Date:
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(1) Burmese Delegation Submits
(2)
(3) Shan
(4) Prisoners'
food inadequate in
(5) Bomb scare mounts security cover
in
(6) Kalam
urged to reopen
(7) Convention rep: 'No law in
(8)
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(1) Burmese Delegation Submits
land-acquisition report and arrangement design for the
Nazamul Huda, according to the Daily Azadi, a local Bengali newspaper.
The Financial Taskforce of
Burma submitted the report and design to
the Technical Taskforce of Bangladesh in a meeting at
the
Communications
Ministry here yesterday.
Burma Construction Ministry
managing director U Han Zaw led the
visiting five-member financial task force, including the
Financial
Taskforce of Burma,
Construction Ministry public works director U Kywe
Wa and Finance and Revenue Ministry budget department
director U Soe
Thein.
In the meeting, they
especially discussed speedy implementation of the
project to connect
meeting also discussed the prospect of getting financial
assistance
from some donor countries and international financial
institutions,
including the Asia Development Bank (ADB) and
finances from
According to sources,
construction of the 153-kilometer Ramu-Gundom-
Taungbro-Bawli Bazar-Kyauktaw road
alignment of the project would be
done in two phases involving Tk
933.46 crore.
In the first phase, the
km. Taungbro-Bawli Bazar road, two big bridges and 90 culverts in
Engineers and contractors
from
bridges. The Construction Ministry of Burma will provide all
other
assistance.
110-km. Bawli Bazar-Kyauktaw road, the
second phase of the work. This
part of the road costs Tk
770.26 crore.
Assistance will also be
sought from
countries in implementing the second phase.
Work on the 23 km. Ramu-Gundom road in
will also be done with the
amounting to Tk 163.39 crore.
>From
Additional Chief Engineer of
Roads and
Mian, Chief Engineer Faizur Rahman,
Communications Secretary Md.
Shafiqul Islam and senior engineers of the department were
present at
the meeting.
The two taskforces will
discuss the technical and financial aspects of
the project in the next two days.
+++++++++
(2)
Mungpi
Mizzima News
Singapore Prime Minster Lee Hsien Loong's trip to
voice his government's stand on the Burmese military
government taking
up the rotation chairmanship of the South East Asian
Nations (Asean)
regional grouping, said a senior politician in
Prime Minister Lee will meet Burma Prime Minister Soe Win and call
on
Senior Gen. Than Shwe on Wednesday in
day trip, which includes visits to
Thursday.
"Primarily, his [Lee's]
visit will highlight bilateral relations
issues, but looking at the recent criticisms that
on the military junta of
voice
said U Win Naing, a veteran
Burmese politician in
He further said that
interference policy regarding the internal affairs of its member
states. But lately, as some Asean
nations expressed frustration over
its stand on
Prior to Lee's visit,
sluggish political reform in
Ministry spokesperson as
saying "Some hard messages may very well have
to be put across, because what happens in
Asean as a whole."
In
among the business community while the political circle is
closely
observing the change of events, said U Win Naing.
+++++++
(3) Shan
S.H.A.N
Thoroughly put off by the
rejection of the ethnic nationalities'
federal union proposals by
to reactivate the long dormant total
State.
"The Yawnghwe brothers
have been misleading us for so long," a
grizzled exile growled to S.H.A.N. yesterday, referring to Chao Tzang
(who
died last year) and Harn Yawnghwe, founders of the
National
Reconciliation Program that
has steadfastly advocated tripartite
dialogue and, through it, a federal democracy for
handled things in the right way."
According to an insider
report on a top secret meeting held in
northern
an "interim Shan State Government" and
"defeat the Marns (Burmese
military) without bloodshed."
for a separate sovereign entity, does not present much
of a problem to
the group. "Our friends in
stay neutral," said the source.
So, when will the
replied the source, "but I cannot say exactly when. We
still need to
hold at least another round of meetings before we can set
the wheels
in motion."
Other Shan activists, though
viewing the said report as another
exercise in futility, saw it as a natural outcome of the
string of
arrests made on Feb. 8-9. "Federalism has become a bad
name," said a
prominent exiled Shan in Chiangmai. "To the junta, it is
interpreted
as secession in disguise, while to the radicals, it is
continued
slavery under the Burmans in
another form."
Another Shan who had worked
closely with Chao Tzang and
Harn
lamented, "I don't see how we can stem this rising tide
of separatist
tendencies unless
colleagues."
Hkun Htun Oo, whose party won
the most seats in
elections, and nine others are being tried for treason inside
the
notorious "Insane" (Insein)
jail outside
resulted in strained relations between
nationalities.
His aunt by marriage,
Austrian-born Sao Thusandi of the former
princely Hsipaw House, who wrote
the widely-read Twilight over
in which sh e recounted the
mysterious disappearance of her husband,
Prince Sao Kya Seng after he was detained by
the military in 1962, has
warned
of federalism, the country is heading towards a
breakup, an
eventuality the Burmese military has been claiming to prevent,
according to the Democratic Voice of Burma March 20.
+++++
(4) Prisoners' food
inadequate in
Narinjara News
Akyab, March 29
Prisoners in the police
detention center at Akyab do not receive
enough food every day from the police department because of
a lack of
financial support by the authorities, according to a former
prisoner
recently released from the Akyab
police detention center.
As the food and water in the
police detention center is inadequate,
the prisoners have to get food and water from outside
the jail by
offering bribes to the police officers. "In the police
detention
center of Akyab there is not
enough food and water for prisoners.
Therefore we had to get food
and water from outside. My family has to
give 500 Burmese kyat to police officers for food and 200
kyat for a
bath whenever they bring food and water for me," he
explained.
The police serve a single
plate of food to prisoners at a time, but it
is not enough for the prisoners. They are only served
food two times a
day in all the jails of
there were 49 prisoners, along with me, but the police did
not bring
enough food for us. Sometimes they only brought 19 plates
of rice to
us," he said.
Most prisoners from the
rural areas are suffering the most, in
terrible pain because of lack of adequate food in the jails,
and they
do not have relatives in Akyab
to make up for it. Prisoner numbers in
the Buthi Daung
and Maung Daw police detention centers are quite large
and food is always needed for the many prisoners. Some
police wives
often ask for leftover food from police families for the
prisoners,
said a prisoner's relative from Maungdaw.
According to a police
source, about 20 kyat is allotted for a
prisoner's food per day, not even enough to buy an egg.
+++++++
(5) Bomb scare mounts security cover in
Mizzima news (www.mizzima.com)
hotels on the government's "fascist" revolution
day sent authorities
scurrying for extra
vigilance in Burma's capital yesterday.
An anonymous phone call made
to the Kandawgyi Palace Hotel threatened
simultaneous bomb blasts in
Traders
and the
situation, hotel authorities took precautionary measures and
extended
duty hours of employees overnight.
The military government
marked March 27 as Armed forces Day while
dissidents continued to observe it as the Fascist Revolution
Day.
With the recovery of a bomb
two days ago in the
Supermarket in
to remain closed for two days March 26-27.
+++++
(6) Kalam urged to reopen
Surajit Khaund / Mizzima News
Guwahati: Pursuing reaching the
bilateral relations, Indian Minister of State for External
Affairs
Bijay Krishna Handique has
submitted a memorandum to President APJ
Abdul Kalam
to reopen the famous
Handique called on the Indian president and sought his
intervention to
reopen the 1,040-mile transnational road, originating from Ledo in
Handique emphasised early steps on
clearing the route to help explore
the
Constructed during World War
11,
Indian
side to pass through
percent of this stretch has been repaired with the active
initiative
of the
been demanding repairing the rest of the road.
In 1998, seven states in
because of a growing insurgency problem in the region.
The road runs through areas
dominated by major militant groups such as
the United National Liberation Front Of Asom (ULFA) and National
Socialist
Council of Nagalim-Issac Muiva
(NSCN-IM).
However, in view of recent
progress in Indo-Burma relations, the
Indian government is
understood to have re-thought the proposal. The
Indian Commerce Ministry has
already completed its feasibility study
on the road in
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Indian Chamber of Commerce
(ICC) and Indo-Myanmar
Traders Union, have been requesting the Home
Ministry
for early clearance.
Meanwhile, the India Customs
department has already taken steps to set
up a customs point at
it.
+++++
(7) Convention rep: 'No law in
S.H.A.N
Reporter: Hawkeye
"There is no law in
mouths," sighed a delegate from
plus people ordered to attend the National Convention, as
he prepared
to return from his weekly outlet in
Naunghnapin, 40 kilometers away:
"The Wa tried on the
preceding Friday (March 18) to recapitulate on
what they had proposed during the last round (May 17-
he related, without going into detail," but
they were barred from
doing so, resulting in some tensions."
"So were the Karenni
(Nationalities People Liberation Front) people,"
added another delegate.
The delegates from ceasefire
groups, who had previously proposed a
federal structure for future
conveners that further attempts to discuss their demands would
come to
nothing. "The best you can expect is some rewording in
the preamble
and perhaps, in the appendices, if there are any,"
they were
reportedly told, "because the main text of the
constitution has
already been drafted."
"I don't want to attend
it anymore," said the first delegate. "What's
the use of it if you are not allowed to say what you
believe is in the
interests of the people. But I have to, because I don't want
to get
into trouble."
The other delegate also
questioned the whole point of holding the
convention to lay down guidelines for the constitution if
rulers are not ready to listen to the participants, let
alone consider
their ideas. "That's the disciplined-flourishing
democracy for you,"
he concluded. "It means nothing other than a
chameleon democracy."
The _expression chameleon (Pok-thin-nyo) in Burmese gives a sense
totally different from that in English. Whereas in the
latter, it
means '"vacillator" or "shifter'," in
the former, it stands
for "yesman'," as
the chameleon is commonly known in
habitual head-nodding.
With regards to the
adjournment of the National Convention, the
delegates confirmed it would be before the annual water
festival April
13-16, though the exact date
has yet to be announced. "They never
bother to tell us when it will stop or start again,"
grumbled a
delegate, as he hurried off for Nyaunghnapin.
++++++
(8)
By our Special Correspondent
Mizzima News
Developments have raised an
alarm from affected people in delta areas,
besides NGOs and tourism operators. "Help us! Save our
lives," cried a
man based in the
tide eroded land areas to contaminate the farms.
in power-strapped
resulting in near destruction of the country's enormous
mangrove area
and its unique ecosystem.
Invaded by steadily
encroaching fisheries and illegal logging of
species, mangrove areas in the country's coastal region,
especially in
the 35,138-kilometer Irrawadday
(Ayeyarwaddy) division, have received
the most awesome blow to be depleted 80 percent over the
past seven
decades.
Gifted with natural
environmental resources, the 1,200-odd miles of
the
a vast pool of genetic material for marine life and
varieties of
abundant coastal inhabitants.
Among those varieties of
resources are mangrove areas and their eco-
system, very unique and significant for their international
attraction
as well as building a sustainable eco-system. But
recent years are
witness to the inscrutable destruction of the mangrove
eco-system
which could have been utilized for a healthy local economy.
Known as
filthy wetland by local people, mangrove areas had been a
happy
hunting ground for thatch (Nypa frutican) for house covering, firewood
and charcoal for the last seven decades.
"That's mainly because
of mounting demand for charcoal from the
increased population in the stretched-out urban centers. The
situation
was worsened by the shortage in local electricity supply
and the
global fuel crisis in the 1970s," said a Rangoon-based
non-
governmental organization. "The problem became more
complicated in the
1980s when degraded forest
areas were put into paddy fields under a
local food-sufficiency scheme," he said.
Myaung Mya and Mawlamying Gyun townships and the
upper parts of
Bogale, which fall under the division, were defensive
against brackish
water to remain high in paddy yield. But the yield
declined by 50
percent in six year after townships like Lupputa
came up in the
depleted forest areas in the lower delta.
"Yield per acre dropped
50 percent to 25 baskets, due to extrusion of
salt water from below," the official said. "The
development has led
farmers to reclaim new farm lands in the nearby mangrove
forests to
save their income," he said. Reusing discarded farm
areas was also
found to be unproductive, even about 20 years afterwards,
he said.
The development raised an
alarm from affected people in the delta
areas besides the NGOs and tourism operators. "Help
us! Save our
lives," cried a man based in the
sea water and tide eroded land areas to contaminate the
farms.
Pointing out to the sea a
mile away from what is now the beach, a
community leader said some parts of his village area, where he
used to
play in childhood, was now under sea water. "In the
next
years, a land area on the outskirts, which accommodates a
monastery
and a pagoda, will also meet the same fate," the
44-year-old village
head said.
A senior executive of a
Rangoon-based NGO, which has been approached
to
restore mangrove forests around the hamlets and surrounding area,
said about 10 more villages were desperately in need of
mangrove
restoration programs.
"There is a good
response from the community, which is becoming well
aware of the importance of mangrove forests, and is
increasingly
appreciating reforestation through community participation. We
are
seeking funds to help them out," the official said.
Tied up with Action for
Mangrove Reforestation (ACTMANG) and David
Shepherd Wildlife Foundation
(DSWF), the NGO had so far restored more
than 600 hectres of mangrove
forests in seven villages in the
cooperation with the Tokyo-based ACTMANG, he claimed.
"The second cycle of
the project is involved in restoring 550 hectres
in another seven villages in Bogale
with a plan to complete it by
2008," the official
said.
The delta was once a refuge
to armed insurgents, which was why the
Forest Department could not
control the area. With the government
becoming well aware of the situation in the 1990s, action was
taken
against illegal felling in the delta. "But the action
came too late.
Illegal loggers turned to
the mangroves in the Taninthari and Rakhine
(Arakan)
coastal regions, leaving the delta denuded of trees," he said.
"These are time-valued
forest areas in the coastal regions and can be
saved," the official said. The country has already
had the know-how to
reforest degraded mangrove areas with fast-growing species
such as
Kambala (Sonneratia apetala), Thamegyi (Avicennia officinalis)and
Thamebyu (Avicennia marina).The
Rangoon-based NGO has also called for
the Forest Department to enthusiastically cooperate with
it in
restoration and conservation of forests.
"Just authority is not
enough to conserve natural resources. Community
participation and NGOs' persuasive activities are essential. Also,
mangrove-related eco-tourism can not be promoted without the mutual
reinforcement that the NGOs and local community provide", he
said.
But, looking at the way
natural resources are utilized in
evident that the interests of a limited businesses are
calling the
shots over that of local communities and the national
economy.
The recent extension of
aquaculture along the coastal line has also
dealt a severe blow to the natural mangrove forests. It
has resulted
in a decreased supply of aquatic species like fish and
has also
damaged other coastal resources including coral reefs and
sea grass.
"Local communities are
well aware of their daily catch of fish
declining due to the rate of depletion of mangrove areas
nearby," the
official said. "Moreover, mangrove forests act as a
natural barrier to
floods and storms, protecting people in the coastal
regions," he said,
citing the example of
tsunami last December because of mangrove forests.
To a question, he said
Meinmahla Kyun Wildlife Sanctuary
and the Ngwesaung beach resort had
potential for promoting ideal eco-tourism. "The
government is expected
to come up with a sound land use policy, which is
crucial to balance
development and conservation," the official said.
Regretting that the rich
mangrove ecosystem in
misutilized, a
young businessman attributed the reasons to low budget
and institutional constraints. "There are
weaknesses in the process of
development and promotion of eco-tourism projects. Awareness
about
environmental issues is high although not as developed as it
should
have been," said the 35-year-old man with a business
focusing on
developing this niche market, viable in the long run.
With proper rules and
regulations, plus entrepreneurship, utilizing
the mangrove ecosystem can still mean a healthy economy,
he said,
encouraging entrepreneurs not to wait and see who would take
risks
initially and to go ahead with their visions.
****End****
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a network of nine exiled media groups
such as Mizzima News, Shan
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