IAEA to investigate Burma

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IAEA to investigate Burma's nuclear program Updated June 30, 2010 20:43:24 It's been a rumour for years but now the international nuclear watchdog has formally turned its attention to Burma. The International Atomic Energy Agency is understood to be investigating a report, written by one of its own former directors. The document draws on a new dossier of material which was smuggled out of Burma, by a Burmese weapons expert. The IAEA has approached the Burmese regime asking it to explain why it appears to be manufacturing parts for nuclear weapons. Presenter: Jeff Waters Speakers: Robert Kelly, former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency Listen: Windowmedia

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Tribunal on the crimes women of Burma

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Women’s League of Burma and Human Rights Now: Peoples’ Tribunal on the crimes against women of Burma (Japan) Fri 25 Jun 2010 Filed under: Announcement Date: 27 June 2010 (Sunday) Time: 1 pm to 5 pm. Venue: Aoyama Gakuin University, Building No. (6), Shubuya 4?4?25, Tokyo, Japan (opposite of UN office) In the reign of the Burmese military regime, the women of Burma have been suffering from various form of violation brutally committed by the regime until today. The women of Burma in particular are enduring the sexual violence from inhuman treatment by the military regime because there is no protection by law or by the State to the women rights entitled from birth in Burma. Moreover the women in Burma are experiencing various forms of forced labor and porter like their male counterparts and like in some cases; the women are experiencing sexual violence while serving as forced porter in the frontlines. Meanwhile, the military regime imprisoned Burmese pro?democracy leader and Nobel peace laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi by their unfair and non?independent trials many times and she is under house arrest until today. Moreover the regime is forcibly recruiting child soldiers in their army and is exceedingly violating the political and civil rights of the people of Burma. Despite the repeated condemnations and pressures given by UN and International Community against the brutal Burmese military regime, in the official name of ‘State Peace and Development Council’ (SPDC), continues to commit brutal human rights violations. They oppressed and restricted the opposition parties and political activists by inhumane conducts and treating them as if these people were their enemy. After suffering the loss of human rights and women rights under the rule of military dictatorship for many decades, the women in Burma are determined to bravely face the military dictatorship and have started their systematic struggle against the regime rather than passive resistance by tightening their belts. Women League of Burma and Nobel Women’s Initiatives led in conducting the court proceedings of ‘Peoples’ Tribunal’ in New York State on March 2nd, 2010. This ‘Peoples’ Tribunal’ passed its guilty verdict of committing grave crimes against humanity against their own people. As a second step taken by Burmese women in elimination and prevention of violence committed by the military regime, the judge panel consists of Japanese judges and lawyers will conduct the court proceeding by hearing the testimonies of the victims who had suffered from the violence. This is the first ever Peoples’ Tribunal on crime against women of Burma in Japan which will hear the cases with sympathy to the Burmese people and in the respect of the rule of law. Implementing Organizations Women’s League of Burma (WLB) and Human Rights Now (HRN) Supporting organizations Burmese political organizations in Japan The People’s Forum on Burma (PFB) All Japan Feminist Representatives Amnesty International (Japan) Human Rights Watch Asian Women Resources Center Burma Info Sponsored by Lush Japan Co. Ltd. Contact Person: Ms. Kazuko Ito – Secretary General, Human Rights Now (81) 03?3835?2110 Ms. Thin Thin Aung – Presidium Board member, Women’s League of Burma (81) 08031703258

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Aung San Suu Kyi's 65th birthday in Tokyo

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The 65th birthday of Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's detained opposition leader, is being recognised by supporters both at home and abroad.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, US President Barack Obama and the UK have marked the occasion by reiterating calls for the Nobel laureate's release.
Members of Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy plan to plant about 20,000 saplings around Burma.
Ms Suu Kyi has spent most of the last two decades in some form of detention.
Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, she is one of the world's best known political prisoners, and is currently under house arrest in Burma's former capital, Rangoon.
Demonstrations calling for her release are planned around the world later on Saturday. On sunday also Daw Aung San  Kyi birthday mark held in Tokyo lead by WLB / woman's league of Burma Japan branch , about 350 person support and Suuparticipate for her birthday.
Live News at http://www.burmacampaign.net/
BCJP Television

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Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's 65th birthday

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YANGON — Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi marked her 65th birthday under house arrest Saturday as activists held protests around the globe and world leaders called for the junta to free her. The military regime has kept the Nobel laureate in detention for almost 15 years and she has been barred from running in upcoming elections that critics have denounced as a sham aimed at entrenching the generals' power. Suu Kyi's party won the last polls in 1990 but was never allowed to take office. A UN working group this week pronounced her detention a breach of international human rights law, prompting new calls for her release. In a birthday message, US President Barack Obama hailed Suu Kyi's "determination, courage and personal sacrifice in working for human rights and democratic change". "I once again call on the Burmese government to release Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners immediately and unconditionally and to allow them to build a more stable, prosperous Burma that respects the rights of all its citizens," he said, using the country's former name. The woman known in Myanmar simply as "The Lady" remains the most powerful symbol of freedom in a country where the army rules with an iron fist. The opposition leader spent the day at her lakeside mansion in Yangon, where she lives with two female assistants, cut off from the outside world without telephone or Internet access. About 400 of her supporters held a party at one of their houses in northern Yangon in her absence. Plain-clothes police outside photographed and filmed people attending the event. "We, the NLD members, Daw Suu's friends and colleagues, pray for her release soon," said Win Tin, a former political prisoner and senior National League for Democracy (NLD) figure. "Daw" is a term of respect in Myanmar. Suu Kyi's supporters, some of whom wore T-shirts bearing her image, freed caged birds, prayed in front of her portrait and cut a birthday cake. "The most important thing is the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi," said her lawyer Nyan Win. "Although she is in detention, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's spirit has not been diminished at all." NLD members are planting about 20,000 trees around Myanmar to mark her birthday and sent spicy food to her home to share with workers doing renovations. Events to mark her birthday were being held in cities around the world, ranging from candlelight vigils to music concerts and solidarity rallies. British Prime Minister David Cameron described the Nobel laureate as "a powerful symbol of the strength of the human spirit." "The injustice of your continuing detention mirrors the injustice that the regime has inflicted on your country and your people for so many years. "Throughout that time, you have stood firm, at enormous personal cost, for the principles of liberty and justice," he said in an open letter to Suu Kyi. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Suu Kyi "should be released without conditions as soon as possible" so she could participate in upcoming elections. "This election must be held in a credible, impartial and objective way," Ban said on the eve of Suu Kyi's birthday. In Prague, human rights activists wrote messages for the democracy icon on a graffiti wall decorated with her portrait. In Kuala Lumpur, about 100 exiles sang patriotic songs and cut a cake. "We urge the Myanmar people to boycott the election. The people will be cheated again. How can there be fair election with Aung San Suu Kyi and other leaders in jail," said Kyaw Myo Maung, 27, the event organiser. Nearly 200 demonstrators, mostly Myanmar nationals, also rallied in Tokyo urging Japan -- which has long maintained trade and dialogue with Myanmar -- to step up pressure on the junta to free her immediately. Supporters have also posted messages of support on Facebook and other social networking websites. Suu Kyi's NLD was forcibly disbanded by the junta after refusing to meet a May 6 deadline to re-register -- a move that would have forced it to expel its leader and other members in detention. Suu Kyi had her incarceration lengthened by 18 months in August last year after being convicted over a bizarre incident in which a US man swam to her home, and there are fears her detention may be extended again. Her dedication to non-violence in pressing for change earned her a Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 and placed her -- along with Nelson Mandela -- among the world's foremost voices against tyranny.

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Floods kill at least 25 in Myanmar has triggered

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YANGON (Reuters) – Heavy rain in Myanmar has triggered floods and landslides, washing away bridges, blocking roads and killing at least 25 people, local officials and an aid worker said on Wednesday. Myanmar is no stranger to harsh weather and at least 140,000 people were killed in 2008 when a cyclone hit the south of the country. Large areas of two districts in Rakhine State in the west of the country had been inundated after torrential rain this week, an official who declined to be identified said by telephone from the region. One road had been blocked by a landslide, he added. A worker for an international non-governmental organization, who also declined to be identified, said at least 25 people had died. "We are still carrying out a survey and assessment of the damage and casualties and I think the death toll will keep rising," he said, adding that the government and NGOs based in the region were doing relief work. State media has made no mention of the floods, but the Meteorological Department said 34 cm (13.5 inches) of rain fell in the town of Maungdaw, on the border with Bangladesh, in one day this week. Flooding had also hit the towns of Mrauk Oo and Kyauk Taw, about 550 km (350 miles) northwest of the city of Yangon, washing away three bridges, although no casualties had been reported there, another official in the region said. Deforestation had contributed to the problem, with rain pouring off bare slopes and eroding soil, which blocked waterways, he said. "The forests are gone and the creeks are choked. So flash floods are common in the rainy season," the second official said. (Reporting by Aung Hla Tun; Writing by Alan Raybould; Editing by Ron Popeski)

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Myanmar denies nuclear no intention

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by Staff Writers Yangon (AFP) June 11, 2010 Myanmar's ruling junta said Friday it had no intention of building an atomic bomb, brushing aside Western concerns about possible nuclear cooperation with North Korea. The denial came after the United States raised concerns about "growing military ties" following a report that Myanmar had begun a nuclear weapons programme with Pyongyang's help. In a statement carried by state media, Myanmar's foreign ministry said: "These reports were baseless accusations that are politically motivated. "Myanmar is a country that always respects UN declarations and decisions as it is a UN member country. Myanmar is not in a position to produce nuclear weapons. Myanmar has no intention to become a nuclear power." The statement also said recent nuclear allegations were aimed at undermining renewed dialogue between the United States and Myanmar in the run-up to elections later this year. The allegations aim "to undermine the political process as Myanmar is striving for democracy by holding general elections this year," the statement said. The comments follow a recent documentary by the Norwegian-based news group Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) that said Myanmar was trying to build an atomic bomb. The documentary cited a senior army defector and years of "top secret material". It showed thousands of photos and testimony from defectors that it said revealed the junta's nuclear ambitions and a secret network of underground tunnels, allegedly built with North Korean help. The years-long investigation included hundreds of files and other evidence from the defector, army major Sai Thein Win, who said he was deputy commander of a military factory that was part of Myanmar's nuclear battalion. "They really want to build a bomb. That is their main objective," he was quoted as saying. US Senator Jim Webb cancelled a planned trip to Myanmar last week in response to the allegations, saying it would be "unwise and potentially counter-productive". The findings "contain new allegations regarding the possibility that the Burmese government has been working in conjunction with North Korea in order to develop a nuclear programme," Webb said. Myanmar, which has been under military rule since 1962, has been accused of violating a UN Security Council ban on North Korean arms exports imposed last June. Following a visit there in May, US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell expressed concern about a suspected arms shipment from North Korea to Myanmar. President Barack Obama's administration last year launched a dialogue with Myanmar's military rulers, after concluding that attempts to isolate the regime had met with little success. But Washington has sharply criticised preparations for this year's elections -- the first in 20 years -- as well as raising the nuclear concerns. Myanmar severed ties with Pyongyang in 1983 following a failed assassination attempt by North Korean agents on then-South Korean president Chun Doo-Hwan while he was visiting the Southeast Asian nation. The attempt left 21 people dead. But with both countries branded "outposts of tyranny" by the United States they have tried rebuilding relations in recent years. Myanmar is preparing for rare elections later this year that critics have dismissed as a sham due to laws that have effectively barred opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from participating.

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Myanmar says nuclear reports not true

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YANGON, Myanmar, June 12 (UPI) -- Myanmar's Foreign Ministry says foreign media reports that the country is trying to develop nuclear weapons with North Korea are untrue.
Japan's Kyodo News service said a ministry statement called the foreign reports "baseless accusations" that are "politically motivated," coming from army deserters, fugitives and dissidents.
The statement said the allegations were designed to disrupt relations with the United States, which have improved following a new U.S. engagement policy toward Myanmar, formerly called Burma, Kyodo News reported.

Among those foreign reports, Qatar-based satellite television al-Jazeera -- citing footage and documents obtained by Myanmar dissident media Democratic Voice Burma in Norway -- broadcast a documentary accusing Myanmar of secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons in cooperation with North Korean technicians.

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A True Love Story':

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An intimate witness to rebellion in Burma 'Burmese Lessons: A True Love Story' by Karen Connelly Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 382 pp., $27.95 The writing of a memoir — especially one subtitled "A True Love Story" — presents an inherent challenge: the author's self-revelation risks devolving into rank confession and undermining the larger truths of the story. When a writer can overcome this potential pitfall, as Karen Connelly does so convincingly in "Burmese Lessons," it is cause for rejoicing. Connelly lived as an exchange student in Thailand when she was 17, and her interest in the region never waned. She achieved early literary success with "Dream of a Thousand Lives," an account of her year in Thailand, and in 1996, at age 28, she traveled to Burma to write about political prisoners for PEN Canada. Ruled by military regimes since 1962, Burma (officially known as Myanmar) became more open by the mid-1990s, but the government still clamped down on dissension. Student protests erupted in 1988 and again in the 1990s. Insurgents, many of them from the Karen ethnic group, waged battles with government troops along the Thai-Burmese border. The first quarter of the book is set in Burma, set up by Connelly's lush and lovely descriptions of the "Golden Land." She interviews writers, poets, artists and dissidents, including Nobel Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who lives in Rangoon under house arrest. Caught up in the spirit of rebellion, Connelly finds herself in the middle of a pro-democracy demonstration and observes the government's brutality firsthand. Back in Thailand, she seeks out Burmese exiles, and in the northern city of Chiang Mai she meets Maung, the handsome and charismatic leader of one of the main rebel groups. Wary at first, she soon swoons and falls hard for Maung, accompanying him to villages and refugee camps along the border, and witnesses appalling, squalid conditions there. Rebel fighters tell her stories of torture and shocking cruelty. The cause takes Maung away for long periods, heightening their romance, but creating tension between them. Love seems simple and straightforward for him, fraught and complicated for her — she wants to have children with him but doesn't want to marry someone with such an unsettled life. Connelly avoids romanticizing both her love affair and the Burmese resistance through a fierce honesty. She writes explicitly about sexual intimacy. Neither does she shy away from how conflicted she is by their relationship. The narrative is written in the present tense, and while grating at times, it gives the story an immediacy and air of uncertainty. Hyper-aware of her privilege as a Westerner, she continually questions her motivations and potential biases in her interpretation of Asian culture and people. "Everything becomes territory to us [Westerners], everything becomes ours," she writes. "Is the tendency to colonize genetic? Even the political struggle of a small country can become our colony. Thus, I become suspicious of myself." Her self-policing vigilance has the unlikely consequence of freeing the reader to indulge in the book's more memorable and moving story lines: the bravery of the Burmese resistance and a heartbreaking romance set among the temples and verdure of Southeast Asia. David Takami is the author of "Divided Destiny: A History of Japanese Americans in Seattle."

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Myanmar seeking nuclear weapons

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BANGKOK — Documents smuggled out of Myanmar by an army defector indicate its military regime is trying to develop nuclear weapons and long-range missiles, and North Korea is probably assisting the program, an expatriate media group said Friday. The Norway-based Democratic Voice of Burma said the defector had been involved in the nuclear program and smuggled out extensive files and photographs describing experiments with uranium and specialized equipment needed to build a nuclear reactor and develop enrichment capabilities. But the group concluded in a report that Myanmar is still far from producing a nuclear weapon. On Thursday, U.S. Sen. Jim Webb announced he was postponing a trip to Myanmar because of new allegations that it was collaborating with North Korea to develop a nuclear program. Webb, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia and Pacific Affairs, referred to documents provided by a Myanmar army defector. Myanmar's military government has denied similar allegations in the past, but suspicions have mounted recently that the impoverished Southeast Asian nation has embarked on a nuclear program. Myanmar's junta, which has been condemned worldwide for its human rights abuses, has no hostile neighbors. The military's prime concern is suppressing dissidents at home and battling several small-scaled insurgencies. Last month, U.N. experts monitoring sanctions imposed against North Korea over its nuclear and missile tests said their research indicated it was involved in banned nuclear and ballistic missile activities in Iran, Syria and Myanmar, which is also called Burma. The DVB report said Russia has also trained Myanmar technicians in nuclear and missile technology. The group, which operates Oslo-based television and radio stations, said the defector, Sai Thein Win, was an army major who was trained in Myanmar as a defense engineer and later in Russia as a missile expert. It said he had access to secret Myanmar nuclear facilities including a nuclear battalion north of Mandalay "charged with building up a nuclear weapons capability." It said the documents it obtained were examined by Robert Kelley, an American nuclear scientist and former director in the International Atomic Energy Agency who concluded that Myanmar "is probably mining uranium and exploring nuclear technology that is only useful for weapons." The group said its report was based on a five-year study that indicated that North Korea was involved in assisting the program. Documents obtained earlier showed that North Korea was helping Myanmar dig a series of underground facilities and develop missiles with a range of up to 3,000 kilometers (1,860 miles). The group said the documents obtained from the defector show a number of components used in nuclear weapons and missile technology, including a missile fuel pump impeller, chemical engineering equipment that can be used to make compounds used in uranium enrichment, and nozzles used to separate uranium isotopes into bomb materials. "The total picture is very compelling. Burma is trying to build pieces of a nuclear program, specifically a nuclear reactor to make plutonium and a uranium enrichment program," the report said.

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US senator nixes Myanmar trip

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BANGKOK – A U.S. senator on Thursday postponed a trip to Myanmar, saying it is a bad time to visit because of new allegations that its military regime is collaborating with North Korea to develop a nuclear program. A statement issued by the office of Sen. Jim Webb, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Subcommittee on East Asia and Pacific Affairs, said the allegations had not been substantiated, but there were also concerns that Myanmar had broken a U.N. embargo on buying arms from North Korea. "Until there is further clarification on these matters, I believe it would be unwise and potentially counterproductive for me to visit Burma," said his statement, referring to Myanmar by its former name. Webb was supposed to go to Myanmar late Thursday. Myanmar's military regime is under economic and political sanctions by many Western nations because of its poor record on human rights and its failure to hand over power to a democratically elected government. The leader of the pro-democracy opposition, Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, has been detained for about 14 of the past 20 years. Webb's statement cited news reports it did not identify. "From the initial accounts, a defecting officer from the Burmese military claims direct knowledge of such plans, and reportedly has furnished documents to corroborate his claims," his statement said. The website of the Doha-based Al-Jazeera satellite TV station said Thursday it will broadcast a program Friday with evidence that "Myanmar's ruling generals have started a program to build nuclear weapons (and) are trying to develop long-range missiles." U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Washington has "been concerned about Burma's relationship with North Korea, the transactions that occur between Burma and North Korea." "We are very conscious that North Korea is a serial proliferator of dangerous materials and weapons," Crowley said. "This is something that we have expressed directly to Burma and that continues to be a major concern of ours." The trip by Webb, a Democrat from Virginia, had been scheduled to follow a visit by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia Kurt Campbell last month, and would have overlapped with that of Premier Wen Jiabao of China, Myanmar's closest and most powerful ally, who arrived Wednesday in Myanmar. On his current Asian tour, Webb has visited South Korea and Thailand. Campbell during his visit last month cautioned Myanmar's military regime that it should abide by U.N. sanctions that prohibit buying arms from North Korea. A U.N. Security Council resolution bans all North Korean arms exports, authorizes member states to inspect North Korean sea, air and land cargo and requires them to seize and destroy any goods transported in violation of the sanctions. Campbell said that Myanmar's leadership had agree to abide by the U.N. resolution, but that "recent developments" called into question its commitment. At a news conference late Thursday in Bangkok, Webb said he still strongly believed that continuing a dialogue between the U.S. and Myanmar is important for maintaining a strategic balance in Southeast Asia and encouraging more open government in Myanmar, "but a productive dialogue is only achievable in an environment where we don't have these other issues so outstanding." He also said he thought "China should step forward and assume a bigger role and become more openly involved in solving a range of issues" including Iran, Burma, North Korea, as well as transnational problems. Webb also called for President Obama to "immediately appoint a special envoy to address the entire range of issues regarding relations between the United States and Burma" — an action mandated by U.S. law. ___ Associated Press writer Alex Alper contributed to this report.

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