Date:
News
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(1)Three Indonesian
journalists confirmed dead in Tsunami devastation
(In Burmese)
(2)
Wa relocations have resumed
(3)Army confiscated
more than 3,300 acres of people's land in 2004
(4) George Fernendes: Shame on
(5)Tsunami quake
kills two in Shan State
(6)Wa
reinforces border command
(7)Western Command
tenders 12 shrimp farms to local businessmen
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***
Note For the Burmese
Language News Please Read In The Webpage
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Wa Relocations Have Resumed
===========================
SHAN
As the total ban on poppies in the Wa
region near the Chinese border is
drawing toward closure next June
26, the annual relocations to southern
areas along the Thai border have
recommenced, King Cobra writes from the
Chiangmai border:
Some 2,000 people, most of whom speak only Chinese, were
being resettled
in Mongton
township, across from Chiangmai's Chiangdao
district, between
Dec. 15 and Jan. 1.
Date of
15-22 December 2004
25-27 December 2004
Total
Each truck hauls approximately 35-40 passengers.
"The newcomers bring interpreters along when they come
to buy things in
the village," a local
shopkeeper explained . "We were told to expect
more of them coming in the next few
months." The settlers include both
elderly people and children as
young as 2-3 months old.
According to Unsettling Moves, the Wa
forced resettlement program in
already relocated more than 125,000
people along areas adjoining
Official figures indicate between 50,000 and 60,000
newcomers. The Wa
leadership has already announced
the target figure is 100,000.
+++++++++++++++
Army Confiscated More
Than 3,300 Acres Of People's Land In 2004
===============================================================
Independent Mon News Agency
The Burmese military government army has confiscated more
than 3,300
acres of people's land for their
army business and army based in
southern
The army confiscated about 2,000 acres of land in Thanpyuzayart
Township, Mon state, for their newly based battalions'
business and
about 700 acres of land for their
dam built in Ye in mid-2004.
About 300 acres of land were confiscated in southern Ye in September
2004, and about 300 acres in
army base. According to a source
report, the army paid no compensation
to people for their lost land.
Most land confiscated was cultivated land, farmland that
local people
relied on for their income and
survival. After the land was confiscated,
landowners became jobless, some
people went to
some landowners fled into refugee
camps.
"First, landowners face the problem of their
livelihood. Second, they
have to find new land for living
space for their families, but it is
difficult to get new space because
the Burmese military government does
not allow villagers to stay in the
jungle far from towns or villages.
Burmese soldiers launch military operations along the jungle
so there is
no security. Third, they have to
flee to neighbor countries to seek work
as illegal migrant workers," Nai Kasauh Mon, human rights
director of
the Human Rights Foundation of Mon
Land, said, explaining problems
landowners face after land
confiscation.
"I don't think the people are going to get compensation
without peace in
farms to cultivate, but they did
not care Although the
Party, the Mon cease-fire group, requested the military
regime, the
government did not care. And it is
difficult have political change in
solve it," Nai
Kasauh Mon added.
According to the New Mon State Party (NMSP) leader, the NMSP
has
requested many times by letter in
meetings with the Burmese military
government to give compensation to
landowners or give landspace. But no
compensation was given by the
government.
According to the "No Land to Farm" report
published in 2003, the
government confiscated more than
8,000 acres of land in 1998-2002 and
also paid no compensation. After
the report came out, government
military authorities gathered
landowners to give compensation. In the
beginning, authorities were going
to gave it, but later stopped.
Before the cease-fire, many political leaders and Mon people
believed
Human rights violations would decrease if the New Mon State
Party made a
cease-fire agreement with the Burmese
military regime.
But after the cease-fire human rights violations happened in
and southern
confiscation, rape cases and forced
labor increased.
++++++++++++++++++++
George Fernendes: Shame on
===================================================================
Mung Pi
Mizzima News (www.mizzima.com)
Former Indian defense minister George Fernendes
has condemned
ruling government for cooperating
with the
whileoverlooking
the suffering of its own people.
Addressing more than 200 protestors gathered at Teen Murti,
at a demonstration on the
anniversary of
4, Fernandes said, "General
Aung San, the freedom fighter of
to share an intimate relationship
with Gandhiji and Pandit
Nehru and
exchange views and ideas to obtain
freedom. But today it's a shame that
the Indian government is
cooperating with the military junta to suppress
the people of
Samata Party leader Fernendes also said that although
obtained genuine freedom and are
made prisoners in their own state by
the military dictators.
Holding banners that read "We express our solidarity
with the people
Of
"
Indian politicians, social activists, academicians and
various Burmese
and ethnic pro-democracy groups
marched for about two hours.
Some socialist leaders also told protestors of their support
for the
democracy movement in
The protestors attmpted to submit
a memorandum with their demands to the
Burmese Embassy, but the embassy responded by closing the
gates and
declining to accept the letter.
Protesters had to leave the papers
outside the gate.
"Since they did not accept (it) we have pushed it [the
memorandum]
through the window. It only shows
that the military dictators are scared
of anything that is
democratic," said the outspoken Fernandes,
disappointed. The demonstration was
a followup action to a convention
held in October for restoration of
democracy in
The ruling United Progressive Alliance government led by the
Congress
party, demanded the release of Suu
Kyi while still applying the
so-called constructive engagement
policy with
Nobel Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's
National League for Democracy
party held its Independence Day
ceremony at its headquarter in
without some detained key leaders
while the military junta held a
separate ceremony.
NLD spokesperson U Lwin told the
party to call for immediate release of
all political prisoners and to
cancel the assurance of amnesty to
politicians. However, the junta has
yet to respond to the call of the
NLD to start dialogue beginning first by discussing the
issue of
"two-way forgiving."
Under the leadership of Gen. Aung San, father of house-arrested Aung
San Suu Kyi,
January 1948. The military dictators have ruled
disguises since 1962
++++++++++++++
Tsunami quake kills
two in Shan State
=====================================
SHAN
The earthquake in southern
followed its devastating forerunner
in
in Namzang
township where two people were reported killed when their
homes collapsed, said a Shan elder
in Taunggyi this morning.
"It also tore down the umbrella from the town's
pagoda," said the
58-year-old resident of the state capital,
62 miles west of the epicenter.
Meanwhile, some buildings were reported to have crumbled in Langkher,
57 miles south of Namzarng, but no
deaths were announced. Strong tremors
were also recorded in Loilem and Panglong, 15 miles and
21 miles
respectively west of Namzang.
Details, however, are still absent on
the world's most recent natural
disaster that left more than 150,000
dead and millions homeless in 11
Asian and African countries.
+++++++++++++++++++
Wa reinforces border command
============================
SHAN
More than a thousand fresh troops from the Chinese border
have recently
arrived in Wa strongholds along the
Thai-Burma border to pre-empt any
likely order from
north, reports King Cobra from the Chiangmai border:
So far the arrivals are reported only in Mongton
and Mongpiang townships:
Place of arrival
Namhu-Monghang,
Mongton township
Hoyawd, Mongton
township
Hopang, Mongton
township
Namhukhun,
Poongpakhem sub-township,
Mongton township
Loi Kawngkha,
NE of Mongpu-awn,
Mongpiang township
Arrivals in nearby
however, are yet to be reported. A
Shan source close to the Wa said,
"One quarter of the newcomers are said to be ethnic
Chinese." The
fighters, fully equipped, had
marched all the way from Panghsang to the
south, a distance of 150-250 miles.
The 171st Military Region that stretches from Tachilek to near the Kayah
border, opposite Maehongson, Chiangmai and Chiangrai provinces, is
woefully short of manpower.
"It has over 20 battalions," said the
informed source, "but each
battalion barely manages 100 fighters."
The 171st is said to be under the command of Wei Hsuehkang, wanted both
by the
Panghsang have publicly denied
knowledge of his whereabouts. His command
has already been unofficially
engaged in a few clashes with the Burmese
units since last month.
On Dec. 21, a Wa base in Namyoom, five miles north of the Chiangmai
border, and its neighboring Burma
Army base exchanged shellings for two
and a half hours (
A non-commissioned officer later complained to a S.H.A.N.
source that
the Wa started the fracas without
provocation. "We suffered 13 dead," he
said.
"I was therefore taken aback when our commander ordered
us to keep quiet
about the whole affair."
The Wa had felt let down by the
surprise removal of Gen Khin Nyunt, in
whom they placed considerable
trust, said a Thai border watcher in
Maesai. "To make things worse, a pro-Wa Lahu
militia force of Panghai
(Mongpu-awn tract, Mongpiang township) commanded by I-shamuay
(Samuel)
was disarmed by a Burma Army unit
on Nov. 16," he said. "The Wa
naturally thought unless they were
battle-ready at all times, they would
suffer the same fate."
Regarding the Burma Army's seeming
forbearance toward recent clashes,
Unsettling Moves reports: the Wa
forced resettlement program in eastern
says
dividing the Wa, it will make the
task easier.
+++++++++++++++++++++
Western Command tenders 12 shrimp farms
to local businessmen
============================================================
Narinjara News
On Dec. 30, the military's western command tendered 12
shrimp farms for
the 2005 fiscial
year to local businessmen in Maungdaw, Arakan.
A tender ceremony was held at the headquarters of Nasaka under
Supervision of the Deputy Commander of Western Command, at
the border
security forces base in Ann Town in
central Arakan state.
"There were a number of local businessmen attending the
ceremony but
it was only for a few people,"
said a businessman from Maungdaw.
Twelve businessmen from around
64.8 million kyats, all of whom are related to the SPDC
government and
the Union Solidarity Development
Association (USDA).
"The tender is impossible to get for ordinary people.
The people who
were offered the tender are close
to the SPDC authority. One
businessman, U Kyaw Yin, who
received a tender of Kyi Kyunt island,
located on the
of Maungdaw
township," a businessman said.
Those people who want to get a tender usually give a bribe
to the
Local authority for the shrimp farm and then another bribe
for the
export of shrimp products to
neighboring countries. In the past, Nasaka
intelligence officials proclaimed
that funds earned from shrimp tender
were for the welfare of Nasaka and the intelligence unit, but in the end
most of the money was
misappropriated by the officials.
The shrimp farms total over 6,400 acres which previously
belonged to
Nasaka officials and the Maungdaw Intelligence Unit but the farms came
under the control of the Western
Command after Nasaka intelligence
officials were dismissed from their
posts.
Shrimp farming is a lucrative business in Arakan state, thus a number of
military personnel have illegally gotten
involved in the business, added
the businessman.
**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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+66 9 54 94 296
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