Date:
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(1) Shan boy shot, being accused of theft (In Burmese)
(2) Hkun Htun
Oo's trial is tomorrow
(3)
(4) Army bombards village of allies
(5) Enemies at the Gate (Analysis)
(6) The Forgotten Road (Feature)
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Note: For Burmese story please read in web. www.bnionline.net
Hkun Htun Oo's trial is tomorrow
================================
S.H.A.N, Reporter: Chai Sayam,
Hkun Htun
Oo, leader of
tomorrow, according to Shan
Nationalities League for Democracy sources
on the border:
The 61-year old Shan, whose uncle the prince of Hsipaw disappeared after
being detained by the military
during the 1962 coup, is facing several
charges including defamation of the
state and association with outlawed
parties. "He will not only go
to jail, if convicted," a legal source
told S.H.A.N., "but all his
assets face impoundment." Hkun Htun Oo, who
was taken to an unspecified
location for interrogation, had only been
escorted back to
Meanwhile, authorities are still conducting a thorough
going-over at
since 1984. "The day-to-day
affairs have been looked after by his son,
Hkun Oo Lwin,
for two years now," said a staff member of the OCS, whose
operations ceased by order of the
government on Feb. 14. "But Hkun Htun
Oo, as authorized representative, must shoulder any
irregularities
either dug up or made up by the
authorities."
The story of Hkun Htun Oo's uncle, Sao Kya Seng, has been immortalized
in "Twilight over
(Silkworm Books).
+++++++++++
===================================================================
Kaladan news,
prepared at the tripartite
techno-commercial meeting in
24-25.
Three conditions of
pipeline from
to import hydroelectricity from
to trade with the two countries and
reduction of the trade imbalance
between
Although
want to incorporate them in the MoU to be signed to pave the way for the
gas pipeline, they said.
The inclusion of the three conditions means if
pipeline through
demands, they said.
However, the meeting, with two representatives from
chairman SR Osmani
and Gas Transmission Company Limited director (of
operations) Abdus
Saleque Sufi, and at least six officials from
and a number of officials from host
pipeline route.
In the draft, the meeting put forth a proposal for a
committee,
comprising officials of the
state-owned gas companies of the three
countries, to decide on a route in
six months after a feasibility study.
The committee will also assess the quantity of gas in
reserve, how much
gas can be injected into the
pipeline and the tariff, the sources said,
quoting the draft.
They said that although
international consortium for the
installation, operation and maintenance
of the pipeline, it was
incorporated at the last moment in the MoU.
one, a 597-kilometer pipeline from
Burma-Teknaf towards
then to Brahmanbaria
where a spur line can connect the Tripura gas
fields. The pipeline will then cross through Jessor
and enter West
The sources said, if
will have to set it up along the
route proposed by
officials of the Gas transmission
Company already conducted a study.
They said that as the
feasibility committee, they would
press for the route proposed by
The memorandum will, however, be signed by
if it is ratified by the three
governments by April and the route will
be decided later.
+++++++++
Army bombards village of allies
===============================
S.H.A.N
A border village controlled by a pro-government militia
group was razed
to the ground by unanticipated
shelling by a Burma Army unit last
Tuesday, Feb. 22, according to Shan and Thai sources:
Paker, a 24-household Akha village in Tachilek's Loi Tawkham tract,
opposite Chiangmai's
Mae Fah Luang district, was
pounded with 60 mm
mortar shells from
Army and Thai army sources nearby agreed that they counted
11 flashes
coming out from the Burma Army's
Mae Maw base in possession of
Mongpiang-based Infantry Battalion
43, about a mile southwest of Paker.
"But we heard only eight explosions," remarked a
Shan officer from his
Loi Kawwan
base, "Three of them must have gone faulty."
At
of the village. It was later
reported that they carried militia fighters
from Nampong,
northeast of Paker, who afterwards met with Burma
Army
officers. Nothing, however, was
reported on how the meeting went.
On the following day, the monthly Township-level Border
Committee
(TBC) was held in Tachilek, where
the Thai side reportedly inquired
about the previous day's shootings,
to which the Burmese side replied
there was an attack mounted on the
village by Shan rebels.
Villagers who had fled to the border from the scene,
however, maintained
the attackers were the Burma Army,
not the SSA. Altogether, five
households had arrived at the Piangfah Internally Displaced Persons
(IDP) village opposite Mae Fah Luang district near the SSA's Loi Kawwan.
The arrivals nevertheless were unable to explain the reason
for the
Army's sudden outburst. "But
this is the time of the year when we Akhas
visit neighboring villages to
serenade," said a youth. "I don't know if
it had rubbed the Burmese soldiers
the wrong way."
The Paker militia force is part of
the larger one at Nampong, led by
Col. Yishay a.k.a
Chaiwat Pornsakulpaisarn,
who is wanted by
drug charges.
++++++++++
***News End***
Enemies at the Gate (Analysis)
==============================
Nyo Ohn Myint, Mizzima
Recent developments: the International Labor Organization
cut short its
visit to
leaders including the prominent
Shan ethnic leader Hkun Tun
Oo, and the
linear downward economic trend
might change the political landscape in
The regime was able to freeze the Shan leaders' initiative
to
consolidate the ethnic voice at the
reconvening robotic National
Convention with the majority of handpicked non-political
ethnic
representatives and ceasefire
organizations.
"The junta leaders imperfectly sent a political message
to the rest of
the ethnic leaders in terms of
arresting Shan leaders from both
political parties and ceasefire
organizations with a high price," said
an Asian diplomat. He is right. The
ethnics' hope of self-determination
is gone.
Whether they participate at the National Convention or not,
this is the
time for the rest of the ethnic
leaders to reconsider the SPDC's
shortsighted nature, which would
not bring any fruitful hope for our future.
The junta may not have a well-made plan to handle the
political dilemma
as far as their actions are
concerned. Possibly, they're overconfident
about managing the immediate
political challenges.
Reaction could come from all sides. The domestically and
internationally
well-known figure Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi and the influential ethnic leader
Hkun Tun
Oo are well established with pro-democracy supporters.
Apart
from this, ousted prime minister
and spy chief General Khin Nyunt may be
recognized as the only soldier who
had potential to be a future leader
of
stability of the junta itself has
been continually questioned.
Besides, it would be very hard to keep the rest of the
citizens happy
under current economic plans. The
regime has only a chance to promote
and provide better socio-economic
conditions for the rest of their
countrymen and women. But to revise
regime is very unlikely. The regime
may face another round of popular
uprisings in the near future.
According to an officer from the border security command and
the
Office of the Chief of Military Intelligence, all border
trade income
has to be deposited into the
account of the defense ministry daily. I
bet that it is not for the
citizens' social and economic development
sectors.
The disappointed trip of the ILO, which urged its 158 member
nations to
impose tougher sanction against
outcome again. And Prime Minister
Lt. Gen. Soe Win's lobbying tour to
the
negative pressures. Very likely,
the
the rotation chairmanship of the
Association of South East Asian Nations
(ASEAN) in 2006, will be ruled out of the question.
With the fallen spy chief's strong intelligence network
terminated,
Senior Gen. Than Shwe's new team in power may not last long.
Remarkable indeed. General Tarmalarbaw, vice chairman of the Karen
National
++++++++
The Forgotten Road (Feature)
==================
By Mony Chris
Mizzima News
Jiegang Lu,
pink overcoat, Ma Ei smokes a cigarette. Her face doesn't look 13 years
old, just as her overcoat doesn't
fit her small frame.
She approaches some men who seem to want something from her.
Once she
gets a deal, she gives a signal to
another girl, Eie. Then. Ei, who is
11, goes straight to another woman wearing
a grass hat. The woman lifts
the hat slightly and pulls
something from under it. She then pours white
powder from a small bottle onto a
small piece of paper, wraps it, and
hands it to Eie.
The young girl moves back to the customer, exchanging
the pack of heroin for money. The
exchange takes about a minute. Though
from
ethnic minority of
usually speak Chinese. They
sometimes reminisce with one of the Palaung
food stall owners.
Two minor girls dealing heroine at Ruili, a
The two young sisters came from Mon Yan
village near Mine Koe in the
north of
in southwestern
in a Chinese food stall for 150
Yuan (US$19) a month after their father,
a drug user, died.
"Mom will think we are still working in the food stall,
but we worked so
hard and could not work there
anymore," Ma Ei said. "Then we ran away.
We have been sold three times in Ruili."
Human traffickers moved them from employer to employer, a
journey that
eventually turned them into drug
addicts. Heroin forced them to become
street children.
Currently, they work for the women in the grass hat selling
drugs on the
road, where they can survive off
the commissions.
The woman is Burmese and used to be a sex worker. She has
been in
Ruili for more than a decade. People suspect she has HIV/AIDS
because
she is very thin and has no hair. Myint, an ex-store owner recalls, "She
was a regular customer at my store
and she has looked like that for two
or three years already. We think
she is going to die soon but she hasn't
yet".
People in Ruili do not find
HIV/AIDS patients bizarre, as sufferers are
often dying around them, especially
Burmese. When they know their death
is near, they come and wait to die
on a corner of
place where the Burmese community
stays. They know their community will
at least provide food and water.
Doctor Sun, a medical doctor who assists the community,
remarks, "The
Burmese community here has fewer stigmas. Ordinary people
help each
other with sympathy." Given
its proximity to
Province's border, about 10,000 Burmese live in Ruili. Many shops on
karaoke parlors and beauty salons.
Young boys and girls stand on
platforms on
to buy sex or drugs or both. Black
market drugs and sex flourish here.
Many women from
provides their shelter. Rooms can
be rented for 10 yuan ($1.25 a day).
The girls can take customers to their rooms or live there
with their
boyfriends.
Khin, 25, stands on the pavement looking for a customer. She
goes close
to a lady who passes on the street
and whispers "sayarma ('teacher' in
Burmese)," I have something to talk to you about."
Then she brings the
lady, who once conducted HIV/AIDS education
in the area, to the street
corner and tells her, "I think
I am pregnant because I don't use a
condom with my boyfriend, although
I use them with customers."
Risky behavior among the sex workers is high too. Khin
actually knows
that her boy friend is one of the
drug users and smugglers in town.
Although she knows about safe sex, use of a condom and is
aware of
HIV/AIDS, living with her boyfriend seems another thing.
Pragmatically,
she says, "I don't feel very
well, but I have to find 10 yuan for my
rent tonight." The HIV/AIDS
educator comforts her with words. That is
the only thing she can do for Khin
at the moment.
Doctor Sun has a great passion for these youngsters.
"If you ask 10 of
them about their homes, nine girls
will say they come from a village,"
he laments. Khin is from Nga Pu Taw village,
them are from
"Many young guys come from
enough jobs here. So they end up
smuggling drugs or as escorts in the
sex industry," Dr. Sun says.
Garbage collectors walk along the street scrimmaging through
bins.
They can be seen sometimes collecting used needles from the
bins. They
might reuse them again for
injecting drugs. They sometimes even run into
the trees while they walk on the
pavement; their eyes are closed with
thoughts of their next fix. Some
are sitting on the pavement with the
countenance of drug addicts. Some
put their hands inside their jacket
pocket where small drug bottles are
hidden. There are two broad groups
in the Burmese community in Ruili; business people and laborers. Gem
traders, restaurant owners, teashop
owners, storeowners and other
businesspeople stay near the
market. Most of the rest involved in the
drug and sex industries settle
along Jiegang
Road. If the police arrest them, it's just like putting HIV
carriers to
jail. There are many stories about
drug dealers who were sentenced to
death but released after the police
found out they were HIV positive.
An exiled politician who wished not to identify himself said
"The
Chinese Government allows us to do business freely here and
always
protects us from being arrested by
the Burmese military government, but
we are not allowed to conduct any
politics here, otherwise we will be
sent back into the hands of the
Burmese army. That is how we learned how
to survive here."
There is a big gem market in Ruili.
Gem traders are from different
places in
Myitkyeena, Pharkant and Bamaw
where jade stones are mined. "If we force
gem traders to take HIV tests, we
might find a big percentage are HIV
positive, because many of them
engage in the sex and drug industries
here" Dr. Sun said.
Aye Aye Myint,
a member of the Burmese Woman's
said, "we usually collect data
about the number of sexworkers in Ruili,
but never get the exact figures as
newcomers are always entering the
town while some are going back
home." Aye and her colleagues go on a
picnic with women working in the
sex industries every month to consult,
conduct interviews and collect data
about these women, their personal
backgrounds and general situations.
According to the "Situation Assessment of Injection
Drug Users in
estimated 150,000 drug users and
more than 80 percent of heroin users
inject the drug.
Jamie Uhrig, formerly with the
World Health Organisation (WHO)
office, said that sex workers are
not permitted on the Burmese side of
the border in Muse because of
Burmese government policy. "That leads to
very interesting difference. Many
times when sex work is suppressed on
one side of the border, it pops up
on the other side," Uhrig says.
"Injecting drug use and sex work is such a closely
interlocked circle
that it doesn't really matter which
comes first. It simply matters that
if the woman has an addiction then
she has to feed that addiction and
has to earn money to feed that
addiction," Uhrig added.
usually patrol the road 10-15 times
a day. Once the police find drugs in
someone's hand, he or she can be
charged with anything from a fine to
the death penalty. However, broke
drug dealers, like those from
can't possibly afford the fine.
Sometimes it is possible to see Chainese
police bash drug dealers until they
fall to the pavement before leaving
them alone. If the police arrest
them, it's just like putting HIV
carriers in jail. There are
many stories about drug dealers who were
sentenced to death but were
released after the police found out they
were HIV positive.
"I think there are two reasons that Chinese police
don't take much
action against drug and sex dealing
in
unidentified source," One
reason is corruption; they can always make
money from the drug carriers and
sex workers. Another reason is so they
can trace drug traders by letting
small dealers sell."
Although the woman and two young Palaung
girls might be bashed by police
for drug dealing on the street,
they still come back again and again to
sell. Their blood is starving for
the drug and it drives them to walk,
walk and walk again on
People are not only selling drugs and sex here, but have no
other choice
but to engage in activities that
inevitably lead to contracting
HIV/AIDS.
stopped. The HIV/AIDS road extends
all the way down the countryside of
Naing 34, a food stall owner on
laborers often come by in small
trucks and queue up to buy sex on the
street. I can see it from my shop
on many evenings. 10 Yuan ($1.20)for
sex is cheap so they come here for
it. One time I saw that as soon as
the girl earned some money from the
first customer, she came down
another side of the street where
her boyfriend was waiting for her money
to buy drugs."
Naing is always witnessing sad
stories from his shop. " But what can we
do? There is no way to help. We can
just watch like this as if we are in
another land."
(Mony Chris wrote this article
under the IPS/Rockefeller media
fellowship program "Our
Mekong: A Vision amid Globalization.")
***End***
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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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