialist Leadership 5.
    [Show full text]
  • PEACE Info (February 3, 2021)
    PEACE Info (February 3, 2021) − Ethnic armed groups condemn Myanmar military's coup − Ethnic Parties Peace Team (PPST) condemns the coup, calls for peaceful solutions and appeals for support from the UN − Parties Call on Myanmar Military to Accept Election Results − Myanmar’s Legally-Elected Lawmakers Denounce Coup, Call for Release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi − Myanmar Military Give MPs 24 Hours to Leave Naypyitaw − Myanmar Military Govt Files Cases Against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, President − Myanmar’s Medics Launch Civil Disobedience Campaign Against Coup − Teachers, students join anti-coup campaign as hospital staff stop work − 'Civil Disobedience Campaign' intensifies across Myanmar − Chin youth organizations condemn military coup − China and West Differ Over Term for Myanmar’s Military Rule − G-7 Condemns Myanmar Coup − Mobile Internet Connectivity Restored to Western Myanmar − Myanmar Military Regime Appoints Governing Body − Burma Coup Leaders Name Former KNU Leader in its State Administration Council – Karen Community Shocked and Outraged at Perceived Treachery to its Cause − အ�ဏ�သ�မ�� အစ���ရ��င�� �င�မ��ခ�မ���ရ� ဆက�လ�ပ�မည�ဟ� အပစ�ရပ� ၁၀ ဖ�����ကည� − တပ�အ�ဏ�သ�မ��မ�က�� အပစ�ရပ�တ��င��ရင��သ�� လက�နက�က��င�အဖ����တ� ကန��က�က� − ကရင�လက�နက�က��င�အဖ���အစည��မ��� �ပန�လည� �ပ�င��စည��ရန� KCG �တ�င��ဆ�� − ကရင��ပည�နယ�မ�� က��ယ�ပ��င��ပဌ�န��ခ�င�� က�င��သ�ံ�မယ�လ��� KCG ��ကည� − ပဒ��မန���င�မ���မ�င�၏ လ�ပ��ဆ�င�မ� အ��လ�ံ� မ�မ�တ�����င�� မပတ�သက���က�င�� �ကအ�န�ယ� ထ�တ��ပန� − �န�ပည��တ��က လ�တ��တ��အမတ��တ�က�� ၂၄ န�ရ�အတ�င��ထ�က�ဖ��� ဖ�အ���ပ� − “အ�က�င��ဆ�ံ�က�� �မ���လင��သလ�� အဆ���ဆ�ံ�က��
    [Show full text]
  • Myanmar: Verordnung Vom 17
    Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research EAER State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO Bilateral Economic Relations Sanctions Modification of 29.04.2021 with entry into force on 30.04.2021 Sanctions program: Myanmar: Verordnung vom 17. Oktober 2018 über Massnahmen gegenüber Myanmar (SR 946.231.157.5), Anhang 1 Origin: EU Sanctions: Art. 2 Abs. 1 (Finanzsanktionen) und Art. 3 Abs. 1 (Ein- und Durchreiseverbot) Sanctions program: Myanmar: Ordonnance du 17 october 2018 instituant des mesures à l’encontre du Myanmar (RS 946.231.157.5), annexe 1 Origin: EU Sanctions: art. 2, al. 1 (Sanctions financières) et art. 3, al. 1 (Interdiction de séjour et de transit) Sanctions program: Myanmar: Ordinanza del 17 ottobre 2018 che istituisce provvedimenti nei confronti del Myanmar (RS 946.231.157.5), allegato 1 Origin: EU Sanctions: art. 2 cpv. 1 (Sanzioni finanziarie) e art. 3 cpv. 1 (Divieto di entrata e di transito) Listed Individuals SSID: 145-44993 Name: Mahn Nyein Maung Sex: M DOB: 1947 (approximately) Good quality a.k.a.: a) P’do b) Phado Man Nyein Maung Nationality: Myanmar Justification: Mahn Nyein Maung is a member of the State Administrative Council (SAC). On 1 Feb 2021, the Myanmar Armed Forces (Tatmadaw), led by Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing, staged a coup in Myanmar by setting aside the results of the elections held on 8 Nov 2020 and by overthrowing the democratically elected government. As part of the coup, Vice-President Myint Swe, functioning as Acting President, declared a state of emergency on 1 Feb and transferred the legislative, executive and judicial powers of the state to the Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.
    [Show full text]
  • Despite Having Their Different Opinions, Service Personnel Need to Serve Dutifully No Matter What Government Takes Office: Senior General
    CATTLE FARMING NEEDS TO ADAPT TO MODERN WAYS PAGE-8 (OPINION) NATIONAL NATIONAL Virtual meeting held for rice procurement, Union Education Minister visits export issues refresher courses in Nay Pyi Taw PAGE-4 PAGE-5 Vol. VII, No. 341, 11th Waxing of Tabaung 1382 ME www.gnlm.com.mm Tuesday, 23 March 2021 Despite having their different opinions, service personnel need to serve dutifully no matter what government takes office: Senior General Chairman of the State Administration Council Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Senior General Min Aung Hlaing delivers address at council meeting (7/2021) in Nay Pyi Taw on 22 March 2021. THE State Administration Dwe, Joint Secretary Lt-Gen Ye a certain degree. Regardless been enacted, measures to ex- The majority of civil serv- Council held its meeting Win Oo and Union Minister for of their residential place, party ercise and control them should ants have been serving for (7/2021) at the meeting room of Home Affairs Lt-Gen Soe Htut. and ethnic origin, the council be taken into consideration. many years. They are therefore the Council Chairman’s Office in In his address, the Senior members must collectively join Since it assumed the coun- urged to return to work. Despite Nay Pyi Taw yesterday, with an General said missions of the hands with the desire to serve cil duties, arrangements have having their different opinions, address delivered by Chairman Council were presented and the national interest. Regarding been made to reopen schools. service personnel need to serve of State Administration Coun- discussed. The council mem- the review of the laws discussed Some of the teachers of the dutifully no matter what govern- cil Commander-in-Chief of De- bers put forward region-we by them at the previous meet- basic education schools are ment takes office.
    [Show full text]
  • A Briefing Paper on Burma/Myanmar, February 2012
    International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma (ALTSEAN-Burma) Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) Forum for Democracy in Burma A Briefing Paper on Burma/Myanmar, February 2012 INTRODUCTION Since taking office in March 2011, the military-dominated government of Myanmar has made numerous commitments, however it has not initiated substantive reforms toward reconciliation and compliance with international laws. Although the recent release of political prisoners and other positive actions taken by the government should be welcomed, key minimum benchmarks have not been met. As Daw Aung San Suu Kyi told the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2012: “We are not yet at the point of a ‘great transformation’”. The key minimum benchmarks are: Immediate and unconditional release of all remaining political prisoners Nationwide ceasefire leading to sustainable peace and an end to systematic and pervasive human rights violations, including the rape of women, in ethnic nationality areas A genuine and inclusive dialogue with all political parties, other pro-democracy forces, and ethnic nationality groups Meeting these key benchmarks is essential to the initiation of a sustainable national reconciliation process. The government has taken actions that are positive, such as the release of some but not all political prisoners and the amendment of the elections law to allow for the re-registration of the National League for Democracy (NLD). While we acknowledge these developments, the international community must distinguish between public relations efforts primarily designed for the lifting of sanctions and genuine sustainable institutional reforms which have yet to be initiated.
    [Show full text]
  • Ceasefires, Governance and Development: the Karen National
    Ceasefires, Governance, and Development: The Karen National Union in Times of Change Kim Jolliffe December 2016 Acknowledgements The author would like to thank the many individuals in the Karen National Union, Karen community based organizations, and other Karen armed organizations who contributed their time, knowledge and encouragement to make this study possible. In particular, this work was inspired by the impressive and diverse Karen social service and humanitarian networks that work tirelessly every day to support communities affected by war. Significant parts of this research would not have been possible without support from the Karen Environmental Social Action Network, which works for rural livelihoods and environmental security of indigenous Karen people. This study benefited greatly from the more than two decade’s worth of testimony from rural Karen civilians collected by the Karen Human Rights Group, which remains a crucial and extraordinary resource to any research on these conflicts. This work was improved immeasurably by input from Brian McCartan, Tim Schroeder, Ashley South, Paul Keenan, and Jared Bissinger, which included feedback on drafts and various published and unpublished materials. Encouragement and dialogue with multiple other Myanmar and international researchers and professionals were also highly valuable. This series of papers has been built on the firm foundations of the broader research program initiated and developed by The Asia Foundation’s Matthew Arnold, among other key individuals. It has been made possible by the tireless production, administrative and editorial work of Mim Koletschka, Win Po Po Aung and the rest of their team. About the Author Kim Jolliffe is an independent researcher, writer, analyst and trainer, specializing in security, aid policy, and ethnic politics in Myanmar/Burma.
    [Show full text]
  • Publications Office
    19.4.2021 EN Offi cial Jour nal of the European Union L 132 I/1 II (Non-legislative acts) REGULATIONS COUNCIL IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) 2021/638 of 19 April 2021 implementing Regulation (EU) No 401/2013 concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in Myanmar/Burma THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Having regard to Council Regulation (EU) No 401/2013 concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in Myanmar/Burma (1), and in particular Article 4i thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Whereas: (1) On 2 May 2013, the Council adopted Regulation (EU) No 401/2013. (2) On 22 March 2021, the Council adopted Regulation (EU) 2021/479 (2), which extended the designation criteria to include activities undermining democracy and the rule of law in Myanmar/Burma, as well as the possibility to impose restrictive measures against the economic interests of the Myanmar Armed Forces (Tatmadaw). (3) On 22 March 2021, the Council also adopted Regulation (EU) 2021/480 (3), imposing restrictive measures against 11 persons in response to the military coup carried out on 1 February 2021 and to the serious human rights violations committed since then by the military and police forces in Myanmar/Burma. (4) In view of the continuing grave situation in Myanmar/Burma, ten persons and two entities should be included in the list of natural and legal persons, entities and bodies subject to restrictive measures in Annex IV to Regulation (EU) No 401/2013.
    [Show full text]
  • COUNCIL DECISION (CFSP) 2021/639 of 19 April 2021 Amending Decision 2013/184/CFSP Concerning Restrictive Measures in View of the Situation in Myanmar/Burma
    L 132 I/12 EN Offi cial Jour nal of the European Union 19.4.2021 DECISIONS COUNCIL DECISION (CFSP) 2021/639 of 19 April 2021 amending Decision 2013/184/CFSP concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in Myanmar/Burma THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty on European Union, and in particular Article 29 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Whereas: (1) On 22 April 2013, the Council adopted Decision 2013/184/CFSP (1), concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in Myanmar/Burma. (2) On 22 March 2021, the Council adopted Decision (CFSP) 2021/482 (2), which extended the designation criteria to include activities undermining democracy and the rule of law in Myanmar/Burma, as well as the possibility to impose restrictive measures against the economic interests of the Myanmar Armed Forces (Tatmadaw). (3) On 22 March 2021, the Council also adopted Decision (CFSP) 2021/483 (3), imposing restrictive measures against 11 persons in response to the military coup carried out on 1 February 2021 and to the serious human rights violations committed since then by the military and police forces in Myanmar/Burma. (4) In view of the continuing grave situation in Myanmar/Burma, ten persons and two entities should be included in the list of natural and legal persons, entities and bodies subject to restrictive measures in the Annex to Decision 2013/184/CFSP. (5) The Annex to Decision 2013/184/CFSP should therefore be amended accordingly, HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: Article 1 The Annex to Decision 2013/184/CFSP is amended as set out in the Annex to this Decision.
    [Show full text]
  • Deciphering Myanmar Peace Process a Reference Guide 2016
    Deciphering Myanmar’s Peace Process: A Reference Guide 2016 www.bnionline.net www.mmpeacemonitor.org Deciphering Myanmar’s Peace Process: A Reference Guide 2016 Written and Edited by Burma News International Layout/Design by Saw Wanna(Z.H) Previous series: 2013, 2014 and 2015 Latest and 2016 series: January 2017 Printer: Prackhakorn Business Co.,ltd Copyright reserved by Burma News International Published by Burma News International P.O Box 7, Talad Kamtieng PO Chiang Mai, 50304, Thailand E-mail: [email protected], [email protected] Website: http://www.mmpeacemonitor.org Twitter: http://twitter.com/mmpeacemonitor Facebook: http:// www.facebook.com/mmpeacemonitor Mapping: http://www.myhistro.com/stories/info.mmpeacemonitor Contents Notes to the reader: . v Executive Summary . vi Acronyms . vii Grand Map of the Peace Process: Introduction . 1 Tracking peace and conlict: An overview . 2 I. Conlict Analysis 2015-2016 . 4 Number of conlicts per EAG 2015 and 2016 . 4 EAO expansions between 2011 - 2016 . 5 The Northern Alliance and continuing armed struggle . 6 Major military incidents per group . 8 Minor Tensions: . 9 Inter-EAG conlicts . 10 Number of clashes or tensions investigated or resolved diplomatically . 10 Armed Groups outside the Peace Process . 12 New Myanmar Army crackdown in Rakhine state . 13 Roots of Rakhine-Rohingya conlict . 15 Spillover of crisis . 16 Repercussions of war . 18 IDPs . 18 Drug production . 20 Communal Conlict . 23 II. The Peace Process Roadmap . 25 Current roadmap . 25 Nationwide Ceaseire Agreement . 29 Step 1: NCA signing . 31 New structure and mechanisms of the NCA peace process . 34 JICM - Nationwide Ceaseire Agreement Joint Implementation Coordination Meeting .
    [Show full text]