By Niels Lesniewski

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell quietly weighed in on one of his long-standing priorities Thursday — the country of Myanmar.

The Kentucky Republican has long taken an interest in the Southeast Asian country, being among the leading voices against the repressive military junta that first took power in the late 1980s. Recent pro-democratic reforms led McConnell to announce in May that he wouldn’t push to continue U.S. sanctions against the Myanmar government.

McConnell’s a former chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee responsible for the State Department’s budget.

On Thursday, McConnell inserted a detailed statement in the Congressional Record outlining four priorities for an overhaul of the country’s constitution, including establishing civilian control of military forces.

By LAWI WENG

RANGOON — A group of Burmese activists is boycotting a Silver Jubilee event next week to commemorate the country’s 1988 pro-democracy uprising because former military generals from the government have been invited to attend.

Members of the All Burma Federation of Students Unions (ABFSU) have resigned from the jubilee’s organizing committee and will not participate in the event next week, saying that the former generals participated in the crackdown on student protesters 25 years ago and should be forced to apologize to the families of victims.

“We decided not to attend the event, and even to resign from the working committee for the event, after we hosted last week’s meeting,” Kyaw Ko Ko, a leader from the ABFSU, told The Irrawaddy on Friday. “The majority of our group voted not to attend because military generals who were involved in the killings will be there.”

Susan Lavery and Parameswaran Ponnudurai

A top adviser to U.S. President Barak Obama emphasized Thursday that reforming Myanmar’s military-written constitution is critical to having free and fair elections in 2015.

White House Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes said that constitutional reform would allow the people of Myanmar to elect whoever they liked and protect human rights, which under the previous military junta were among the worst in the world.

Rhodes was speaking to reporters in Yangon after meetings with civil society and government officials and business leaders.

His statement came as opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi called for greater political commitment to amend the constitution, which was formulated by the previous military junta in 2008 and prevents the Nobel laureate from becoming president.

YANGON, Aug 2 (Bernama) — Myanmar will conduct a nationwide population census in March-April 2014, involving international assistance, China’s Xinhua news agency said quoting official media’s report on Friday.

The census-taking process will last from March 30 to April 10 in 2014.

Of the expected cost of US$58.5 million for the process, Myanmar’s government committed US$15 million, while the United Nations pledged US$5 million for materials and courses.

Donations of US$2.8 million by AusAID and US$16 million by the British government for the census have been received, the report said, adding that coordinations are being made for receiving donations from Norway and Switzerland.

State-level peace talks between Myanmar’s government and the Taaung National Liberation Army (TNLA) took place for the first time in the border town of Muse, northern Shan state, on Wednesday.

The government’s Union Peacemaking Work Committee was led by Aung Min, Minister for the President’s Office while TNLA’s delegation was headed by Lieutenant Colonel Tar Phone Kyaw. The government side discussed ceasefire measures, opening a liaison office, regional movements of troops and the steps needed towards holding national-level peace talks.

“We agreed on basic facts. We could not reach agreement because our chairman was away and their army chief was not here. We discussed prevention of further clashes,” Aung Min said.

Author: Adam P MacDonald, Halifax

Since assuming power in 2011, the pseudo-civilian government of President Sein has begun to fundamentally transform Myanmar’s foreign relations by re-engaging with the West.

In 2012, as part of the government’s attempt to strengthen ties with Washington, and to dispel any lingering concerns over Myanmar’s nuclear ambitions, Sein announced that relations with Pyongyang would come to an end.

But there are two recent developments which have called this announcement into question: first, the recent sanctions imposed by the US Treasury on Lieutenant General Thein Htlay, Director of Defence Industries of the Tatmadaw (Myanmar’s military), for conducting arms sales with North Korea; and second, the March 2013 interception of a suspicious North Korean shipment of aluminium rods (which most likely have a military application) to Myanmar.

Shan Herald Agency

The Burma Army is sending reinforcements into areas that link the Shan State Army (SSA) North with its ally the United Wa State Army (UWSA) on the eastern bank of the Salween, according to local sources.

This is in spite of the fact that both the SSA and the UWSA have signed ceasefire agreements and Naypyitaw had, on 12 July, met Wa leaders that defused the tension along the Thai-Burmese border between the two sides.

During last week, Chinese made Dong Feng six-wheelers had arrived in the Loi Khawk mountain on the west bank of the Salween in Tangyan township. “There were 6 trucks each carrying no less than 30 troops,” said Maj Naw Lake, liaison officer for the Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA), as the SSA North is officially known.

BBC – Timeline

A chronology of key events

1057 – King Anawrahta founds the first unified Burmese state at Pagan and adopts Theravada Buddhism.

1287 – Mongols under Kublai Khan conquer Pagan.

1531 – Toungoo dynasty, with Portuguese help, reunites Burma.

1755 – Alaungpaya founds the Konbaung dynasty.