The awkward part? The United States still dubs Win Aung a “crony” who allegedly used his close ties to Burma’s old military rulers to build one of the country’s biggest business conglomerates. He remains on a blacklist of entities US citizens and companies are banned from doing business with.

Their handshake on Monday illustrates the complex and sometimes contradictory path the US is forging as it tries to encourage new business ties with Burma while retaining moral sway over powerful economic, political and military interests it has long censured. Many praise the ethical stance taken by US policymakers and hope that the entry of US companies will help forge a more transparent, less corrupt corporate culture. But some question the effectiveness of Washington’s chosen tools and the impact they have on the ability of US investors to compete in what has quickly become a hot market. Read more..

A local resident in Kyuk Pru, U Thanda Maung, told Narinjara over the phone that the MGC company and LIB 543 battalion has been mining (exploding) the rock everyday to produce rock for the Shwe gas project.

“On the mountain, there are 54 ancient cave pagodas built by Arakanese King Minba in the 15th century. The pagodas are threatened due to the production of rock by mining. Young organizations in our town complained to the District Chairman about the matter but have not received any reaction or response up to now,” he said.

The rock Mountain is locally known as Kyauktalone, 3 and half miles away from downtown Kyauk Pru.

Local residents have sent information to U U Ba Shin who is a lawmaker in parliament in Kyauk Pru Township to immediately thwart the production of rocks from the mountain by mining. Read more…

No closer to signing UN convention

Carr acknowledged that Malaysia was no closer to signing the UN convention but said: “It’s very silly if that’s a stumbling block.
“As Malaysia sees it, they have two million illegal workers, they have 100,000 refugees, they’re dealing with this and they can deal with it without signing the convention,” he said. “We were more than happy with the assurances that they gave us when we negotiated the arrangement with them.” Following the collapse of the so-called Malaysia people swap deal, Canberra decided to send boatpeople to Nauru and Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island. Those sent to Nauru have been warned it could be years before their claims for asylum are processed and around 300 of them are in the seventh day of a hunger strike, according to refugee activists. The men, mostly from Sri Lanka but also from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and Iraq, claim being on the remote island is affecting them physically and mentally.

- AFP

Railway Minister and Thein Sein’s chief negotiator with armed ethnic groups, Aung Min, said that the government would allow teaching the Mon language and would provide US$1 million to fund it. However, Banyar Aung Moe, an Upper House MP for the All Mon Regions Democracy Party said, “[Aung Min] told us that the teaching time would be out of school hours. I am not satisfied with this as our party proposed allowing teaching in the government’s school time.”

Also this week, the speaker of the Lower House of Parliament, Shwe Mann, reportedly told Banyar Aung Moe that the government agrees to set up a federal union at some point in the future in order to achieve peace. However, when looking at the reality that ethnic people face, it is easy to take such comments as those from Aung Min and Shwe Mann as little more than empty placations. Read more..

Our perspective on the peace process and peace funds

Sustainable peace is the long-term vision of Karen people. That vision incorporates rule of law, the protection of human rights, democratic governance, security of livelihood and equitable access to natural resources and essential services. We are not there yet.

Peace funds can be an important tool for building a culture of peace in Burma. Well managed peace funds can serve as positive instruments to advance shared multi-ethnic and government agendas for peace. However, peace funds must contribute to addressing deep rooted and structural obstacles to realizing peace in the country and strengthen community decision making processes to identify the priorities of ethnic people. The effective management of peace funds includes maximum transparency, support for a shared framework for peace, inclusive and meaningful consultation with a wide-range of non-state actors, multi-party dialogues and clear monitoring and accountability mechanisms. What we have witnessed so far is that the current peace fund process falls short of these good practices – and standards. Read more…

He added that local people, including government officials, believe that many Arakanese villages in Maungdaw were burned down by the perpetrators of the recent attacks because of the negligence of Nasaka Commander Colonel Aung Gyi. “When the attacks were happening in downtown Maungdaw, the Nasaka personnel came and found fault with the riot police of Battalion 2, who tried to disperse the attackers with gunfire. When Laungdone Model Village in northern Maungdaw was being attacked, Colonel Aung Gyi did not allow his forces to open fire. After his area-officer was hit and injured by stones thrown by the attackers, his forces opened fire and the attackers were dispersed. So the departmental officers here are also still dissatisfied with him for his performance during the violent attacks here,” said the police officer. Read more..

On 8 June, the Kachin Women’s Association – Thailand (KWAT) released a new report at a press conference with other Kachin organizations to highlight the ongoing armed conflict and human rights abuses. KWAT’s report documents how in the last year, the people of Kachin State have faced arbitrary arrest, torture, forced labor, rape and sexual violence at the hands of the Burma Army who continue to commit these crimes with impunity. Among the most horrendous accounts are those of women being gang-raped, tortured and used as sexual slaves by Burma Army soldiers. More than 75,000 people have fled the fighting and human rights violations in Kachin State, but receive virtually no humanitarian assistance. After being blocked by the government on

several occasions, the UN is now only providing food rations to a few thousand internally displaced persons on a monthly basis, leaving people in a precarious situation with no end in sight as ceasefire negotiations have failed repeatedly. Read more..

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s concerns with MOGE stem from the fact that it is a military controlled, state enterprise that has long been associated with some of the gravest human rights abuses documented in Burma, predominantly in ethnic nationality areas where the country’s natural resources are concentrated. Examples of MOGE’s violations include the Shwe Gas pipeline where, according to the agreement between the state-run enterprise and the Chinese National Petroleum Corporation, the Burma Army provides security for the construction and maintenance of the pipeline. Read more..

Students were not only arrested in Rangoon, but in Lashio, Mandalay, Shwebo, and Myingyan too. According to an 88 Generation Student spokesperson, the authorities claimed they just wanted to talk to the organizers of the event but this scarcely fools anyone. When General Ne Win staged a coup in 1962, students who protested were brutally fired upon. Following this the army blew up the student union building at University of Rangoon and it has not reopened since. After students led the protests of 1988, the University of Rangoon was closed and in the following years universities were relocated to outside the main urban centres of Burma, thus making it difficult for students to come together. Read more..