Kate Hodal

Footage emerges of police failing to prevent violence in Burma as EU prepares to lift all sanctions permanently

Video footage has emerged showing Burmese police standing by as Buddhist mobs wielding sticks and swords attack Muslims in Meikhtila – where last month more than 40 people were killed and 12,000 displaced – on the same day that the EU is expected to permanently lift all sanctions against the country.

The footage, apparently shot by police officers, shows Buddhist crowds looting and ransacking a Muslim jewellery shop, cheering when Muslims are attacked, and setting fire to mosques and houses. Later, a man who has been set alight and is believed to be Muslim can be seen lying in the road, surrounded by a crowd of people. “Pour water on him,” a man in the crowd commands. “Let him die,” shouts another. “No water for him.”

Both Buddhist monks and police can be seen through much of the footage – the monks often taking part in the violence, the police watching immobile as it progresses.

LONDON, July 31 (UPI) — A British delegate said Wednesday before leaving for Myanmar he was “very concerned” about the status of reforms under way in the country.

Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow leads a delegation of British lawmakers this week to Myanmar, known also as Burma. He said he’s expected to meet pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, policy makers and members of civil society during his visit.

Myanmar President Thein Sein, a former military commander, was feted in London by British Prime Minister David Cameron mid-July. Cameron congratulated the leader for democratic reforms embraced since 2010 general elections, though he expressed concern about violence targeting the minority Muslim community in the coastal state of Rakhine.

Associated Press

MANDALAY, Myanmar // It’s been two years since Myanmar’s new government promised its people a more open way of life, but still they come, plainclothes state intelligence officers asking where former student activist Mya Aye is and when he’ll be back.

Politicians, journalists, writers, diplomats, too, find themselves being watched: Men on motorcycles tailing closely. The occasional phone call. The same, familiar faces at crowded street cafes.

“It’s not as bad as it used to be,” said Mya Aye, who devotes much of his time today campaigning for citizens’ rights, “but it’s really annoying. They act like we’re criminals, harassing us, our families. It’s disrespectful and intimidating. It shouldn’t be this way anymore.”

Andrew Friedman

The rapid political reform of Myanmar’s leadership has earned the country a reputation as a “development darling,” a country quickly changing from an international pariah to a beacon of opportunity. But, as we have seen with historical “darlings,” the positive steps of reform (and the media coverage of them) can often hide widespread human rights violations.

In 2009, the Obama administration began a policy of engagement with Myanmar, which led to a string of diplomatic successes. Since then, the country’s military junta has retired, elections were held for the first time in 20 years, and a number of political prisoners, including Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, were released. The United States greeted such changes by systematically easing economic sanctions, and increasing diplomatic contact. In late 2011, then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Myanmar, becoming the first senior American official to visit the country in more than 50 years. Clinton’s trip was followed by an unprecedented November 2012 visit by President Barack Obama, making him the first sitting U.S. president to enter the formerly reclusive Southeast Asian state.

from Radio Free Asia

A court in central Myanmar has sentenced an activist to a decade in prison for “threatening national security” after he led a protest against a controversial China-backed copper mine which led to clashes with authorities, according to a fellow campaigner.

Judge Kaythi Hlaing of the Shwebo city court handed Aung Soe, an activist with Myanmar’s People’s Support Network, the 10-year sentence on Monday after convicting him on eight charges linked to the violence on April 25, Moe Moe, also of the activist’s group, told RFA’s Myanmar Service.   

The group had backed hundreds of farmers protesting the alleged seizure of their land by Wan Bao Company, which runs the copper mine near Mount Letpadaung in northern Burma’s Sagaing division.

Shan Herald Agency for News

The Peace and Democratic Front (PDF) alliance, formed by the ex-Communist Party of Burma (CPB) forces in the wake of its overthrow in 1989, will be joining today’s conference held in Chiangmai by the Ulnited Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), according to sources from the Thai-Burmese border.

It includes representatives from the Panghsang-based United Wa State Party/United Wa State Army (UWSP/UWSA), Moongla-based National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA) and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) that has been in exile out of its Kokang base since 2009.

Xiao Hsarm Khun speaking at the Shan-Kayah Trust Building for Peace conference in Lashio, Shan State, on 22 March 2013 (Photo: Kawli Media)

Todd Pitman

MANDALAY (Myanmar): It’s been two years since Myanmar’s new government promised its people a more open way of life, but still they come, plainclothes state intelligence officers asking where former student activist Mya Aye is and when he’ll be back.

Politicians, journalists, writers, diplomats, too, find themselves being watched: Men on motorcycles tailing closely. The occasional phone call. The same, familiar faces at crowded street cafes.

“It’s not as bad as it used to be,” said Mya Aye, who devotes much of his time today campaigning for citizens’ rights, “but it’s really annoying. They act like we’re criminals, harassing us, our families. It’s disrespectful and intimidating. It shouldn’t be this way anymore.”