Burma turning over a new leaf regarding ethnic minorities?

[Gaybutton]

I'm certainly glad to see that Burma is finally taking some steps toward making some sort of peace with the ethnic minority states. The one thing that comes as a surprise to me, and an unpleasant, disappointing surprise to me, is apparently Suu Kyi is not going to support rights for those minorities. I am friends with a Shan boy and recently asked him if he thinks the fact that Suu Kyi is finally back in the political arena, might she be able to do something to help.

His response was a resounding no. He said when it comes to any kind of support for us, she is not much better than the generals. If we are going to ever get help or someone who cares about us, it will not be her.

This article sugar coats the way it is stated, but does corroborate the boy's opinion that she has little interest in the plight of the ethnic minorities.

Whatever happened to people like U Thant?
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Burma Talks with Rebels

Published: 23/11/2011

Burmese leaders have begun a new round of peace talks with several ethnic groups fighting a long-running struggle for autonomy and rights, a major rebel organisation said Tuesday.

The move comes as the army-dominated country seeks to improve its standing internationally and prepares for a landmark visit by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has called for an end to the ongoing conflicts.

Government minister Aung Min met delegates from some of the country's ethnic groups on Saturday near the Thai-Burma border, said Colonel James Lum Dau of the Kachin Independence Organisation, one of the groups attending.

Since Burma gained independence in 1948, conflict between the army and rebels from various minority ethnic groups has seen decades of violence, allegations of grave human rights abuses and the displacement of tens of thousands of people.

"This was preliminary talks between the government and ethnic armed groups," Lum Dau, who is based in Bangkok, said on Tuesday. "This was an introduction for talks in the future," he said, adding that the meeting was a "good sign".

He told AFP that fighting was currently "very very serious" in northern Kachin state, one of the regions of most concern. "Every day we are killing each other," he said.

Saturday's meeting, which included groups representing the Kachin, Karen and Shan minorities, came at the end of a key week for Burma, which won Southeast Asia's approval to chair the region's political bloc in 2014 and a nod from the United States with the announcement that Clinton would visit.

While the new nominally civilian government that took power this year has won praise for some surprising reformist moves, concerns remain about relations with ethnic minorities, who make up more than a third of the population.

Speaking to Burmese journalists at a summit in Indonesia on Saturday, President Thein Sein said his government was in talks with seven out of eight active insurgent groups.

He said the government was trying to "build trust" but the groups would "have to promise not to try to secede from the country", according to the Myanmar Times.

"We will look to implement more projects to raise their living standards while at the same time negotiate with them. If it works they will not be holding weapons in the future."

Clinton, who will become the first US Secretary of State to visit Burma in 50 years next month, raised the issue in an interview with Fox News on Friday after her visit was announced.

"We'd like to see an end to the conflicts, particularly the terrible conflicts with ethnic minorities," she said.

Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, whose opposition party decided last week to rejoin the mainstream political process after boycotting last year's polls, called earlier this year for an end to the conflict.

Despite her status and expressed desire for peace, Suu Kyi has not traditionally had a close relationship with rebel groups in her struggle for democracy.


http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews ... nic-rebels

[Jomtienbob]

Change does not just happen overnight.

While I would prefer to see a more perfect world with everyone getting along, this is a major step in bringing Myanmar back into the realm of "civilized" nations.

Let's hope Hillary has great success in her visit. It could be major league progress for this region.

[Gaybutton]

bringing Myanmar back into the realm of "civilized" nations.

Just as an aside, my Shan friend refuses to call it Myanmar. He insists on calling it Burma because, he says, it was this repressive government that changed the name.

[Jomtienbob]

I thought they changed the name as many others have, to cast off the last vestige of colonialism.

[Gaybutton]

I thought they changed the name as many others have, to cast off the last vestige of colonialism.

Nevertheless, that's what my Shan friend said.

[Gaybutton]

Brutal Reality Behind Junta's Benign Face

While the international community and Asean reward Burma's government for its cautious reforms, the army is looting, burning and destroying village farms and forcing thousands of Kachin civilians into makeshift camps

Published: 27/11/2011

Ure Seng Raw, a rice farmer, sits on a rough bench in the small bamboo hut she now calls home and explains why she endured a tough two-day mountain walk from her village of Rawt Jat to live here.

''The Burmese army shelled our village on June 15. We were scared. We could see unexploded shells around the houses. We were worried the soldiers would take us as porters and rape our daughters.''

Ure Seng has good reason to be worried. In June and July this year the Kachin Women's Association Thailand documented the rape of 32 women and girls in Kachin State by the Burmese army. 13 of them were killed.

Ure Seng shares the eight-metre by six-metre hut with another family also forced from their home when the Burmese army attacked their village.

As Ure Seng tells her story, the fast flowing waters of the Je Yeng Hka River that separates Burma from China crash over rock-strewn rapids. Tree-covered hills rise steeply from the flood plains on both sides of the river _ a tranquil scene despite the thousands of displaced villagers and row upon row of plastic-roofed bamboo huts dotting the riverbank.

The Je Yang Hka camp houses 4,991 people displaced from 34 villages in the surrounding area. At the time of writing there were a total of 19 camps housing 30,032 people forced from their villages when fighting started between the Burmese army and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in June this year.


Full story and photos: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/investi ... enign-face

[Gaybutton]

Obama Offers Burma 'New Phase' in Relations

Published: 2/12/2011

RANGOON - US President Barack Obama offered Burma a new era in relations if it reforms, and promised democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi his eternal support in letters hand-delivered by his top diplomat Thursday.

The high-stakes personal intervention in a country long regarded by the West as a pariah state came during a historic visit by Hillary Clinton, the first US secretary of state to set foot in the isolated nation in 50 years.

In a message to President Thein Sein, Obama offered a "new phase" in relations and requested "tangible outcomes" from a political reform effort which Washington has decided to test before deciding its next steps on Burma.

"These are incremental steps and we are prepared to go further if reforms maintain momentum. In that spirit, we are discussing what it will take to upgrade diplomatic relations and exchange ambassadors," Clinton told reporters.

The United States has been represented by a lower-ranking diplomat, a charge d'affaires, as a protest since Burmese military rulers refused to accept the results of 1990 elections swept by Suu Kyi's forces.

The opposition leader holds sway in Washington -- where Burmese exile groups keep up a vocal lobbying campaign against the military-backed government -- and any easing of US sanctions on Burma would almost certainly need her approval.

In an indication of the high esteem in which Suu Kyi is held in Washington, Clinton was due to meet twice with the democracy champion -- first for dinner Thursday and then for more formal talks on Friday morning.

In his letter to Suu Kyi, Obama signalled there would be no daylight between Washington and her interpretation of political events in Burma.

"We stand by you, now and always," Obama wrote, telling his fellow Nobel laureate that he had long admired her "brave and unwavering struggle for democracy".

The country has surprised observers with a series of reformist moves in the past year including releasing Suu Kyi, holding dialogue with the opposition and freeing some political prisoners.

It also has continued to make war on ethnic border groups, keep some political prisoners locked up, and acquiesce in the region's biggest drug trade.

Obama told Thein Sein, a former general, that Washington wanted to "explore how the United States can support and advance your efforts to transition to democracy and promote protection of human rights".

US officials said the message, released by Clinton's aides, aimed to signal that Obama was ready to invest personal prestige in engaging Burma.

The letter did not mention the words "Myanmar" or "Burma".

The former military junta tried to rename the country "Myanmar" in 1989, reverting to a historical name. The United States is among those who still spell the country's name as "Burma", a rebuke to the military dictators for failing to ask the country its opinion of a name change.

In her landmark talks, Clinton won promises of further reforms from Thein Sein and offered cautious incentives to encourage new action, saying more needed to be done before US sanctions could be lifted.

"Any steps that the government takes will be carefully considered and ... will be matched because we want to see political and economic reform take hold," she told reporters in the isolated showcase capital, Naypyidaw.

Thein Sein, who took charge in March after Burma nominally ended decades of military rule, himself hailed a "new chapter in relations" as he met Clinton at his imposing palace decked out with chandeliers and gold-leaf chairs.

Clinton said the United States would open talks with Burma to start joint searches for the remains of troops killed in World War Two, when the strategically placed country was a major battleground.

She also invited Burma to become an observer to the Lower Mekong Initiative, a US programme that offers cooperation on health and the environment in Southeast Asian nations, and voiced support for IMF missions to the country.

Suu Kyi's opposition, which boycotted last year's poll, plans to contest by-elections next year that will be a major test of the new political climate.

Obama announced he would send Clinton to test reform efforts in Burma two weeks ago during an Asia-Pacific tour, in the most significant US gesture towards the country in many years.

The top US diplomat urged Burma to free all political prisoners, estimated by activists to number between 500 and more than 1,600, and pressed the government to end long-running ethnic conflicts.


http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/26 ... -relations

[pong]

The Thai name for that country west of it is Phima. Pronounced as such.
Be aware that with those Karen/Shan you do get an unbalanced and onesided view. They are terrific in only giving the negative details of that oppressive regime and forget to mention anything the Karen/Shan/TaiYai also do. I have had long lasting friendships also within the group (just general) here in BKK. My nature is to always ask about the other side-so what did you do then?-you never get an answer on that.
IF any country, when the opressing regime releases somewhat, will turn into a murderous bloodshed between all fighting groups/sections/tribes, then I am afraid it will be Phima/Burma/Myanmar. Too many old rifts without having a solution, no natural outlet, never ever learnt to solve peacefully.
Just my idea-do not let that influence your positive impression with this guy.

[Gaybutton]

Just my idea-do not let that influence your positive impression with this guy.

I just returned from spending a full week with my friend and his family. 24 hours a day for a week. My opinion remains the same.

[christianpfc]

The Thai name for that country west of it is Phima. Pronounced as such.

Thai2English says พม่า pá-mâa Myanmar ; Burma