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.

BBC Monitoring

Myanmar, also known as Burma, was long considered a pariah state, isolated from the rest of the world with an appalling human rights record.

From 1962 to 2011, the country was ruled by a military junta that suppressed almost all dissent and wielded absolute power in the face of international condemnation and sanctions.

The generals who ran the country stood accused of gross human rights abuses, including the forcible relocation of civilians and the widespread use of forced labour, including children.

The first general election in 20 years was held in 2010. This was hailed by the junta as an important step in the transition from military rule to a civilian democracy, though opposition groups alleged widespread fraud and condemned the election as a sham.

By LAWI WENG / THE IRRAWADDY

RANGOON—Former political prisoners who survived detention on Great Coco Island, a notorious penal colony off Burma’s mainland, have criticized the country’s reform efforts, saying the Burmese people have yet to see real change under a government that remains largely controlled by the military.

At a ceremony in Rangoon on Wednesday to honor prisoners who died inside the island’s now-shuttered detention center, Hla Nyo, a former prisoner, condemned the administration of President Thein Sein, who served as prime minister under the previous military junta.

“President Thein Sein said his government brought democracy to our country, but there are people whose land has since been confiscated,” the former prisoner said, 42 years after the penal colony was closed down following a series of hunger strikes to protest harsh conditions there. Inmates were then sent to Rangoon’s Insein Prison.

By Zin Linn

Burma’s President Thein Sein received a British delegation led by Speaker of the House of Commons, UK Parliament Mr. John Bercow and party at the Credentials Hall of the Presidential Palace in Nay-Pyi-Taw on Tuesday, the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper said today. The British Speaker of the House of Commons was accompanied by six parliamentarians of UK Parliament.

According to the newspaper, President Thein Sein and Mr Bercow had discussions on the release of political prisoners as well as taking penalizing actions against those involved in the conflicts between the two communities in Rakhine State and some other districts.  The two also talked about some issues such as humanitarian assistance to victims in conflict-stricken areas, constitutional amendments, humanitarian assistance for victims in Kachin State and peacemaking development to terminate domestic armed conflicts.