October 4, 2004
------------------------
Head Line
=========
• Opposition in need of new game plan to
keep friends in line
(S.H.A.N)
• Former NMSP medical worker suspected of
supporting rebels fled to
border after he was seriously beaten (IMNA)
• Current Forced labor and Human Rights Abuse in
Wao)
................................................................
Opposition in need of new game plan to keep friends in
line
===========================================================
Shan Herald Agency for News
More needs to be done to create a
opposition and its western
"friends," particularly the European Union
and the
general secretary of the Shan
Democratic Union, one of four panelists
at the joint European Policy
Center-Ebert Stiftung Dialogue held in
"Resolving the EU-Asean relationship
and international conflict
resolution in
tackled together, not
separately," Wansai said at the meeting on
Isolation or Engagement: Can the EU and
different from what we have so long
been accustomed to."
He said he thought that neither the isolation nor engagement
approach
tends to be effective when applied
separately. To achieve maximum
results, he urged, both approaches
should be used in tandem.
He was especially critical of what was officially
termed “'Constructive Engagement
Policy” by Asean. The objective for
admitting
woo
the junta to become more reasonable
in resolving (trans-national)
problems such as drugs, HIV/AIDS,
refugees and unofficial mass
migration". He concluded that
these objectives have failed to bring
desired results.
He therefore suggested a four-point proposal:
•
•
•
approach .
•
diplomacy.
Coming back from
satisfactory, although he expressed
disappointment with some of the
non-governmental organizations.
"It is quite depressing to see some
NGOs acting like governments in power," he told
S.H.A.N., "defending
and excusing what EU has decided.
No one was trying to break new
ground, but rather apologetic, I
must say."
The European Union had agreed on Sept. 14 to allow
participation at the Oct. 8-9
Asian-Europe summit meeting in
below the level of head of state or
government, a position criticized
by some members of the European Parliament
as a dangerous signal to
the regime. The EU ministers
countered by pointing out that they had
also agreed to tighten sanctions
against the regime if Aung San Suu
Kyi is not released by Oct. 8.
The European Policy Center (EPC) is a think tank made up of
companies,
professional and business
federations, trade unions, diplomatic
missions, regional and local bodies
as well as NGOs. "With lots of big
international corporate members,
the EPC is quite pro-business,"
Wansai observed.
'Consensus minus one' means it will take more than one
dissenting
member to block consensus. Ten
minus one, on the other hand, means
Asean (that has 10 members) without
...................................................................
Former NMSP medical worker suspected of supporting
rebels fled to
border after he was seriously beaten
=================================================================
Independent Mon News Agency
A former NMSP medical worker suspected of supporting rebels
fled to
the border to resettle his life on
the border after he was beaten by
the Burmese army recently in
and other human rights violations
happened.
Nai Toe, 27, who left his
2-year-old child and wife in Kywa Thalin
after the Burmese army from
Battalion Light Infantry No. 282 forced
him to leave the village and
abandon all his belongings, said in a
soft voice, “I can’t go back to
Mon rebel (Mon splinter group) supporter.
They arrested me for nine
days, seriously beating and
interrogating me.”
Nai Toe, whose legs were seriously
wounded, was under arrest Sept. 4-
12 and beaten by LIB No. 282 soldiers led by Captain Min Lwin. After
he was forced to leave the village,
all his belongings in his medical
shop were seized by the army, at a
cost of 800,000 Kyats.
“After I was forced to leave the villages, I came back to my
parent’s
village. Pa Hca,
Intelligence (MI) followed me to my mother’s house and asked
my mother
where I was. I moved to Ye and some
police followed me to where I stay
at my home in Ye. They asked my
friend again where I was. I thought I
couldn’t stay in
a letter to his family saying he
will come back home after there is
peace.
Nai Toe was unconscious many times
while he was beaten by Burmese
soldiers. “After I asked the
soldiers why I was arrested, they beat me
on my chest many times until I was
unconscious. They put me under
heavy rain all night. They gave me
no food, no water during my two
days arrest,” he added.
“During my interrogation, mostly they asked me who was
supporting the
rebels, do I support the rebels,
where are the rebel camps. That I did
not know,” Nai
Toe continued.
Nai Toe was released after the
battalion commander asked for 10 sacks
of rice and 100,000 Kyats from his
wife. Meanwhile, he was forced to
leave his village when he released
from the army base.
Burmese military based themselves in the village and closed
it, and
did not allow villagers to go out.
Every week they used 15 villagers
as porters to carry military
property. One porter was killed in the
second week of September, according
to Nai Toe.
Two woman; Mi Kyan Yit, 24, and Mi Yu, 18, were raped by soldiers of
this battalion in the first
and second week of last month, Nai Toe
said.
.............................................................
Current Forced labor and Human Rights Abuse in
Southern Burma
=============================================================
Banyar Toay (Kao Wao News
Groups)
Many kinds of forced labor are being used in Mon and Karen
states and
Tanessaring Division, a source
close to the NMSP said last week.
In southern Mon state, local people have been forced to work
on road
repairs and collect logs to build a
militia police station. The people
were also barred from going to
their farms and gardens and forced to
pay taxes.
In central Mon state such as in
forced to buy many kinds of tickets
and calendars.
In Kyar-ink-seik-kyi township in Karen state, LIB No. 386 forced local
Mon and Karen people to pay with bamboo and
small trees to use for
fencing, and sheeting to use
for roofing. Some villages pay with
bamboo while other villages pay
with small trees and sheeting.
In northern Tanessaring, Ye Byu township, some local Mon
people were
arrested and tortured for providing
houses to the NMSP to use as
offices, and the houses were burned
and destroyed. The people were
also forced to pay taxes.
Road Repairing
The villagers of Cinguu and Kwan Tamoay Tao Tak (Ywe Thit in Burmese)
were forced to work on daily road
repairs. Both villages were divided
into four groups, one of which must
provide forced labor in a rotation
system..
Some of the forced laborers are about 10-12 years old, a
witness said
last week on condition of
anonymity. The captain Than Soe from LIB 343
and his soldiers kept close watch
on the workers.
Colonel Nyi Nyi
Thwe from the LIB opened fire if workers arrived late
at the work site. Late workers must
pay 7,000 Kyats per bullet used.
“I heard open fire from the work site three times on Sept.
21,” the
witness said. “The site belongs to
the KTTT.”
The work hours are scheduled from
The road is known to be a strategic military road. The Ye- Khao Jaer (
Khaw Zar
in Burmese) road, under construction since last year, is
intended to wipe out the Hongsarwatoi Restoration Party, a Mon
splinter armed group, which has
been active since 1995, after the NMSP
reached a cease fire agreement
with the SPDC.
Collecting logs
To build the militiary police
station in KTTT village, the LIB 343
forcibly asked every household to
pay for 5 feet including 30 pieces
of sheeting.
To build two militia police stations in Yon Reah ( Yin Ye in Burmese),
the local base LIB No. 568 led by
Captain Ngwe Soe has
ordered every
household to collect bamboo logs in
the forest every day since August.
The village was divided into four groups, one a day of which
builds
the station.
To build the military camp in Kyar-ink-seik-kyi
township, troops
ordered the village headmen to come
to the camp to ask for unpaid
labor. The troops did not order the
village headmen with order letter
like in the previous year for force
labor. Now they just gathered the
village headmen in a meeting and
ordered it to the village headmen in
meeting to avoid 1/99 order, the
order stop using forced labor and
their order’s letter reached the
human rights watching groups.
Buying makeup and collecting funds
Nai Kyin
from Yon Reah, a village of about 200 households, had
to buy
makeup worth 5,000 Kyats for the
wife of the captain and a dry battery
worth 5,000 Kyats in order to have
permission for his car to can
routing.
The USDA opened a football match in the Kaloin
Ong area of Ye Byu
township last month and collected
100,000 Kyats from each village. The
village headmen collected 150 to
5,000 Kyats. Some villages did not
get involved in the match for fear
of additional cost. They said about
300,000 Kyats must to be spent if they were involved in the
match.
To take a new census in Mon state, each family had to pay
3,500 Kyats
last month.
Barred from going to farms and gardens
In Ye Byu Township, local people
have been barred from going to their
farms and gardens since the HRP
seized six guns with 400 bullets from
an SPDC militia force in Kyauk Ka Din village. The
the people supported the HRP.
In eastern and southern Ye
township, the SPDC has been barring
townspeople and villagers near the
town from traveling to their farms
and gardens for fear of security
forces since last month. According to
a source close to the NMSP, HRP
soldiers actively move in columns
around the area. The SPDC also
suspected the NMSP of joining with HRP
after two HRP soldiers
surrendered to the NMSP last month.
In Yar-ink seik-kyi
township, rural Karen people were not allowed to
go to their farms and gardens last
month because of fighting between
the KNU and SPDC. Passengers who
travel by boat along the Gameat (Zami
in Burmese) river have been forced
to buy drinking water worth 900
Kyats, more than threes times the normal price.
Beaten and asked for money
beaten by a Burmese soldier while
going back to the village from
fishing outside at about
from a soldier and was asked for 20
thousands Kyats to stop the case.
His parents immediately paid Htun
Aung, the drunken soldier.
Mi Kye Kye
Mon, a 2-year-old girl from Kwan Hlar village, Mudone
township, Mon state, died in the
hospital after she sank under water
in a canal near her house, and her
parents were asked for money by
local police to stop the case. The
police accused her parents of not
looking out for their children and
asked for 20 thousand Kyats.
***End***
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Burma News International is a network of nine exiled media
groups
such as Mizzima
News, Shan Herald Agency for News, Kao Wao News Group,
Khonumthung News Group, Narinjara News, Kaladan Press
Network,
Independent Mon News Agency, Karenni Information
Network Group and Network Media Group.
..............................................
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