DATE:
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(1) One ceasefire commander has had
enough of it
(2) Thai relocation of
(3) Rubber price drops after export
to
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One ceasefire commander has had enough of it
Ceasefire sources have
confirmed the surrender of one of their brigade
commanders to the Burma Army yesterday.
Lt-Col Ganna,
Commander of Hsenwi-based 11th Brigade, Shan State
National
Army, formally submitted
himself to the Burmese authorities at a ceremony
held at Kunkawk village primary
school, with 38 men and 21 assorted arms.
"That was only 1
fraction of his brigade that he took with him," argued
the source in northern
The 11th Brigade is said to
be 300-strong.
Two days earlier, he had
been summoned to meet unidentified Burmese
authorities with whom he held an all day session from morning
till
evening. He was seen coming back to his home in Zay Oo village under heavy
armed escort.
Sources believe he had been
blackmailed into submission. According to
Democratic Voice of Burma,
staged a raid on an unsuspecting SSNA camp in Mongli on 30 January, when
they uncovered 20 sacks full of ephedrine powder used in
manufacturing
yaba
methamphetamine stimulants. More than 50 fighters were put under
custody. "All of them are still behind bars," said
an SSNA source. "It is
possible that some of them might have talked."
Encouraged by the success
with Ganna, Burmese authorities are now
approaching another SSNA commander, Khaymar
of the Namtu-Mongyen based 6th
Brigade.
The SSNA has 4 brigades:
6th, 11th, 16th and 19th. The 19th Brigade,
commanded by Lt-Col Koongkhurh,
based in Nampawng, Tangyan
township, is
said to be the strongest, between 800-1,000.
Its principal ally Shan
State Army "North" has 3 brigades: 1st, 3rd and 7th.
++++
Thai relocation of
exile journalists
Mizzima,
Tension and fear grip exiled
Burmese journalists in
government has started relocating Burmese nationals, recognized
as Persons
of Concern (POC) by the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR),
to camps along the border with
While some Burmese
journalists, still living in the urban areas of
deported by Thai authorities, some have given up their career
to go to the
camps, said a Burmese journalist working for an
Internet-based
organization in Chiang Mai.
They include those who have
been interviewed for third country
resettlement by the US Embassy. Thai authorities have announced
that no
POC will be allowed an exit
permit unless they are in the camps.
Some Burmese journalists see
the Thai move to contain POCs as an effort to
crush Thailand-based Burmese media by stopping them from
reporting.
However, differing with the
view, the Chiang Mai-based Burmese journalist
said he did not think the move is specifically aimed
against the Burmese
media. But, it has certainly affected Thailand-based
Burmese media, he
observed.
"Many of us are
struggling to continue our profession by coping with this
problem in our own ways," he added.
According to a report in the
Bangkok Post April 1, more than 830 POC have
gone to the border camps, but more than 270 others had
not reported by the
March 31
deadline set by the Thai Government.
Those who refused to go to
the camps are virtually on the run, shifting
homes frequently to avoid detection by Thai authorities.
However, so far
there are no reports of any Burmese journalist being
arrested or deported
back to
Some Burmese journalists,
who want to continue their profession,
reportedly sought permission from the UNHCR to allow them to
stay outside
the camps, since it was not possible to carry on
reporting from there. But
their requests were turned down and they were asked to
report to avoid
arrest and deportation.
Thai authorities have also
restricted the use of computers or mobile
phones inside the camps.
Several exiled Burmese
journalists are at present working in
While some of them are with
Internet-based Burmese news organizations,
some others string for overseas Burmese radio stations
such as the BBC,
VOA, Radio
Free
+++++
Rubber price drops after export to
Independent Mon News Agency
After
rubber price has decreased and thousands of rubber compound
sheets are
left in traders’ stores, according to Nai Plai, a local
exporter to
The rubber price has
decreased since last September and the current
drought compound rubber sheet price is 430 kyat (0.5 US
Dollars) per
pound. It was 540 Kyat per pound in mid-2004,
he added.
Although
in 2004,
factory in Thanbyuzayat,
for export to
Among 11,000 acres of rubber
and orchard plantations confiscated by the
Burmese Army in Mon areas,
about 60 percent grow rubber. The troops did
not allow villagers to collect rubber latex in the
confiscated rubber
plantations, according to information for a report produced by
Human
Rights
Foundation of Monland.
Mon areas also have a labor
shortage problem and plantation owners have to
pay a high price for day-laborers in their
plantations. Many skillful
Mon farmers and workers
migrated to
income, creating labor shortage problem in Mon areas.
Normally, the traders also
sold rubber compound sheets which remained in
their hands to Myanmar Perennial Crops Enterprise (MPCE)
in the past.
According to Nai Plai, the SPDC also closed down the Myanmar Permanent
Crops
products.
When former prime minister Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt was in power, rubber
export
to
he was dismissed from power, the trade relationship
between the two
countries has slowed down, according to Blai's
analysis.
The traders are also
disappointed with the many checkpoints (set by SPDC
authorities and the Burmese Army) along the export route to
many taxes levied. Exporting rubber under the regime’s
rules would not
get as much profit as black (illegal) market export
because of taxation,
the trader explained.
According to the trader, the
SPDC freely permitted exports of rubber and
sugar to foreign countries last year, but they have to pay
many taxes this
year and cross more checkpoints.
Rubber plantation owners who
have a good family business wait until the
price of rubber increases to sell their products, but poor
families who
have small plantations have to sell their products to get
money for the
survival of their families, even when the price is cheap,
said Nai Maung
Kyin, a rubber plantation owner.
trees are also grown in Tenasserim (Tanintharyi)
Division,
Arakan (Rakhaing) State,
to extend the rubber agriculture program countrywide,
assisting farmers
who want to plant rubber, according to an announcement
on the
state-controlled Myanmar Television.
Despite the government
announcement of extending the rubber planting
program, the Burmese Army has taken many Mon people’s rubber
plantations
in Mon areas such as Ye, Thanbyuzayat and Mudon
townships.
***End***
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