Park lauds Suu Kyi for dedication to democracy

[postlink] https://burmacampaignjapanteam.blogspot.com/2013/01/park-lauds-suu-kyi-for-dedication-to.html [/postlink]

By Kang Hyun-kyung

President-elect Park Geun-hye lauded Aung San Suu Kyi for her sustained campaign to establish democracy in Myanmar, which remained an isolated state until the government there under President Thein Sein enacted a number of reforms in recent years.

During a meeting at Park’s office in Tongui-dong, Seoul, the president-elect said the sweeping win of Suu Kyi’s party in by-elections held in the south-east Asian country last year was a major step toward achieving democracy there.

 “I pay respect to your big sacrifice for democracy of your country. I know what your life in which you put your personal happiness behind that of the people was like,” Park said.

Suu Kyi is leader of a political party the National League for Democracy in Myanmar. The party won 40 out of 45 parliamentary seats in the election held last April. She was freed in November 2010 after being detained under house arrest for a total of 15 years after she opposed the military junta there.

Along with President Sein’s measures for economic reforms, the release of the democracy campaigner sent a positive signal to the world that Myanmar is moving toward democracy.

Following this, South Korea, the United States, Japan and some European countries eased sanctions and pledged to resume development assistance to strengthen ties with the resources-rich nation.    

Park expressed hope that she and Suu Kyi will join hands to make a freer and happier Asia.

Suu Kyi responded that the world can benefit from Myanmar if the country achieves peace and prosperity.

Asia’s two prominent female politicians met on the second day of the Myanmar politician’s visit to Seoul. Suu Kyi arrived here on Monday to attend the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Special Olympics Winter Games which began Tuesday.

Before the meeting with Park, the Suu Kyi paid a courtesy visit to President Lee Myung-bak at Cheong Wa Dae.

Lee and Suu Kyi exchanged ideas on education and development cooperation for 30 minutes, according to the presidential office.

During the meeting, President Lee noted that economic growth and democracy should go hand in hand. “I think that the future of your country is brighter because you are deeply interested in education. South Korea will strive to create more opportunities for young people through economic cooperation with Myanmar,” Lee said.

Suu Kyi was quoted as saying that there are rising demands for vocational training in Myanmar because there are many young people who have no access to education.

She expressed hope that South Korea and Myanmar will work closely together through people-to-people exchanges so that more workers can come from Myanmar to Korea for jobs.   

hkang@koreatimes.co.kr,

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2013/01/116_129678.html

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Myanmar announces major debt relief deal

[postlink] https://burmacampaignjapanteam.blogspot.com/2013/01/myanmar-announces-major-debt-relief-deal.html [/postlink]

 

This general view shows the docks at the Myanmar International Terminals, at Thilawa industrial zone project near Yangon, on January 4, 2013. Myanmar said on Monday that the Paris Club of creditor nations had agreed to cancel half of its debts, another milestone in the rapid transformation of the former junta-ruled nation

 

Yangon, Jan 28: 

Myanmar today said that the Paris Club of creditor nations had agreed to cancel half of its debts, another milestone in the rapid transformation of the former Junta-ruled nation.

The deal, together with pledges by Japan and Norway, reduces the country’s debt burden by nearly $6 billion, according to an official statement published by state media.

It said the agreement, struck with Paris Club creditor countries on January 25, would cancel the debts in two phases, with the remaining amounts to be rescheduled over 15 years.

Japan has committed to cancel arrears worth over $3 billion while Norway is writing off $534 million, according to the statement.

“Other bilateral donors are expected to follow suit and more debt cancellation is coming on the way in the next six months,” it said.

The move follows a string of dramatic political reforms in the one-time pariah state, which is seeking development assistance and foreign investment to boost its ailing economy. 

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/international/article4353395.ece

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2 women with tragic family histories: Myanmar's Suu Kyi to meet South Korea's incoming leader

[postlink] https://burmacampaignjapanteam.blogspot.com/2013/01/2-women-with-tragic-family-histories.html [/postlink]

 

In this photo taken on Oct. 23, 2011, Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi poses by a painting of her father, Gen. Aung San, left, during an art exhibition at her National League for Democracy party headquarters in Yangon, Myanmar. Suu Kyi is scheduled to meet South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013 during her five-day trip. The meeting between two of the most prominent woman figures in Asia spotlights a tragic coincidence in their family history: Suu Kyi's father, Gen. Aung San, was killed by a group of assassins in 1947 while Park's, President Park Chung-hee, was assassinated by his intelligence chief in 1979. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)

SEOUL, South Korea - Both women lost their fathers to gunshots. Both also overcame that tragedy and rose to political prominence in countries where men dominate decision-making, buoyed in part by the legacies of their fathers.
Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader whose 2010 release from house arrest signalled the beginning of Myanmar's transition from decades of military rule, is scheduled to meet Tuesday in Seoul with Park Geun-hye, who takes office next month as South Korea's first female president.
The meeting between two of the most prominent women in Asia spotlights a tragic coincidence in their family history: Suu Kyi's father, Gen. Aung San, was killed by assassins in 1947 while Park's, President Park Chung-hee, was assassinated by his intelligence chief in 1979.
Both women have benefited from their late fathers' reputations. Even as she has blazed her own political trail, the 67-year-old Suu Kyi represents to many of the voters who sent her to parliament last year a link with her father, a legendary independence hero. Park, who is 60, enjoys strong support among older South Koreans with memories of the rapid economic growth during her father's rule.
Suu Kyi's trajectory, however, has been one of a dissident, while Park has built a political career as a ruling party lawmaker owing much to her father, a dictator who took power in a 1961 coup and ruled South Korea with an iron fist until he was killed 18 years later.
"Park carries family baggage that sets her away from the image of the pro-democracy movement, while Suu Kyi stands on the other side as an icon of democracy," said Lee Shin-hwa, a professor of political studies at Korea University in Seoul.
Democracy has firmly taken root in South Korea since the death of Park's father and a peaceful transfer of power more than a decade later. Myanmar, with a reformist government in place but the military still in the background, is nurturing a fragile democracy.
The meeting between Suu Kyi and Park will be the latest in a series of high-profile exchanges between their countries, including reciprocal visits last year by South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Myanmar's President Thein Sein, both heading delegations keen on bolstering economic co-operation. Thein Sein also promised Lee in May that his country would no longer purchase arms from North Korea, a foreign policy shift welcomed by Seoul.
Lee's visit was the first by a South Korean leader since 1983, when North Korean agents bombed a delegation visiting Myanmar, killing 17 South Koreans and four others but missing then-President Chun Doo-hwan.
During her five-day trip, Suu Kyi is scheduled to attend the opening of the Special Olympics, a biennial global event that South Korea is hosting in the alpine town of Pyeongchang for the first time, organizers of her trip say. The 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate will then receive a human rights award in the city of Gwangju, where a 1980 uprising was crushed with deadly force by the then-military government.

http://www.canada.com/news/women+with+tragic+family+histories+Myanmars+meet+South+Koreas/7880391/story.html

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Myamar's Suu Kyi arrives in South Korea

[postlink] https://burmacampaignjapanteam.blogspot.com/2013/01/myamar-suu-kyi-arrives-in-south-korea.html [/postlink]

 

Myanmar`s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi greets with her countrymen upon her arrival
at Incheon International Airport in Korea late Monday. (Yonhap News)

Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi arrived in South Korea Monday for a four-day visit including meetings with politicians and a soap-opera star and the collection of a human rights award.

The democracy leader and Nobel peace laureate will also be guest of honour at the opening on Tuesday of the Special Winter Olympics in the northeastern mountain resort of Pyeongchang -- site of the full 2018 Winter Games.

Before leaving for Pyeongchang, she will hold talks with outgoing President Lee Myung-Bak and his successor Park Geun-Hye, who takes office next month as the country's first female president.

On Wednesday she will give the keynote speech at a Global Development Summit taking place on the sidelines of the Pyeongchang event.

The following day she will visit the southwestern city of Gwangju to receive a human rights award that commemorates a pro-democracy uprising against military dictatorship in the city in 1980.

Suu Kyi was actually awarded the prize back in 2004 but was unable to receive it as she was under house arrest at the time.

After a total of nearly two decades in home detention, she was freed in 2010 and elected to the Myanmar parliament last year.

On her return to Seoul late Thursday, she is scheduled to have dinner with TV actor Ahn Jae-Wook at a hotel, Yonhap news agency said.

Ahn, 43, starred in the 1997 TV drama "Star in My Heart" which was a big hit in  Myanmar.

On Friday Suu Kyi will deliver a speech at Seoul National University and accept an honorary doctorate. (AFP)

http://nwww.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20130128000842

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Suu Kyi to meet Park

[postlink] https://burmacampaignjapanteam.blogspot.com/2013/01/suu-kyi-to-meet-park.html [/postlink]

Aung San Suu Kyi ( AP-Yonhap News)

Both women lost their fathers to gunshots. Both also overcame that tragedy and rose to political prominence in countries where men dominate decision-making, buoyed in part by the legacies of their fathers.

Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader whose 2010 release from house arrest signaled the beginning of Myanmar’s transition from decades of military rule, is scheduled to meet Tuesday in Seoul with Park Geun-hye, who takes office next month as South Korea’s first female president.

The meeting between two of the most prominent women in Asia spotlights a tragic coincidence in their family history: Suu Kyi’s father, Gen. Aung San, was killed by assassins in 1947 while Park’s, President Park Chung-hee, was assassinated by his intelligence chief in 1979.

Both women have benefited from their late fathers’ reputations. Even as she has blazed her own political trail, the 67-year-old Suu Kyi represents to many of the voters who sent her to parliament last year a link with her father, a legendary independence hero. Park, who is 60, enjoys strong support among older South Koreans with memories of the rapid economic growth during her father’s rule.

Suu Kyi’s trajectory, however, has been one of a dissident, while Park has built a political career as a ruling party lawmaker owing much to her father, a dictator who took power in a 1961 coup and ruled South Korea with an iron fist until he was killed 18 years later.

``Park carries family baggage that sets her away from the image of the pro-democracy movement, while Suu Kyi stands on the other side as an icon of democracy,’’ said Lee Shin-hwa, a professor of political studies at Korea University in Seoul. (AP)

http://nwww.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20130128000838

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Myanmar’s Suu Kyi keeps open door to US and China

[postlink] https://burmacampaignjapanteam.blogspot.com/2013/01/myanmars-suu-kyi-keeps-open-door-to-us.html [/postlink] George Chen in Honolulu

 Rotary International president Sakuji Tanaka presents Aung San Suu Kyi with the Hawaii Peace Award. Photo: EPA

Stronger ties with the United States, which is keen to increase its political influence in Asia, should not be considered a challenge to Myanmar’s long-time relationship with China, opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said.
Myanmar’s democracy icon also called it presumptuous that Beijing should learn from her country’s democratic reform – though the two countries may share one thing in common: corruption, said the Nobel Peace Prize winner.

 Aung San Suu Kyi delivers the keynote address at the Rotary Global Peace Forum in Honolulu. Photo: EPA

Suu Kyi was speaking to the South China Morning Post in a small group interview on the sidelines of the Rotary Global Peace Forum on Saturday in Honolulu. Citing Myanmar’s long road to democracy, she said China’s political direction should be ultimately decided by Chinese people rather than external factors.
Suu Kyi believed Myanmar was not faced with an either/or decision when it comes to US and China ties.
“I don’t think [Burma-US] needs to be an exclusive relationship. Nor does it mean we have to be friends either with the US or China. We need to be friends of both,” she said.
“China is a neighbour and the US is a very, very powerful nation that is eager to help with emerging democracy,” she said.
Suu Kyi was kept under house arrest by Myanmar’s military regime for two decades over political dissent. She returned to the political stage last year after President Thein Sein launched reforms that allowed her to be elected to the parliament.
On Friday, she voiced confidence that the country’s powerful military will support changes to the constitution that would allow her to become president. She said she was hopeful that parliament would approve constitutional revisions even though the army controls a vital number of seats.
“I am not unduly worried by it. I think that the members of our military, like the rest of our nation, would like to see Burma a happier, stronger, more harmonious country,” she said, referring to Myanmar by its former name.
“Because of that, I do not rule out the possibility of amendment through negotiated compromise,” Suu Kyi said on Friday at the East-West Centre in Hawaii.
Suu Kyi was visiting island state as part of an initiative by Hawaii to share its values. In a scene that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago, Suu Kyi spoke fondly about dining with friends on Honolulu’s sun-kissed Waikiki beach.
Suu Kyi has toured Europe and North America since her release from house arrest. US President Barack Obama paid a landmark visit to Myanmar in November, hoping to encouraging reforms.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
More from Aung San Suu Kyi’s exclusive interview in Monday’s paper.

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Special guests to visit PyeongChang

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 Aung San Suu Kyi

 

Yao Ming

 

 

By Jung Min-ho

World leaders, including Myanmar’s democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and sporting greats such as former NBA player Yao Ming of China and U.S. figure skater Michelle Kwan will visit Korea for the Special Olympics Global Development Summit on Wednesday.

They join Malawi President Joyce Banda, Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikt Hasina at the meeting. The leaders will discuss issues and obstacles for people with intellectual disabilities to highlight the meaning of the 2013 Special Olympics World Winter Games that run from Jan. 29 to Feb. 5 in PyeongChang.

Some 300 international figures from various other fields will also be present.

“The Global Development Summit will contemplate the equality of people with intellectual disabilities in society and communicate the opportunities to improve the level of their lives,” said Na Kyung-won, chairwoman of the PyeongChang Special Olympics organizing committee. “I wish society would start to look at them just like they look at other people; looking once, not twice.” 

“The misunderstanding, neglect and often outright discrimination against people with intellectual disabilities have been pervasive, with devastating effects on them and their families,” said Timothy P. Shriver, chairman and CEO of the Special Olympics. “It is time to bring people with intellectual disabilities out of the shadows and every sector of society must take part.”

Other notable sports stars are expected to attend the meeting including U.S Olympic gold medalists in gymnast Bart Conner, swimmer Donna DeVarona and speed skater Dan Jansen and former NBA player Congolese-American Dikembe Mutombo. 

As part of its promotional activities, the Special Olympics organizing committee also has tried to encourage discussions among people by collecting stories about equality and inclusion on its website since November. The selected materials will be used for commercial purposes.

The Special Olympic is a biennial international sporting event. It is different from the Paralympics where athletes with both physical and intellectual disabilities compete at an elite level. The Special Olympics, which held its inaugural World Games in the United States in July 1968, awards medals to all participants. Instead of focusing on competition, the main purpose of the event is to induce the breakdown of public prejudice against people with intellectual disabilities by showcasing their capabilities.

mj6c2@ktimes.co.kr,

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Despite Cease-Fire, US 'Deeply Concerned' About Fighting in Burma's Kachin State

[postlink] https://burmacampaignjapanteam.blogspot.com/2013/01/despite-cease-fire-us-concerned-about.html [/postlink]

The United States is "deeply concerned" by ongoing violence in Burma's Kachin state, where fighting continues between the army and rebel groups despite a cease-fire.

A statement from the U.S. Embassy in Rangoon Thursday said the Burmese army is continuing its offensive in the northeastern state. It cited media and NGO reports, and added that the offensive has resulted in civilian casualties and is undermining efforts to achieve national reconciliation.

President Thein Sein declared a unilateral cease-fire to take effect on Saturday. But sporadic fighting has continued. Eyewitnesses and rebel officials tell VOA that Burmese soldiers used the brief lull in hostilities to advance on rebel positions.



In a speech in Rangoon Sunday, Thein Sein said government forces are within an "arm's length" of the main Kachin Independence Army base in the town of Laiza, on the border with China.

He said he has ordered troops not to attack the base as a show of good will, and he called for the KIA to return to the negotiating table as soon as possible.

The embassy statement Thursday urged both sides to "take all necessary steps to create an atmosphere for dialogue." It also called on Burma to allow "unhindered access" to those in need of assistance from the U.N. and international aid agencies.

Burmese troops and Kachin rebels have been fighting since 2011, when a 17-year cease-fire broke down. It is the last active civil war in Burma. Other ethnic groups have signed peace deals with the government.

The fighting in Kachin state has displaced tens of thousands of people and overshadowed major political reforms introduced since Burma ended decades of military rule in 2011.


http://www.voanews.com/content/despite-ceasefire-us-deeply-concerned-about-fighting-in-burmas-kachin-state/1589932.html

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Aung San Suu Kyi leaves for US, S Korea

[postlink] https://burmacampaignjapanteam.blogspot.com/2013/01/aung-san-suu-kyi-leaves-for-us-s-korea.html [/postlink]

YANGON - Leader of Myanmar's National League for Democracy (NLD) and parliamentarian Aung San Suu Kyi left yangon for the United States and South Korea Thursday morning.
It is the second time for Suu Kyi to visit the US and the first time to South Korea after she became a parliamentarian.
Suu Kyi will be received by the Hawaii governor in Honolulu and meet Myanmar community there, NLD sources said.
She will attend the Rotary Peace Forum in the Hawaii capital, where she will pick up Hawaii Peace Award and proceed to South Korean capital of Seoul where she will have talks with President Lee Myung-bak and first woman president-elect of the country Park Geun-hye.
She will then attend the Special Olympic Games-2013 in Pyeongchang and deliver a speech at the Global Development Summit.
After that, she will visit Gwangju where she will collect the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights awarded in 2004 when she was under house arrest in Myanmar and will deliver also an acceptance speech in her honor organized by the Gwangju city government and the May 18 Memorial Foundation.
She will pay respects at the May 18 National Cemetery which commemorates the 1980 Gwangju uprising against Chun Doo-hwan.
As a follow-up, Suu Kyi will also give a lecture at Seoul National University and meet Myanmar community, the sources added.
Released from house arrest in November 2010, Suu Kyi resumed her political career becoming a parliamentarian by winning the April by-election in 2012 and also made her first trip abroad in 24 years covering Thailand, five European countries, the United States and India.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2013-01/24/content_16170998.htm

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Despite Cease-Fire, Fighting Continues in Burma's Kachin State

[postlink] https://burmacampaignjapanteam.blogspot.com/2013/01/despite-cease-fire-fighting-continues.html [/postlink]

 Sporadic fighting has continued between Burma's army and ethnic Kachin rebels in Burma's north Kachin state, despite a government-declared unilateral cease-fire. An eyewitness tells VOA that Burmese soldiers appeared to use a brief lull in hostilities after the declaration to advance on rebel positions. The close proximity of combatants is complicating efforts for peace talks.

President Thein Sein announced the cease-fire through state television, saying it would take effect on Saturday morning for the La Ja Yang area near the China border.

But, the rebel Kachin Independence Army says Burma soldiers attacked their positions in the days that followed using heavy artillery and machine guns.

Ryan Roco is a freelance photographer working in Kachin state for the past three months. Speaking to VOA from the trenches behind KIA lines, he could see smoke from mortar attacks.

"The situation is tense. We are hearing sporadic shelling now, occasional gunfire. And, heavy fighting is expected at any moment," Roco said.

The photographer says there was a brief lull in fighting Saturday after the declared cease-fire and that airstrikes did appear to have stopped. However, he says shelling quickly resumed in the afternoon and KIA fired on advancing Burma soldiers.

"I think it would be more correct to say that fighting never actually ceased. I think that fighting quieted but I don't think fighting ever ceased from the Burmese side," Roco said. "Yesterday, when fighting began heavily at twelve o'clock, it was initiated as Burmese troops advanced towards KIA lines on Hkaya Bum, which is the last major defense mountaintop post outside of Laiza."

Roco says he is about two kilometers from Hkaya Bum and five kilometers from the rebel capital Laiza.

Min Zaw Oo is director of cease-fire negotiations and implementation at the Myanmar Peace Center in Rangoon. He says the proximity of opposing fighters, some within 300 meters of each other, has made a unilateral cease-fire difficult to enforce.

"Before they can talk about the repositioning, their units, they got to talk about how to effectively start the cease-fire," Min said. "Because, the unilateral cease-fire in realty, when the troops are in very close position, is very hard because if one side shoot the other side gonna shoot back. That will create a tit-for-tat retaliation."

Since taking office, Burma's reform-minded President Thein Sein has overseen peace deals with all ethnic rebel groups except the Kachin.

The KIA wants to maintain a high-level of autonomy while the government is pushing for more federal control.

Fighting between the Burma army and KIA broke out in June 2011, ending a 17-year-old cease-fire and displacing tens of thousands of villagers.

In December Burma warned the KIA to stop disrupting supply routes. Authorities accuse the KIA of bombing trains, roads and police stations. The military backed up its threat with attacks on rebel positions with jet fighters and helicopter gunships.

Min Zaw Oo says despite the intense and ongoing fighting parties on both sides know the conflict cannot be resolved on the battlefield.

"What we're trying to do is we're trying to bring the parties, especially those people responsible for the military from both sides," Min explained, "come to the table, spread the map, look at the positions, and start thinking how they can stop fighting effectively."

President Thein Sein on Saturday invited the political wing of the KIA, the Kachin Independence Organization, to political talks with other ethnic groups.

He told an international donor and humanitarian aid conference his government is serious about efforts at peace.

Min Zaw Oo says if fighting spills into Laiza it could trigger huge refugee flows into China.

Since December several shells have landed along or inside Chinese territory, sparking calls from Beijing for stability along the border.

China in recent days sent a military delegation and a special envoy to Burma to discuss issues including border security.

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9 Japanese killed in Algeria hostage crisis, gov't says

[postlink] https://burmacampaignjapanteam.blogspot.com/2013/01/9-japanese-killed-in-algeria-hostage.html [/postlink]

 

In this image taken from television, Japanese Parliamentary Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Minoru Kiuchi, right, and Koichi Kawana, president of Japanese engineering firm JGC Corporation, bow toward the Ain Amenas gas facility a day after special forces stormed the plant to end a four-day siege, in Algeria, Sunday.AP  

 

Nine Japanese nationals were killed during a four-day siege at a gas plant in Algeria, where the number of hostages killed had already reached at least 48, a Japanese government source said on Monday.
“We’ve received information from the Algerian government that nine Japanese are dead,” the official, who declined to be identified pending the official announcement, told Reuters.
The Japanese government and engineering firm JGC Corp, which had several dozen employees working at the plant, have so far said only that 10 Japanese workers remained unaccounted for. Neither would confirm media reports of casualties.
One Japanese hostage who narrowly survived the armed attack on an Algerian gas plant said he was sure he would die after seeing two colleagues shot dead in front of him, a report said Monday.
The unnamed man told colleagues how Islamist gunmen had dragged him from his barricaded room, handcuffed him and executed two hostages standing nearby.
In a chilling account of his escape, published Monday in the Daily Yomiuri newspaper, the hostage told colleagues he had been aboard a bus when it was attacked by a group of heavily-armed Islamists in the Sahara desert early Wednesday.
Seven Japanese are known to have survived the three-day assault, which ended in a bloodbath on Saturday—all of them connected to JGC.
The man said he was leaving a lodging house with other foreign workers in a convoy of buses when militants first swooped.
As the vehicle in front was hit by a hail of bullets, the driver of his bus slammed the vehicle into reverse and tried to flee.
But a wheel snapped off, stranding the bus and forcing passengers to run through the desert and seek refuge at the workers’ formerly-secure lodging house.
The man barricaded himself in his room and cowered with the lights off, as gunmen began their rampage through the compound.
But a short time later, the door splintered open as militants shot the lock apart and burst in, plucking the frightened man from his hiding place and clamping handcuffs on him.
He was frogmarched to a bright room with other foreign hostages where his captors began speaking Arabic with some of his Algerian colleagues.
The next thing he knew someone opened fire and two people slumped to the floor, dead, in front of him. “I was prepared to die,” JGC spokesman Takeshi Endo quoted the employee as saying.
The bodies of other foreigners lay on the ground as he and a Filipino colleague were bundled into a vehicle and driven off towards the gas plant.
Without warning the vehicle was sprayed with bullets, which pierced the windshield and forced the prisoners to duck down as low as possible to avoid being shot.
As their captors abandoned the vehicle, the prisoners were left alone, not knowing who had opened fire.
In the hours that followed, the Japanese survivor hid under a truck, trying to stay away from the gun battle that raged around him. As bullets flew past he saw a bus full of hostages—some wearing JGC uniforms—drive past.
He watched with horror as the vehicle came under attack, but said he had no idea of the fate of those on board.
After nightfall, when the shooting had stopped he began trudging through the desert, walking for an hour before he came across Algerian soldiers and safety.
Earlier Monday, chief government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters vice foreign minister Minoru Kiuchi had arrived at an airport near the gas facility that was over-run by Islamist gunmen last week.
He said Kiuchi would go into the complex and to a hospital in the town of In Amenas in an effort to determine what had happened.
Suga said those known to have made it to safety would be flown back to Japan on a government aircraft.


http://www.japantoday.com/category/crime/view/12-bodies-from-algeria-attack-said-to-be-japanese

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Myanmar rebels say army ignoring president's ceasefire

[postlink] https://burmacampaignjapanteam.blogspot.com/2013/01/myanmar-rebels-say-army-ignoring.html [/postlink]

Myanmar's president said on Sunday he wanted peace talks with all ethnic rebel groups in the country, but government troops again attacked rebel positions in Kachin State in the northeast despite his order to cease fire, rebels and a local source said.
President Thein Sein had issued the ceasefire order on Friday to troops in the La Ja Yang area of Kachin State near the border with China, where fighting has been fiercest.
It was due to take effect on Saturday morning, but Colonel James Lum Dau, Thai-based spokesman for the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), told Reuters the army had continued to attack over the weekend, both in La Ja Yang and elsewhere in the state.
Thein Sein denied that the army, known as the Tamadaw, aimed to capture Laiza, where the KIA and its political arm, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), have their headquarters.
"Now the Tamadaw members are an arm's length from the KIA/KIO headquarters in Laiza but I have ordered them not to occupy Laiza," he said at a meeting with non-governmental groups in Yangon, the commercial capital.
"In order to gain sustainable peace all over the country, there is no other way but to hold talks at the negotiating table as soon as possible," he added.
A 17-year ceasefire with the KIA broke down in June 2011 and fighting has been particularly intense in recent weeks.
Twenty months of fighting has displaced tens of thousands of people and, for some analysts, raised doubts about the sincerity of all the political and economic reforms pursued by Thein Sein in Myanmar, also known as Burma.
On Saturday, addressing a development forum attended by donor countries and international aid organizations, Thein Sein had invited the Kachin rebels to a "political dialogue" with the government and ethnic rebel groups from other states. No date was given.
Ten other major rebel groups have already agreed ceasefires.
The KIA's Lum Dau said an offensive in La Ja Yang from about 8 a.m. on Sunday morning (8:30 p.m. EST Saturday) had involved artillery and infantry.
A local source in Kachin, who did not want to be identified, confirmed the army attacks on Sunday, including one on a rebel position about five miles (eight km) from Laiza. Fighter jets had flown over the area but had not attacked, the source said.
New York-based Human Rights Watch last week accused the army of indiscriminately shelling Laiza.
Loud explosions were also heard by residents of the town of Mai Ja Yang who felt the vibrations, the source said.
MORE GOODWILL NEEDED
Lum Dau said the KIA had sent the president a reply saying it would not attend talks until there was more evidence of goodwill on the government side, involving a ceasefire in the whole state, or at least a big reduction in fighting.
"We already agreed to a ceasefire in 1994 and look at where we are now ... We didn't break any agreement," he said, expressing KIA mistrust of central government that has persisted even after Thein Sein took office in 2011 at the head of a quasi-civilian government after half a century of military rule.
The KIO said in a statement that "the government should reduce offensive operations all over Kachin State instead of suspending operations in La Ja Yang region". Further clarification of its demands was not immediately available.
Lum Dau said the government was simply buying time and would use any ceasefire to prepare another assault on rebel positions.
He argued that it had only agreed to the partial ceasefire in response to diplomatic pressure from the United States and others, including China, which called for a halt to fighting on January 15 after a shell landed on its side of the border.
There was no immediate response from the government to the accusations of continued attacks in La Ja Yang but it said rebels were responsible for violence elsewhere in Kachin.
Presidential spokesman Ye Htut said rebels attacked Kamine police station in the Phakant area early on Saturday, killing two policemen, wounding five and setting the building on fire.
He also blamed rebels for setting off mines that wounded about 20 people in cars on the road from Bamaw to Lwejei on Saturday.

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Kachin rebels sceptical over Myanmar ceasefire

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Kachin rebels fire rockets from an outpost on the Laja Yang frontline, on September 22, 2012. Kachin rebels cast doubt on Saturday over a Myanmar government pledge to end a military offensive after weeks of intense fighting that sparked international concern amid reports of fresh shelling.

Kachin rebels cast doubt on Saturday over a Myanmar government pledge to end a military offensive after weeks of intense fighting that sparked international concern, amid reports of fresh shelling.
The government move on Friday came after the country's fledgling parliament called for a halt to the fighting, which has left dozens reported dead in northern Kachin state and marred optimism about the country's political reforms.
The conflict between government troops and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) has escalated in recent weeks with the use of air strikes by the military, prompting the United States and the United Nations to speak out.
A KIA official, requesting anonymity, said the military had gained "the upper hand" by surrounding the rebel stronghold of Laiza and was therefore able to declare an end to the offensive from a position of strength.
But he cautioned that the rebels would "wait and see" if military operations ceased.
The halt to the offensive was due to take effect from 6:00 am Saturday (2330 GMT Friday) but the political wing of the KIA said attacks had continued near Laiza, which borders China.
"The Burmese... never keep promises," Thailand-based spokesman James Lum Dau said, adding "several minutes of shelling" had taken place on Saturday near Laiza, the rebel's base since the resumption of fighting in 2011.
A witness told AFP that an uneasy peace prevailed in the city itself.
Some experts have questioned the level of control President Thein Sein, a former general, exerts over army units in Kachin after an order to end military offensives in December 2011 was apparently ignored.
The exact number of casualties from the conflict is unknown, but the government said Friday that 35 soldiers had been killed and 190 injured in a series of ambushes by the rebels since 2011, in the first official death toll for the military side.
The quasi-civilian government in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has reached tentative ceasefires with a number of ethnic rebel groups since taking power in early 2011 but talks with Kachin rebels have shown little progress.
The reform-minded president on Saturday re-stated his government's desire for peace with the rebels.
"I have ordered the Tatmadaw (Myanmar's army)... to seek a peaceful solution to the conflict. I believe the Kachin Independence Organisation will soon join us in the peace process," he said in a statement, referring to the rebels' political arm.
Doibu, a lower house MP of the Kachin State Unity and Democracy Party -- who goes by one name -- welcomed the declared end of the recent offensive.
But she said renewed clashes had been reported elsewhere in the resource-rich state.
Presidential spokesman Ye Htut said an incident had taken place in Pha Kant on Saturday morning, giving details on his Facebook page saying "two policemen died and buildings were burnt down" in a KIA attack on a police station.

NAYPYIDAW (AFP) 

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Gov't says lives of Algeria kidnap victims 'top priority'

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TOKYO —

The Japanese government said on Thursday it was placing “top priority” on the lives of hostages, including a number of Japanese, snatched by Islamist gunmen who attacked a gas complex in Algeria.
At least three Japanese were among the 41 foreigners kidnapped by heavily armed men after a gunfight that left two people dead and six injured, Japanese press reported, though the number cannot be confirmed.
The gunmen said they had carried out the assault in response to a French military intervention in Mali, where Islamists have seized swathes of the country.
The group, who said they entered Algeria from northern Mali, told Mauritanian media their hostages included French, British and Japanese citizens, as well as seven Americans.
The dead were a Briton and an Algerian, Algeria’s Interior Minister Dahou Ould Kablia said.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga refused to confirm the exact number of Japanese hostages, but said the government was “extremely concerned.”
“Our top priority is the lives of the hostages and rescuing them as quickly as possible by closely coordinating with countries concerned,” he told a news conference.
Suga said a government task force had been assembled on the instructions of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and held its first meeting on Thursday morning.
Speaking in Hanoi, where he began a tour of Southeast Asia, Abe told reporters the kidnapping was “unforgivable.”
“I have ordered the government to do three things: First, act by putting priority on people’s lives; second, try to determine the situation; and third, boost cooperation with other countries involved,” he said.
The attack took place at dawn on Wednesday, when armed Islamists targeted a bus carrying oil workers to the In Amenas airport, near Algeria’s border with Libya, the country’s interior ministry said.
After a fight they took hostages at the residential compound of the gas field, which is jointly operated by British oil giant BP, Norway’s Statoil and state-run Algerian energy firm Sonatrach.
A worker at the scene told AFP by phone that the armed group was demanding freedom for 100 Islamists held in Algeria in exchange for the Western hostages.
Japanese contracting firm JGC said in a statement on Thursday it believed some of its employees were being held.
“We want to refrain from making remarks on details such as the location and the number of people involved in order to secure the safety of the employees,” it said. “We are doing our best to rescue the employees in cooperation with the Japanese government.”
Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, who heads to Washington on Friday, said he had talked with his Algerian counterpart and strongly urged the Algerian government to put the highest priority on people’s lives.
He said the ministry will dispatch Parliamentary Vice Foreign Minister Minoru Kiuchi to Algeria as soon as possible, adding he would be coordinating Japan’s response with that of the U.S.
Mali has been effectively split in two since April, when Islamists took advantage of a military coup in Bamako and an offensive launched by Tuareg separatists in the north to seize half the country.

© 2013 AFP

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Suu Kyi Says Kachin War Should ‘Stop Immediately’

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 Aung San Suu Kyi, second from left, walks up the steps to Burma’s Parliament with fellow National League for Democracy MPs on Jan. 16, 2013. (Photo: Yeni / The Irrawaddy)

NAYPYIDAW — Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, under fire for her silence over the escalating conflict in Kachin State, said on Wednesday that fighting between ethnic Kachin rebels and the Burmese armed forces should “stop immediately.”

Speaking briefly to The Irrawaddy during today’s session of the Union Parliament in Naypyidaw, the leader of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) expressed concern about recent reports of civilian casualties in the state, and called for an end to the violence.

“I don’t like any kind of war or violence,” said the Nobel Peace Prize laureate. “I have always said that we should negotiate amongst ourselves so that there is no need to fight like this.”

She added: “We will only be able to avoid such conflicts if we begin to practice a culture of negotiation.”

Regarding her own role in resolving the conflict, Suu Kyi said that despite being a member of Burma’s Parliament, she has limited power to directly address the issue.

“I am not a member of Parliament’s Ethnic Committee. That doesn’t mean that I don’t take responsibility for the matter or that I don’t care about it, but different committees should respect each other and not interfere in each other’s work,” she said.

She added, however, that Burma’s ethnic issues are not just a matter for MPs, but can only be resolved through the efforts of all citizens, including the country’s media.

“Mutual respect and mutual trust are the key to solving the ethnic issues. We, as well as the government, have to ask ourselves whether we understand the goals of the ethnic people and whether we can help them fulfill their goals,” she said, adding that she would be willing to assist in the peace process if she is invited by the government.

Suu Kyi also responded to a statement by British Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt, who said on Monday that the European Union could reinstate its sanctions against Burma because of the ongoing conflict, which earlier this week claimed the lives of several civilians, and has displaced tens of thousands of others since it started a year an a half ago.

“They were never completely lifted,” Suu Kyi said of the sanctions that were suspended last year in recognition of the Burmese government’s recent political and economic reforms. She added that the rest of the world is also concerned about the toll that the conflict is taking.

Fighting intensified late last month, when the Burmese armed forces began carrying out airstrikes against the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) near its headquarters at Laiza, on the Sino-Burmese border. After seizing a KIA outpost near Laiza following series of aerial attacks in the final week of December, Burmese forces began shelling the town with heavy artillery. An attack on Monday, left three civilians dead and several others seriously injured.

According to the latest reports on Wednesday, Burmese fighter jets were continuing to strike a rebel-held post on Kha Rha hill, while ground troops were attacking another post on Lim Bum hill.

source: The Irrawaddy

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Red Cross, Thein Sein agree on prison visit deal

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President of the International Committee of the Red Cross Peter Maurer and President Thein Sein shake hands in Naypyidaw on 14 January 2013. (Photo courtesy of the president’s website).

Red Cross, Thein Sein agree on prison visit deal
By PETER AUNG
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) will be been allowed to resume prison visits in Burma beginning next week following a deal hammered out between President Thein Sein and the organisation’s chair Peter Maurer.
“We agreed to start pilot detention visits as early as next week,” said an ICRC spokesperson in Rangoon Takanori Hosokawa.
“We discussed about broader access to conflict area zones in some parts of the country and also we discussed our current and future activity our operation in Rakhine (Arakan) state.”
Conditions inside Burma’s 43 detention facilities are notoriously poor, with malaria rife and abuse of prisoners by officials is commonplace.
Nyo Htun from the Rangoon-based Former Political Prisoners League welcomed the government’s decision.
“We delightfully welcome the move,” said Nyo Htun. “In Burma, there are very few rights for all prisoners including the political detainees and this is such a positive sign that ICRC is being allowed back in.”
ICRC conducted prison visits in Burma from 1999 to 2005, but the organisation was banned after refusing to let the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Association (now the Union Solidarity and Development Party) accompany them on visits.
In July 2011, a small number of ICRC staff were informally allowed to visit prisons in Hpa-an, Moulmein and Myaungmya townships but were unable to meet with inmates and inspect prison conditions.
“It will be a very good thing for the prisoners to have the ICRC making visits,” said Tate Naing of Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPPB). “We see that their rights, living conditions, health care and facilities will be improved.”
On 5 January, AAPPB published an updated list that claims that more than 200 political prisoners still remain behind bars in Burma.

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School to foster Myanmar lawyers

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School to foster Myanmar lawyers

Kyodo

NAGOYA — Nagoya University is preparing to set up a legal research center at Myanmar's Yangon University to foster law specialists, and aims to open the facility in June, according to university officials.

"We want to contribute to the development of human resources involved in administering law," an official said of the plan to establish the center in Myanmar, which has gradually been introducing democratic reforms since President Thein Sein came to power in 2011.

The officials said the planned center will re-educate faculty, graduate students and specialists against the backdrop that university education in Myanmar was not up to par when it was under military rule between 1962 and 2011.

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Myanmar repeals dissident law

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YANGON — State media in Myanmar reported President Thein Sein has repealed a harsh law that had been used to hand down lengthy prison sentences for dissidents under the reign of the military government.

The Myanma Ahlin daily said the law was enacted in 1996 at a time when the military government was drawing guidelines for the country's constitution.
It carried a maximum 20-year prison term for those who wrote or delivered speeches that could undermine the nation's peace and stability.
Prominent activist lawyer Aung Thein said Wednesday that harsh laws had been used by authorities to support their judicial power.
Myanmar still has other severe laws against dissent, including one that put opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest. Some also carry death or life imprisonment.

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Japan minister pledges Myanmar debt relief, loans

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 Japan's new government will stand by pledges to waive Myanmar debt and extend new loans, its finance minister said Thursday on a visit to boost economic ties with the former army-ruled nation.
Taro Aso also agreed to consider Japan's involvement in the planned multi-billion dollar Dawei deep-sea port in a meeting with reformist President Thein Sein, according to a Japanese official with knowledge of the talks.
The visit by the former premier -- who was brought back to the frontline of Japanese politics by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe after his election victory last month -- reflects the economic importance Japan places on Myanmar.
It comes despite growing international concern about a civil war raging in Myanmar's northern state of Kachin, where the United States and the UN on Wednesday urged Myanmar to halt air strikes against ethnic minority rebels.
Japan's previous government first announced last April that it would forgive 300 billion yen ($3.4 billion) of the 500 billion yen owed by Myanmar, following a string of dramatic political reforms in the one-time pariah state.
Aso confirmed Thursday that Tokyo will extend 50 billion yen of new loans to the long-isolated Southeast Asian nation to help upgrade power systems, boost rural development and fund a planned industrial park, the official said.
They would be the first new yen loans to Myanmar by Japan in nearly three decades.
Former junta-ruled Myanmar craves investment to spur growth and boost its dilapidated infrastructure, while export-reliant Japan is hunting new opportunities in the resource-rich nation to offset sluggish domestic growth.
The two countries last month agreed to start work this year on a huge industrial zone near Yangon.
The 2,400 hectare (6,000 acre) Thilawa project will include a port and industrial park and be up and running in 2015, according to Japan's Ministry for Economic, Trade and Industries. Aso is due to visit the site on Friday.
The huge Thilawa project is expected to be led by a consortium of Japanese companies including Mitsubishi Corp., Sumitomo Corp. and Marubeni Corp.
Myanmar is also keen for Japan to invest in the cash-strapped Dawei project but Tokyo has said its priority is the Thilawa development.
Unlike its Western allies, Japan maintained trade ties and dialogue with Myanmar during years of junta rule which ended in 2011, warning that a hard line could push it closer to key ally China.

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Burma President’s New Year message keeps away from Kachin peace talks

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By Zin Linn

President of Burma delivered his first New Year radio message to the whole people all over the nation Tuesday. The New Light of Myanmar newspaper also brought out the Presidents message on 1 January 2013.

The president said in his message that the most important factor for triumph of the nation’s democratic evolution is the mutual trust between the government and the people.

President Thein Sein said that he spoke directly to the people narrowing the gap between the government and the citizens in favor of creating a new direct necessary communication link for the society. His government has been striving for developing transparent communication channel and his cabinet ministers have been providing the people with information, he said. So, he decided to speak on radio which is still an effective channel of communication, he added.

The 67-year-old ex-general, who acted as prime minister in the previous junta, has been acknowledged by the Western Governments for recent reforms, including giving a political space to key opposition figure and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, easing restrictions on the press, releasing important political prisoners and allowing activities of non-governmental organizations in social movement.

In reality, countless citizens say they just know on papers about their country’s changes but witness no difference to their destitute standard of living. However, the President reviewed the situation via optimistic point of view. Thein Sein assessed the state of affairs in his message that popular expectations have increased as reforms in the previous year gave birth to political developments.

Calling attention to the society which was once closed and isolated, Thein Sein underlined the obligation to implement the reform in many aspects. He also advised the people to make an effort in the reform period by means of aspiring to the best.

In the nature of things, he said, people aspire to the best and they have a right to express their desires for hopes. But the most important thing for the entire society is to shape the promising future through ongoing reform processes, he stated in the New Year message.

The people as well as the government need to have knowledge of the gap between demand of the people and capacity of the government, he pointed out. The responsibility is on the shoulder of all citizens to go all-out for thriving of constructive situation, he said. He also urged to make use of negotiated political culture without taking an extreme view in facing possible challenges ahead.

Additionally, he expressed his perspective that if each and every citizen works together with united efforts similar to the time of independence struggles, surely the country will overcome the challenges of change ahead.

The message says at one clause: The world nations were amazed at Myanmar’s impressive political progress in 2012. It can be said that we laid together a foundation of political system needed for ensuring better socioeconomic status on daily basis of our society. Plans are underway in accord with Economic and Social Reform Framework to enable each and every citizen to enjoy the fruitful results of general reforms upcoming years. We will constantly inform the people of our government’s stance and actions.

Looking back into recent past, President held his first press conference for local press on 21 October. It was a landmark event after former military regimes restriction on free press for decaeds.

Thein Sein answered nearly three-dozen questions from domestic news journals and foreign correspondents on various subjects ranging from current war in Kachin state to the possibility of amending the 2008 constitution drawn by the previous junta.

The President said that armed conflicts starting from the post-independence period were still going on in the country. Due to those rebellions, he said, the country has faced difficulties to promote the nation as a developed one.

In fact, government armed forces operate quite a lot of aggressive assaults in recent weeks in Kachin frontline including air-strikes. Fighting goes on deadly all through Kachin and Northern Shan State in the face of government peacemaking pledge to the United States and the EU. All the battles have occurred in KIOs territories including some areas where government troops occupied Kachin areas after a 1994 ceasefire agreement.

On the other hand, the government authorities often say that fighting still comes about in Kachin areas due to mixed-up positions of both troops in front-line areas. Actually, the government troops have violated the 1994 ceasefire agreement and invaded Kachin controlled areas.

Even though the Kachin war is a great barrier in the way of President's professed reform, he did not mention the facts about the heavy fighting against the KIO in his New Year message.

According to KIO's spokesperson Salang Kaba Lah Nan, the government army has been gearing up for a major military offensive against the KIO using massive military strength of around hundred battalions.

Consequently, with continuation of hostilities, the mutual trust between the government and the Kachin people may not be reached easily. And the Presidents ongoing reform processes may not be materialized by any means. People will also think his New Year message as an empty memo.

- Asian Tribune -

http://www.asiantribune.com/news/2013/01/01/burma-president%E2%80%99s-new-year-message-keeps-away-kachin-peace-talks

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