Weekly Diary, No. 269 (29 Sep – 4 Oct 2007)

Weekly Diary, No. 269 (29 Sep – 4 Oct 2007)
 
·         UN ENVOY COMES AND GOES!
·         JAPAN MULLS AID CUT!
·         CLAMPDOWN CONITINUES!
·         WAR ON FIGURES – HOW MANY KILLED?
 
Think Piece
We are not going to protest anymore. Rather we will conduct peaceful protests. We Buddhists believe that Dhamma will finally win over evil.
A monk in Rangoon, AP, 30 September 2007

Today every citizen is a war correspondent. Mobile phones with video of broadcast quality have made it possible for anyone to report a war. You just have to be there.

Philip Knightley, author of The First Casualty, International Herald Tribune, 4 Oct 2007

They (the generals) fear that if they don't hang together, they'll hang separately.
A Rangoon-based western diplomat, quoted by Bertil Lintner, Washington Post, 30 September 2007
 
When the most hideous governments begin to slaughter their citizens, the world is united in words, yet paralyzed in action.
Bangkok Post, 1 October 2007
 
Unfortunately for the people of Burma in their hour of need, (President) Bush has shot the wad of US credibility.
Philip Cunningham, political commentator, 1 October 2007
 
What happened in Burma last week was one of the saddest moments in the world's history. On the other hand, it has also offered the diverse peoples of Burma a grand opportunity to unite once again in the common struggle for peace and freedom.
A Shan leader from the north, 1 October 2007
 
China has used tanks to kill people on Tiananmen Square (in 1989). It is Myanmar's sovereign right to kill their own people, too.

Professor Shen Dingli, international relations expert, Shanghai's University, USA Today, 3 Oct 2007

Burma's democracy movement has emerged as a rare unifying cause, bringing together Democrats and Republicans and groups as varied as Hollywood stars and evangelical Christians. (Wall Street Journal)
 
Just as the military in Indonesia was gradually eased out of politics, with very few of its officers held accountable for abuses, so it can be assumed that Burma's generals will be looking for a soft landing.
Michael Vatikiotis and Leon de Riedmadden, Center for Humanitarian Dialogue, Bangkok Post, 3 October 2007
 
Like Castro's fiefdom, (Burma) fell from significant prosperity to extreme poverty. Like Yugoslavia, it was never a genuine nation-state.
The Weekly Standard, 28 September 2007

The World
28 September 2007
_{Maumoon Abdul Gayoom}
Unless the world starts taking climate change seriously and cuts greenhouse emissions, the Maldives could become uninhabitable, says President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. (Reuters)
 

International Relations
28 September 2007
FM Nyan Win apologises his Japanese counterpart Masahiko Komura for the death of a Japanese journalist during crackdown. (CBC News)
 
29 September 2007
_{Ibrahim Gambari}
UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari flies into Burma carrying worldwide hopes that he can persuade the generals to use negotiations instead of guns to end mass protests against military rule. (Reuters)
 
29 September 2007
_{Wen Jiabao}
PM Wen Jiabao will work with the international community "to promote an appropriate solution" to Burma's problem, says a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement. (Reuters)
 
29 September 2007
Shortly after his arrival, Gambari meets acting PM Thein Sein, culture minister Khin Aung Nyunt and information minister Kyaw Hsan. (Reuters)
 
30 September 2007

Gambari meets Aung San Suu Kyi for an hour in a Rangoon government guesthouse. No details released. He also consults with UN Country Team and the ICRC. (Reuters)
 
30 September 2007
_{Mitoji Yabunaka}
Japanese Deputy FM Mitoji Yabunaka arrives in Rangoon to investigate the killing of a Japanese journalist. (AP)
 
1 October 2007
A war of words between exiles and the UN over Burma vs Myanmar. Some have drawn parallels to the change from Cambodia to Kampuchea during the Kmer Rouge rule. (AFP)
 
1 October 2007
_{Nyan Win}
FM Nyan Win, at the United Nations, accuses "neocolonialists" and "political opportunists" of exploiting "protests by small group of Buddhist clergy" to undermine his country. He assures all that normaly has returned to Burma. (New York Times)
 
1 October 2007
India's main opposition party BJP demands Delhi to persuade Burma's junta to hold talks with the opposition. (Mizzima)
 
2 October 2007
_{Sylvester Stallone}
Sylvester Stallone, 61, who returned to the US 8 days ago from shooting Rambo IV, says he had witnessed a toll of unspeakable atrocities while filming along the Thai-Burma border. Rambo IV will be released in January 2008. (AP)
 
2 October 2007
Swedish and Danish media reports Burmese officials are urging their correspondents to leave the country for their own safety, AHN online reports. (The Nation)
 
2 October 2007
Spokesman for the Chinese embassy Wang Baodang says linking violence in Burma to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing is "totally irresponsible". (Washington Post)
 
2 October 2007
_{Alexander Downer}
Australian FM Alexander Downer announces that earlier this year his country had rejected Burma's nomination of Brig-Gen Thura Thet Oo Maung as its envoy to Canberra. (DPA)
 
2 October 2007

UN envoy meets Burma's supremo Than Shwe in the new capital, then flies to Rangoon to talk with Aung San Suu Kyi for the second time, before leaving for Singapore. (Agencies)
 
3 October 2007
Several photographs of the special envoy's meeting with Suu Kyi appear in international media. Wearing a yellow blouse, the color representing the Order of the Buddha, her face expressed unhappiness and sent a clear message to the world community. (Irrawaddy)
 
3 October 2006
_{Masahiko Komura}
Japanese FM Masahiko Komura, in response to the death of Kenji Nagai, says though there have been calls to freeze entirely "we've decided to narrow down humanitarian aid for now" as ordinary people are already suffering. (AP)
 
3 October 2007
_{Ban Ki-moon}
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says his envoy had delivered "the strongest possible message" to the junta but adds he cannot call the trip "a success". Chinese Foreign Ministry Liu Jianchao meanwhile says the trip was "positive". (AP)
 
3 October 2007
Gambari is expected to brief UN chief Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council on Friday, 5 October on the outcome of his trip. (AP)
 
3 October 2007
_{Navtej Sarna}
India strongly opposes sanctions on Burma but at the same time asks its military regime to undertake an inquiry into recent crackdown against the people, says Dehli's Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Navtej Sarna. (Mizzima)
 
4 October 2007
Junta television says Than Shwe, meeting with UN envoy, had offered to meet with detained Aung San Suu Kyi if she meets 4 major preconditions: To give up

• Confrontation
• Utter devastation
• Economic sanctions
• Other sanctions

The demand has made any hope of talks appear a distant possibility. (AFP)
 

Thai-Burma Relations
28 September 2007
_{Surayud Chulanont}
Thai PM Surayud Chulanont scraps scheduled UNGA speech to call for an end to violence against monks and demonstrators in Burma which Thailand finds "unacceptable". (The Nation)
 

Politics/ Inside Burma
29 September 2007
Some 570 tons of food stuck in Mandalay following clampdown. The agency expects to feed 200,000 Shan this year. Another 1,200 tons is sitting in Sittwe. (Reuters)
 
29 September 2007
Unknown hackers bombard Irrawaddy website with viruses this week and shut down its main server. The site received 22 million hits in the two weeks before it was knocked out, says spokesman Kyaw Zwa Moe. (Reuters)
 
29 September 2007
KIO Vice Chairman Gauri Zau Seng, Dr Manam Tuja and NDA-K supremo Zah Kung Ting Ying attend special mass rally in Myitkyina. Dr Tuja reads his note supporting the National Convention that angers ethnic Kachins. It is likely to lead to splits in the groups given that deep fissures have set in. (Kachin News Group)
 
30 September 2007
Conflicting news about Than Shwe's wife and family. She has been reported as being in Bangkok, then in Singapore, Macau, Vientiane and now Dubai. (Irrawaddy)
 
30 September 2007
_{Shari Villarosa}
We have gone by a number of monasteries and they are empty, says US charge d'affaires in Rangoon Shari Villarosa. (The Nation)
 
1 October 2007
_{Soe Win}
PM Soe Win arrives today from Singapore today. His health has not improved, according to one source. (Mizzima) Soe Win was admitted a Rangoon hospital. His reported death on 2 October cannot be independently confirmed. (Irrawaddy)
 
1 October 2007
More than 10 men members of the Committee Representing People's Parliament and at least 137 NLD members have been arrested in connection with recent protests, says NLD spokesperson Nyan Win. (DVB)
 
1 October 2007
A military source says Maj-Gen Hla Htay Win, Commander of Rangoon Military Region, has been sacked. He is reportedly being held responsible for the death of a Japanese correspondent on 27 September. (Mizzima)
 
2 October 2007
Several Rangoon-based weekly journals have stopped publishing because residents are giving their attention to the protests, but "we cannot report the story," says an editor. (Irrawaddy)
 
2 October 2007
According to a Swan Ar Shin (SAP) member, authorities are planning to send detained monks to a hard labor prison camp in Sagaing division. (DVB)
 
Protests and Arrests
28 September 2007

• Min Zaw, 56, correspondent for Tokyo Shimhum, taken at his home. (AP) Internet links shutdown. (AFP)

29 September 2007

• Peace and stability has been restored, state-run newspapers declare. (AP)
• Rangoon. Ngwe Kya Yan monastery damaged during the raid, cleaned up and renovated. New monks have also replaced those detained. (DVB) More than 1,000 seen demonstrating. 100 protestors on the Pansoedan bridge badly beaten.
• At least 3 protests elsewhere – in Mandalay, Sittwe and Pakokku. (BBC)
• Detained monks stripped off their robes and now wearing prison clothing. Some have been sentenced to 6 years imprisonment. (Irrawaddy)
• Bhamo. Monks detained in prison stage hunger strike.
• Myitkyina. Citizens forced to join pro-junta mass rally. Another rally also staged at Taungtha. (DVB)

 
30 September 2007

• Rangoon. DVB shows a monk, covered in bruises, floating face down in the river. (Irrawaddy) Number of troops swell up to 20,000. City locked down. (AP)

1 October 2007

• Rangoon. Raids of monasteries continue. One person who tried to protect a monastery reportedly killed. (Irrawaddy)

2 October 2007

• Rangoon. Loudspeakers mounted on trucks say the curfew will be down from 21:00-05:00 to 22:00-04:00. (The Nation)
• Over 10,000 people in Arakan's Man Aung stage protest. (DVB)
• 11 monks entering from Burma arrested in Bangladesh's Teknaf. (Kaladan)

 
3 October 2007

• Rangoon. Soldiers are scouring the city with photographs in their hands to arrest last week's protesters. Shari Villarosa, acting US ambassador in Burma, says people are being pulled out of their homes during the night. Most of the pictures were taken by an informer Tin Maung Latt. Authorities are also targeting citizen journalists who took footage of junta brutality during the recent protests and distributed it to foreign media. (DVB/AP/Mizzima)
• Five monasteries raided and 36 monks arrested. (Irrawaddy)
• Reports say famous movie star Kyaw Thu, who won award in 2005 for his performance and founder of a free funeral service association, and his wife Shwe Zikuat, have fled Burma and are taking shelter at Thiri Sanda monastery in a refugee camp. They are said to have applied for refugee status with UNHCR. (Mizzima)
• The junta has released 80 monks and 149 women believed to be nuns rounded up last week, according to one of those freed. (Reuters)
• Christians in Burma begins 0600-1800 fast throughout the country to pray for the release of arrested protesters and for peace to prevail. Collections also taken for the relief of needy people. (Irrawaddy)

 
4 October 2007

• People's Movement Leading Committee (PMLC), formed on 27 September, by a number of groups including All-Burmese Monks Alliance, the 88 Generation Students and Ethnic Youth Network Group (EYNG), issues statement calling for nationwide prayer meetings to honor those killed in the recent protests from 5-7 October. (DVB)
• Sittwe and Pakokku. So far about 100 people and an unknown number monks have been arrested as crackdown continues. (DVB)

 
Death estimates

• multiples of ten. (Australian FM Alexander Downer)
• 138 killed. (DVB)
• Thousands, says Hla Win, a former intelligence officer. (Daily Mail)
• 13 according to junta. (AFP)

Detained

• At least 700 monks and 500 people. (AHRC)
• At least 85 protest leaders, over 1,000 monks and between 300-400 activists. (AAPP)
• At least 1,500 Buddhist monks, runs and other protests (Irrawaddy)
• 6,000 detained, including 2,400 monks. (DVB)
• 2,093 of which 692 have been released, according to junta. (AFP)

 
Solidarity
29 September 2007
Burmese students attending universities in Bangkok stage a demonstration at the Burmese embassy. (Irrawaddy)
 
30 September 2007
New Delhi, Seoul and London. In London, 3,000 people take part. (DVB)
 
2 October 2007
Border-based umbrella organizations urge ceasefire groups to end cooperation with the ruling junta and stand for the interests of the people. (Statement)
 
2 October 2007
Nearly 2,000 people march on the streets of Aizawl, capital of Mizoram, urging New Delhi to intervene in the ongoing crisis in Burma and pressure the ruling junta to work towards peace and democracy. (Mizzima)
 
2 October 2007
More than 1,500  immigrants rally in Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur in a rare show of solidarity. (AP)
 
4 October 2007
300 monks in Bodhgaya march to the Mahabodhi temple and chant the Metta Sutta. Abbot Nanda Wuntha who leads the march says the junta is destroying Buddhism. (Mizzima)
 

Shans/ Shan State
30 September 2007
Burmese soldiers arrest 120 monks on their way from Mong Phyak to Tachilek, to ensure they could not stage a protest in Tachilek. The monks are being held in a military camp about 40 km from Tachilek. (Bangkok Post)
 

Economy/ Business
30 September 2007
Indian Oil Minister Murli Deora oversees signing of oil and gas exploration contracts between ONGC Videsh Ltd and Burma's military rulers in the country's new capital. There are 9 foreign oil companies involved in 16 offshore blocks, including:

• Total
• Petronas
• PTTEP
• Daewoo International
• China's CNOOC
• Sinopec (China Petroleum and Chemical Corp)

(AP)
 
30 September 2007
_{Juergen Hambrecht}
Juergen Hambrecht, chairman of the chemical company Basf and chief of German industry's Asia-Pacific Committee, tells Handelsblat daily it would be wrong to cut back support for Burma's military rulers. The country is not in a position to manage a power vacuum. (Agencies)
 
1 October 2007
Collectively known as Singapore Inc, the $150 billion state-owned Temasek Holdings, controlled by the ruling Lee family, with a $ 3 billion investment in Burma, can gently suggest a diplomatic approach toward the junta if asked. (Sydney Morning Herald)
 

Human Rights
29 September 2007
Satellite photographs of rural Burma released by the Science and Human Rights Program of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in coordination with the US Campaign for Burma show villages that are home to Karen and Shan gone. The director of the project Lars Bromley says 18 villages found disappeared. (Reuters/ New York Times)
 
2 October 2007
UN Human Rights Council condemns violent crackdown in Burma and demands it be allowed to investigate. (Mizzima)
 

Environment
1 October 2007

Shrinking Arctic ice cap
(Time)
 

Drugs
4 October 2007
Although India produces more for legal morphine industry than any other country, few Indians benefit. About 1.6 million Indians endure cancer pain each year. But only a tiny fraction, 0.4% according to Dr M.R. Rajagopal, gets relief. (Science Times/ Bangkok Post)
 

War
26 September 2007

A Major Htay Win and son from the Burma Army desert to the Karen National Union. (http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/uriks/article2026980.ece)
 
29 September 2007
A Burma Army convoy retreating from the frontline attacked by KNU's Battalion 103. 4 killed according to General Secretary Mahn Sha. (Mizzima)
 
1 October 2007
New Indian army chief Deepak Kapoor says turmoil in Burma is "an internal matter." (AFP)
 
1 October 2007
Amnesty International urges UN Security Council to impose a mandatory arms embargo on Burma. (AP)