Burma News International

Date: April 20, 2005

 

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(1)     REACTION TO SHAN INDEPENDENCE DECLARATION MIXED

(2      NEW ZEALAND TRADE UNIONS URGE GOVERNMENT TO SANCTION BURMA

(3)     VILLAGERS KILLED BY MON SPLINTER GROUP

(4)     27 CIVILIANS ARRESTED AFTER ONE SOLDIER KILLED, ONE INJURED IN CLASH WITH YOUTHS IN SITTWE

(5)     SHAN ELDERS DECLARE INDEPENDENCE

(6)     Burmese workers on strike seek help (In Burmese)

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*** Note: For Burmese Story read in www.bnionline.net



REACTION TO SHAN
INDEPENDENCE DECLARATION MIXED

 

S.H.A.N, April 19

 

Shans both at home and abroad have responded differently to the unexpected

declaration of Shan State independence on Sunday by hitherto little-known

latecomers.

 

Many ordinary people expressed delight. "At last they are really saying

what we want," exclaimed a Shan migrant in Bangkok who said he was

organizing a rally in support of the declaration.

 

Inside Burma, Burmese-speaking Shans flocked together to listen to reports

broadcast by foreign-based radio stations. "Now the politicians held in

reserve all these years have come out of their warehouse," said an excited

officer of a Shan ceasefire group interviewed by phone.

 

Seasoned politicians, on the other hand, are wary. "The last time

Independence was declared was by Khun Sa in 1993," recalled a former

political officer who now lives in retirement in southern Shan State, "and

he was destroyed when Rangoon pooled its resources against him."

 

"We stand by the resolutions of the Ethnic Nationalities Council (ENC),"

said Sao Sengsuk, chairman of the exiled Shan Democratic Union. The ENC,

which claims to represent the majority of non-Burman nationalities, said

in a statement March 5 that it was committed to finding a political

solution to the crisis in Burma through a tripartite dialogue as called

for by the United Nations General Assembly since 1994.

,

It also agreed with five of Rangoon's much-publicized Six Objectives

       1.  Non-disintegration of the union.

       2.    Non-disintegration of the national unity.

       3.  Stability of national sovereignty.

       4.     Development of a genuine multi-party democracy.

       5,      Promotion of social truths such as justice, freedom and

equality.

 

As for the military rulers' sixth demand for a leading role in Burma's

future politics, it allowed that the military should have a role "in the

transition period."

 

Sao Sengsuk blamed the latest development in Shan politics as the result

of Rangoon's inflexibility, as demonstrated by the arrests of 11 Shan

politicians, 10 of whom were jailed in February. At the same time, he saw

the latest move by the radical Shans as 'ill-advised'.

 

Other Shans also expressed concern for the detained Shan leaders. "They

may have to bear the brunt for all this hullabaloo,"  an elected Shan

Member of Parliament for northern Shan State worried. "The generals will

make them pay."

 

++++

 

NEW ZEALAND TRADE UNIONS URGE GOVERNMENT TO SANCTION BURMA

 

Mungpi

Mizzima News (www.mizzima.com)

 

April 19, 2005: Trade Unions in New Zealand have urged their government

and people to support the international sanction on Burma's military

dictatorship for alleged atrocities against the country's people.

 

The call was given after a meeting between a visiting delegation of

Burmese democracy campaigners and the Council of Trade Unions in

Wellington yesterday.

 

Council of Trade Unions president Ross Wilson called on the New Zealand

government to stop dealing with the Burmese junta and join an

international campaign against the regime.

 

"Burma is the forgotten country and the atrocities committed there daily

by the military dictatorship are often ignored internationally," said Ross

Wilson in a press statement.

 

The Burmese advocacy team, which includes two MPs (members of parliament)

elected in the 1990 election, will directly appeal to the New Zealand

government to stop exports to Burma and support the international sanction

on the Burmese Junta. The team is led by U Hla Oo, U Hla Oo, President of

Federation of Trade Unions of Burma (FTUB) and an elected MP.

 

New Zealand started export to Burma in June 2004. Milk powder, worth 4.5

million dollars, constitutes the major share of the total export, valued

at 5.9 Million dollars.

 

The Burmese team also urged New Zealand to support swelling international

pressure against Burma chairing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations

(Asean) next year unless changes favoring democracy take place in the

country.

 

Burma, which was granted Asean membership in 1997, is set to take over

from Malaysia as the Asean chairman country next year on the basis of

alphabetical rotation.

 

Earlier this month, the exiled Burmese democracy campaigners, while

visiting Manila, the Philippine capital, for a conference of the

Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), sought a blockade on Burma's prospective

chairmanship.

 

The United States and the European Union, both imposing sanctions on the

Burmese military junta, have threatened to boycott  Asean meetings hosted

by Burma, due to its appalling human rights record and lack of democracy.

 

Burma, with a population of 50 million, has been ruled by the military

since 1962. In 1990, the junta held an election but nullified the results

when the National League for Democracy (NLD), led by later Nobel Peace

Prize Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, had a landslide victory.

 

Burma's democracy icon, Suu Kyi, has been under her third house arrest

since 1990. She has spent most of her days since in Burma under detention

or house arrest.

 

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VILLAGERS KILLED BY MON SPLINTER GROUP

(Kaowao: April 19, 2005)

 

Eleven villagers were killed by a Mon armed group on April 17, 2005 in

southern Ye, Mon State.

 

The massacre took place at Yaen Rae village of southern Ye after local Mon

people celebrated a traditional Songrant new year and Kyaik Memalort

mountain festival. The Mon armed group, Hongsawatoi Restoration Party

looted properties belong to the victims such as cash, gold chain,

necklaces and rings after the killing, local sources reported.

 

The brutal execution was led by Captain Chan Dane of HRP and the

motivation was given as a failure of meeting with them.

 

But HRP Chairman, Nai Pan Nyunt denied on the killing. “Nai Chan Dane is

not our HRP member. He already left HRP and he founded a small armed group

with name of “Tein Hamarn” armed group. He wasn’t under the command of

HRP,’’ Nai Pan Nyunt added.

 

The villagers had refused to meet with Chan Dane group in fearing of

arrest and torture by the Burma Army for making contact with the

opposition armed group.

 

The source from Hamgam also reported the HRP group robbed some properties

from devotees and visitors on the way to the religious festival where many

people flocked to the highest mountain during New Year festival.

 

Charn Ong from Hamgam said the Buddhist monks and local communities are

unhappy with the Mon splinter armed group for killing innocent civilian.

 

 Captain Chan Dane is known as a notorious guerrilla who also killed a

senior leader of New Mon State Party (NMSP) three years ago.

 

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27 CIVILIANS ARRESTED AFTER ONE SOLDIER KILLED, ONE IBJURED IN CLASH WITH

YOUTHS IN SITTWE

 

Special Reporter

Mizzima News (www.mizzima.com)

April 19, 2005

A fight between soldiers and local youths in Sittwe, the Arakan State

capital, left one soldier dead and another injured on April 16, the eve of

the Burmese water festival. The injured soldier was reportedly admitted to

Sittwe hospital and  27 local residents were arrested following the

incident.

 

The clash took place after drunken Burmese soldiers reportedly molested

several local girls who went to the Thinbawseik quarter of Sittwe at about

9 p.m. to draw water. The soldiers were waiting to return to their base in

Thaung Goke.

Enraged at the incident, local youths protested and a fight broke out.

During the clash, a soldier was stabbed to death on the spot while another

received serious injuries.

 

Two local Arakan youths, who had joined in the fight, reportedly fled to

Bangladesh.

 

+++

 

SHAN ELDERS DECLARE INDEPENDENCE

 

A group of Shan elders, most of them highly respected but politically

unknown, yesterday stirred shock waves throughout the exiled Shan

community by declaring Shan State independent of Burma.

 

Attired in Shan traditional costume, His Royal Highness Prince Surkhanpha,

67, known affectionately as "Sao Hso" (Tiger) to his friends, and older

brother of the late Dr. Chao Tzang Yawnghwe (1939 - 2004) and Harn

Yawnghwe, director of the Brussels-based Euro Burma Office, solemnly

declared and "affirmed" the Independence of the Federated Shan States (the

former name of Shan State) "by the Will and in the Name of all Peoples of

the Shan States."

 

The oldest son of Burma's first president, Prince Sao Shwe Thaike of

Yawnghwe, and self-styled head of state, he was backed by his foreign

minister, Khun Hom a.k.a. Sai Soe Nyunt, 70, another scion of Shan

royalty, from Haipa, Mongsu township. Sai Soe Nyunt is based in Australia,

Sao Hso in Canada.

Both claim they were elected at a meeting March 25 of 48 delegates

representing 48 townships in Shan State across Thailand's northern border.

A five-member "war cabinet' was also appointed, including defense minister

Sao Khurh Surh, 82, and two others, a prime minister and a home affairs

minister, both reportedly in Shan State.

 

Both also claim support from Shan organizations in Burma and abroad. But

Shan State Army "South" leader Col Yawdserk, who has been fending off

joint Burmese-Wa attacking forces since March 13, denied he had anything

to do with this latest development. "I certainly have no time for it," he

replied.

 

The Shan Nationalities League for Democracy in Thailand, whose top leaders

have been in jail since February, also expressed concern. "We are shocked

and worried," a female member said.

 

NGO workers, meanwhile, said Loi Taileng was shelled yesterday and some

hit the village of 1,819 internally displaced persons nearby. But no

damage has yet been reported.

 

Thai security officers have warned against using the kingdom for the

purpose of declaring independence from its troublesome neighbor. "We can't

have any funny business with Burma right now," said one.

 

***End***



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