By KNG

At least two soldiers of the Burmese government-backed Kachin Border Guard Force (BGF) were killed during a two hour clash with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in the northern part of the state over the weekend.
 
The fighting started after the BGF attacked several KIA bases in the towns of Chipwi and Sawlaw, in Pangwa region, according to San Aung, a peace broker with the KIA’s political wing—the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO).

The BGF members used to be part of the disbanded New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDAK) that defected from the KIA.

By AYE AYE WIN, Associated Press

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar’s government on Thursday disputed accusations that it failed to protect a top U.N. human rights envoy who said his vehicle was attacked by a 200-strong Buddhist mob during a visit to a city where religious violence flared earlier this year.

President Thein Sein’s spokesman, Ye Htut, said U.N. rights rapporteur Tomas Ojea Quintana was never in any danger during his visit this week.

He said members of the crowd approached Quintana’s convoy in the central city of Meikhtila only to give him a letter and a T-shirt, “so what Quintana said is very different from the true situation.”

Saudi Gazette-Editorial

THE best hotels in Rangoon, once Burma’s capital and still its commercial heart, are busy with businessmen from all over the world, anxious to secure of a slice of a resource rich-economy,  which is coming in from the cold, after years of political and economic isolation. There are not only good profits to be made by outside investors, but the Burmese themselves stand to benefit from a new prosperity — well most of them.

At least four percent of the people in this predominantly Buddhist country are Muslim and the most well-known Muslim community are the Rohingya in Rakhine state. As matters stand at the moment, they seem destined to benefit not at all. Indeed, even though the murderous attacks on their communities by Buddhist fanatics are over — for the present — it seems clear that the Burmese government of  President Thein Sein, is actively seeking to exclude the Rohingya from national life.

BBC News-Asia

The UN human rights envoy to Burma has accused the country’s government of failing to protect him when his convoy came under attack this week.

Tomas Ojea Quintan said this happened during his visit to the central town of Meiktila, the scene of recent deadly clashes between Buddhists and Muslims.

He said some 200 people surrounded his car, punching the doors and windows.

No-one was hurt, but the envoy said he now had an insight into how people would have felt during March’s clashes.

“The state failed to protect me,” Mr Quintan told reporters at the end of his 10-day visit to Burma (Myanmar).

BANGKOK: Myanmar must address anti-Muslim propaganda and stamp out a culture of impunity for religious violence or risk “catastrophic” levels of conflict, a rights group warned Tuesday.

Physicians for Human Rights described attacks on Muslims, that have swept the country since fighting first broke out last year as “widespread and systematic”, in a report examining unrest that has killed around 250 people and left tens of thousands homeless.

The US-based group said that while the situation in the country currently appeared calm, a failure to properly investigate and deal with the causes of the tensions risks further clashes.