Rohingya kills a Nasaka collaborator in Maungdaw south

Maungdaw, Arakan State: Rohingya villagers from Oo Doung in Maungdaw south killed a Burmese border security force (Nasaka)’s collaborator and a member of village administration member on April 25 at about 7:30pm, according to a village elder from village.

“U Assawdullah, the member of village administration and also a collaborator who is working under village administration officer U Tin Maung and area Nasaka out post.”

“U Assawdullah is a notorious and harassing villagers in the name tolls for Nasaka and other official.”

In the period of Buddhist water festival, he and his master village administration officer had collected money for are Nasaka post for water festival. The collaborator ordered with the power of Nasaka to pay 2500 kyats from each home. But, some poor villagers had not able to demand money.  The collaborator called Nasaka personnel and had been beating the villagers and harassment going on to the villagers, said a trader from the village.

“Rashid Ullah ,a villager who is main victim of Assawdullah, the collaborator  was beaten severely as the collaborator accused him as leader of village not to give toll for Nasaka.  Nasaka  took him to the outpost and kept there for one day and released after taking 10,000 kyat.”

The Nasaka and the collaborator always harassing and beaten Rashid Ullah where he lost so many money and some of his property. On the sunset of April 25, Rashid Ullah and other two villagers forcefully picked up the collaborator from his house to near the jungle where he was hanged there until dead, according to administration office member.

The police and Nasaka are looking Rashid Ullah, but he escaped from the village and hiding somewhere.  Police file a case against Rashid Ullah, according to an officer from Police.

The villagers said they will be sleep well now as the collaborator is no more and no one can do same as collaborator.

MSF special treatment for suffering ill students from unregistered refugee camp

Kutupalong, Bangladesh: Médecins Sans Frontières(MSF) had given special treatment program for suffering  ill students from  Home  Education program of unregistered refugee camp on April 26, at about 12:00pm, said a school teacher from the camp.

The refugee child has been suffering chicken pox

“Recently, most of the refugee children including the Home Education program students have been suffering from chicken pox, pneumonia and measles and fever.”

“We are facing problem to teach the students in the program, so we had requested to the officer of MSF which is providing health care to refugee and local, to give us a special treatment program for students. The MSF officer had given a program for students where the MSF staffs checked the students and given the medicines. We thanks to MSF from our Home Education program.”

We are providing health care for refugee and local in Kutupalong and it is our duty to give special treatment program for students when the teachers requested to us, said an officer from MSF.


Refugee child with skin diseases 

We thanks to MSF and school teachers for special treatment program to our children – who have been suffering from chicken pox, pneumonia and measles and fever- where we haven’t able to take them to the clinic as we have no money, said  Abdul Amin, an old refugee from camp.

“We also thanks to our young refugees who have been teaching our children in the camp where around 1000 children are going to Home Education program. It is first time our children are getting education in the camp since we are living here.”

Suu Kyi hopes for Myanmar crisis resolution

 

Suu Kyi, right, met Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi in Yangon on Thursday,

 

Opposition leader reaffirms support for president and hopes parliamentary oath dispute will be resolved swiftly.

 

Aung San Suu Kyi has reaffirmed her support for Myanmar's reformist president and says that she hopes for a swift resolution to a dispute that has delayed her debut in the country's parliament.
The opposition leader and other newly elected members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party cancelled plans to attend a new session of the legislature over a dispute regarding the oath of office.
NLD politicians refused to swear to "safeguard" the constitution, which was was created by the army and which the party has opposed.
"We hope the present problem will be smoothed over without too much difficulty before too long," Suu Kyi said at a press conference with Giulio Terzi, Italian foreign minister, in Yangon on Thursday.
She pledged to continue to try and work "in collaboration with the government particularly because we believe that President U Thein Sein is sincere in his reform efforts".
U is a term of respect in Myanmar.
Array of reforms
Thein Sein, a former army general, has implemented an array of changes since coming to power last year, including allowing the NLD to operate more freely, and the freeing of political prisoners.
In her remarks, Aung San Suu Kyi also expressed hope that her party would be able to serve Myanmar "not just outside the parliament as we have been doing for the last 20-odd years, but also from within the national assembly".
"With regard to the obstacles in the way of our taking our places in the national assembly, we would like to think that these are purely technical ones," she said.
"We would not like to expand them to the point that they become a political issue."
The NLD's decision not to attend the parliamentary session on Monday was seen as a sign of friction with the government.
It came on the same day as the European Union suspended most of its sanctions against Myanmar, to reward political reforms.
The party had asked that the swearing-in oath be changed from having members of parliament pledging to "safeguard" the constitution to having them pledge to "respect" it.
A quarter of the seats in the parliament are currently reserved for unelected military officials, under the current constitution.
'Public interest'
Thein Sein said on Monday the oath could be revised "if it serves the public's interest".
Aung San Suu Kyi won a parliamentary seat in April 1 by-elections for the first time since a landslide NLD victory in 1990 elections was annulled.
The NLD won 43 out of a total 44 seats up for grabs during the by-elections.
In addition to the EU, Canada has also suspended sanctions this week, and Japan has waived $3.7bn of Myanmar's debt.
Terzi, the Italian foreign minister, said that he had met Thein Sein, and that the president was "fully aware" that sanctions were only suspended for a year, and had not been lifted entirely.
He said that the EU wanted to be sure the Southeast Asian nation's reforms "do not stop or even slow down".
The US has ruled out an immediate end to its main sanctions on Myanmar.

No Rohingya in NLD membership application: Arakan State NLD Acting Chairman, U Maung Pwa Aung

Maungdaw, Arakan State: The National League for Democracy (NLD), Arakan State, acting chairman U Maung Pwa Aung told the students group of Maungdaw not to use Rohingya in the column of mentioning the race while applying NLD membership application at inaugurated the NLD office opening ceremony in Maungdaw on April 25 at about 9:30am, said a student who join the opening ceremony of NLD office.

“The acting chairman had met the student group from Maungdaw where he had advised the students to work hard to reach democracy in Burma and told to organize the people in Maungdaw to join the NLD. It is the duty of students.”

“In the opening ceremony, most of the attended students are Rohingya community and the acting chairman advised the students not to use Rohingya as a race column, but use only “Muslim”. He also mentioned that the NLD didn’t want the Maungdaw students group to use – Arakan Muslim, Burmese Muslim, Bangali and Kala- in their membership application.”

“But, the acting chairman in his opening speech in the Maungdaw NLD office ceremony used the word “Kala” for the majority population –Rohingya community in Maungdaw.”

The membership applications which were sent to the head office via regional office on February 12 by U Aung Pan Tha, was opened by acting chairman where he erased the name Rohingya into Muslim in the application. After that the applications were sent to the head office, according to a NLD member and sources.

But, a former NLD executive committee member from Maungdaw said that they send all the applications (around 50,000) before 1990 election with Rohingy ethnic in the race column. At that time, there is no mention about using of the Rohingya ethnic.

“In this time, we are facing some difficult while we are siting in the meeting with high level NLD member, they are using us as a Kala in the meeting where most of the people are Rohingya. Why they use the hate word to us.? May be they are not willing us as a member? First and last, the Rohingya are supporting NLD. Now the NLD high command using us in the meeting as a Kala.”

If we need to write the name Muslim, we are not applying the membership application to NLD office. It is our ethnic name. so, we are not applying the application, said a group of students from Maungdaw.

Rohingya welcome European Parliament Resolution on Burma

Arakan State: Rohingya political groups had welcomed the European Parliament resolution (2012/2604(RSP)) of 20 April 2012 which called for changes to the 1982 law on citizenship to ensure due recognition of the right to citizenship of the Rohingya ethnic minority in Burma, according to press release of the Arakan Rohingya National Organisation (ARNO).

“The resolution also called for the release of all political prisoners without delay and conditions, and access of ICRC and international human rights bodies to  Burma’s prisons; to introduce amendments to the 2008 constitution; to guarantee free and independent media; to initiate legal reforms in order to ensure a truly independent and impartial judiciary and to establish process of justice and accountability for past human rights abuses.”

The Rohingya groups - the Arakan Rohingya National Organisation (ARNO) and the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK).

“The whole Rohingya people feel encouraged by this resolution,” said Nurul Islam, the President of ARNO.

“While cautiously welcoming the recent positive changes in Burma, including mutual rapprochement between President U Thein Sein and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the resolution expresses concerns on the policies and discrimination against Rohingya people, and issues concerning human rights and other important matters,” the press release said.

The Burma citizenship law of 1982 was designed by former BSPP dictator General Ne Win to exterminate Rohingya Muslims from Arakan. It violates several fundamental principles of customary international law standards, has deprived the Rohingya of their Burmese citizenship rendering them ‘stateless’ in their own homeland. 1982 citizenship law effects to Rohingya in their all activities such as restriction on movement, marriage, and education and so on, according to BROUK press released.

The law promotes discrimination against those who do not belong to so-called racially pure-blooded 135 ethnic groups that the government accepts as Burmese nationals and deliberately denies citizenship to Rohingya who had previously been recognized as citizens and ethnic group in Burma, according to ARNO press release.

The rejection of Rohingya’s citizenship rights and ethnic rights by the government of Thein Sein is the main contributing factor to the growth of the refugee problem and the boat people crisis in the region. The Junta’s policy towards Rohingyas has been intolerable. The extreme situation has forced them to prefer to take perilous voyages by rickety boats across seas and oceans rather than live in their homeland; as a result hundreds of Rohingya boat people drowned over the years, according to Tun Khin, the president, BROUK.

Therefore, we urge upon the international community and governments to set the ‘issue of Rohingya citizenship’ as one of the benchmarks for lifting sanctions on the Burmese government as the 1982 citizenship law largely ignores state’s ‘obligation to respect the right to nationality’ and it does not oblige the state to protect stateless persons.

The resolution also calls on the Burmese authorities, among other things, to completely end the decade-old internal armed conflicts, to take more positive measures for peace negotiations towards political and democratic reforms.

Similarly, the Christian Solidarity Worldwide has welcomed the European Union’s decision to suspend sanctions against Burma for a year, which called for “substantially improved” access for humanitarian assistance, especially for those affected by the conflict in Kachin State and along the eastern border, as well as moves towards improving the welfare of the predominantly Muslim Rohingya people who live in northern Arakan State but are denied citizenship and are subjected to severe restrictions and persecution.

Two Rohingya women refugee missing in Cox’s Baza

Cox’Bazar, Bangladesh: Two Rohingya women were missing after local people picked up from the Kutupalong unregistered refugee camp on April 20, according to an elder refugee from the camp.

“The local people who hail from Ali Zalal village with other local went to the camp for searching of a Rohingya house maid –working in their house and run away from home – where the local didn’t see the maid and the local picked up an old lady and young girl from the shack of Hussein Ahmed.”

The maid, Ms.Ohmaizan, a Rohingya maid working in a house of Ali Zalal village of Cox’s Bazar is a close relatives of Hussein Ahmed. The Hussein’s family visited the local resident where Ms.Ohmaizan worked and the local also know the location of Hussein, according to Hussein Ahmed.

The owner of Ms.Ohmaizan suspected the Hussein family after the maid run away from his house. So, he and other local went to the unregistered refugee camp and searched the shack of Hussein for Ms.Ohmaizan. But, they fail to find the maid and then charged the Hussein family. The local forcefully picked up the family of Hussein. The local left Hussein in the Kutupalong for weakness of his health.  But, the local picked up Yasmin ,50 years, the wife of Hussein and Ms. Anowara , 20, the daughter of Hussein, said Anno who is the eyewitness for the event.

“The local had beaten severely the two refugee women while the refugee refused to go with them. No refugee had protected the women or camp committee.”

“The local picked up the two refugees on April 20 at about 6:30pm and after that no one had information where about the two refugee. Hussein who is very poor and an old man, can’t able to follow his family where about,” said a refugee woman from the camp.

The Hussein family didn’t take any responsibility for Ms.Ohmaizan and had not sent her to the local resident. The only things is the family visited the resident and introduced themselves as relatives. Why the local picked up the two women? They can complain to the concerned authority to find the maid, said an elder from refugee camp.

Govt Wants to Start Resettling Refugees: Minister

A KNPP peace delegation signs a ceasefire agreement in the Karenni capital Loikaw on March 7, 2012

Burmese Railways Minister Aung Min, the chief government negotiator in talks with ethnic armed groups, has said that Naypyidaw wants to begin resettling internally displaced persons (IDPs) and war refugees before the start of the rainy season, which begins in June.
Aung Min mentioned the plan during informal talks on Saturday with the ethnic Karenni armed group, the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP), in the northern Thai border town of Mae Hong Son, said KNPP Secretary 1 Khu Oo Reh.
“He [Aung Min] told us that the government has plans for the resettlement of IDPs and refugees and also wants migrant workers to return,” said Khu Oo Reh.
“They want to start resettling IDPs and refugees by the start of the upcoming rainy season,” he said. “But we think it is impossible and unrealistic, because we don’t know how sure our peace process is. We are just in the process of negotiations.”
There are about 150,000 mostly ethnic Karen refugees from Burma living in nine refugee camps along the Thai-Burmese border and an estimated 1.5 million IDPs inside the country, according to relief and humanitarian aid agencies.
It is believed that Thailand alone is host to as many as two million migrants workers from Burma, most of them unregistered.
Khu Oo Reh noted out that before any resettlement program can begin, a number of issues needed to be addressed, including the demining of conflict zones, deciding where the returnees would live and getting the support of international humanitarian groups.
Aung Min met the KNPP on Saturday, the same day he returned from a trip to Europe, where he briefed Norwegian government ministers on the progress of Naypyidaw’s efforts to reach peace deals with ethnic armed groups.
Despite reaching a series of ceasefire agreements with armed groups representing Burma’s Wa, Karen, Shan, Mon, Karenni and Chin minorities, the government has yet to end nearly a year of fighting with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), the country’s second-largest ethnic militia.
Sources in Laiza, the headquarters of the KIA’s political wing, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), said that heavy fighting in the area on Sunday left two Burmese soldiers dead and two injured.
Despite such incidents, however, there is still unprecedented hope of an eventual end to ethnic conflict, though observers say it could take years before a lasting peace takes hold.
Saw Htun Htun, the chairman of the Mae La camp, the largest refugee camp on the Thai-Burmese border, said that refugee repatriation would remain impossible in the near future due to continuing security concerns, but added that it could happen within the next five years.

Police kills a Rohingya in Maungdaw

Maungdaw,Arakan State: Police personnel from Ramawaddy village outpost had beaten a Rohingya beggar  on April 20 in the evening  and died in the hospital at about 9:00pm,said a village administration office member.

Hussein, the Rohingya beggar in the hospital after dead

“The Rohingya beggar- Hussein- is living a village of Alay Than Kyaw who is begging for money for his survival around the village near the Alay Than Kyaw.”

Hussein had crossed the police outpost after begging in the villages and had returned to his village in the evening of April 20 where the Rakhine community had come and enjoying for their water festival in Alay Than Kyaw from every corner of Maungdaw township. All the Rakhine community was also drunk at that time. The outpost police officer- a sergeant - who beat the beggar severely without any question until the beggar become unconsciousness, said a village who is the eyewitness from the village.

Assistant Inspector, Hla Myo Htun-the outpost officer in charge- had taken the beggar to the Alya Than Kyaw hospital for treatment but the bagger died in the hospital at about 9:00pm at night, said a staff of hospital who deny to name.

The bagger is an old man who begs for money or foods in the village by village to survival his family as he was old age and not able to work hard. He never asked the sergeant for money or foods. He was only passing in front of outpost and the sergeant had beaten the beggar until dead. Why? One things, he is Rohingya and not a Buddhist, said the hospital staff.

In Maungdaw, the government staff – police and Nasaka – didn’t care the Rohingya as a human. Whenever they want to do some things against the Rohingy they don’t care any law. What they say is the Law, said a student from Alay Than Kyaw.

Suu Kyi set for first trip abroad in 24 years

Myanmar pro-democracy icon set to visit Norway and UK in June in first trip outside country since her detention in 1989.

Suu Kyi was invited to Britain during a meeting with British Prime Minister David Cameron last week 

 

Myanmar's Nobel Peace Prize laureate and pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, is set to travel outside the country for the first time in 24 years.
The party of the newly elected member of parliament said on Wednesday that Suu Kyi had accepted invitations to visit Norway and Britain in June.
Suu Kyi was invited to visit Britain during a meeting with David Cameron, the British prime minister, in Yangon last week.
"Two years ago I would have said thank you for the invitation, but sorry," she said of Friday's offer by the British leader.
The fact that she would consider the offer, rather than reject it outright, showed "great progress" had been achieved in Myanmar she said.
The city of Oxford, where she attended university in the 1970s, will be on the agenda for the Britain visit, Nyan Win, spokesman for her National League for Democracy (NLD) party told the Reuters news agency.
He said the exact route and dates for Suu Kyi's first travels outside the southeast Asian nation in more than two decades had not yet been set.
The 66-year-old Suu Kyi, first detained in 1989, spent 15 of the last 21 years in detention.
Following her November 2010 release, Suu Kyi refused to leave the country during the brief periods when she was not held by authorities, for fear of not being allowed to return.
Suu Kyi's expected travel caps months of change in Myanmar, following a series of reforms under President Thein Sein, a former general, including a historic by-election on April 1 that won Suu Kyi one of her party's 43 seats in a year-old parliament.
After five decades of military rule, Thein Sein's reforms included the release of political prisoners, more media freedom, dialogue with ethnic armed groups and an exchange rate unification seen as crucial to fixing the economy.

UNHCR and Bangladesh authority jointly hold meeting about refugee repatriation

Teknaf, Bangladesh: A High level delegation of UNHCR and Bangladesh concerned authorities for refugee repatriation jointly held a meeting with official refugees in the Nayapara camp on April 9, regarding the repatriation, said a schoolteacher from Nayapara camp.

Hunt Chess, the Country Representative of Burma of UNHCR explained the refugee about the situation of Burma

Hunt Chess, the Country Representative of Burma of UNHCR who recently came from Burma said that “the political situation of Burma is changing and the economic development is also progressing than before. Besides, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi including other political prisoners was released by the Burmese authority.”

“I come here to inform the refugees about the situation of Burma and the progressiveness which has been made recently in Burma. If the refugees want to go back, we will facilitate the refugees return.”

Feroz Salah Uddin, the Refugee Relief and Repatriation commissioners (RRRC) said, “We don’t want to force the refugees for repatriation, we want voluntarily repatriation. Refugees can go back to Burma and we want to take decision by themselves.”

The country representative of UNHCR, Dhaka, RRRC, Kamorul Zaman, the Camp-in-Charge, office staff and others were participated in the meeting, sources said.

The delegation of UNHCR and Bangladesh  authorities with refugee in the meeting

Noor Mohamed (27), a refugee from the camp submitted an application to the delegates, and it has the following points:  1) to recognize as citizens of Burma with Rohingya ethnicity by the UN-recognized democratic government of Burma, 2) to have equal rights like other ethnic groups in Burma, 3) to provide compensations and to return of confiscated lands and other properties, 4) to stop human rights violations and racial discrimination, especially against the Rohingya community.

“We will go back to our motherland, if our demands are accepted and fulfilled by the Burmese authority. We don’t want to stay in the small sheds with bad condition anymore.  How long are we living in Bangladesh in such condition?” Noor Mohamed said.

According to refugees, they also urged to the Burmese authority through the delegates to immediately fulfill the said conditions.

“Another refugee woman said, “We have been living in Bangladesh over 20 years. How long we have to stay here. We want our citizenship rights, equal rights and want to stay peacefully in our country.

The meeting was started at around 1:00 pm and ended 2:00 pm.

Similarly, the high level delegates also visited the Kutupalong official camp and held meeting with the official refugees, said a schoolteacher from Kutupalong camp.

Winds and rain destroys huts of Kutupalong makeshift

Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh: Heavy rains and winds destroyed some huts of Kutupalong makeshift camp on April 9, according to a Refugee committee member from Kutupalong makeshift camp.

The winds and heavy rain destroyed the Rohingya refugee huts in Kutupalong makeshift camp

“The winds started at night at around 10:00 pm, and then heavy rains started.”

Another refugee from makeshift camp said, “We are afraid that our makeshift camp will be damaged in the heavy rains accompanied by strong winds. But, later on, the wind became calm and slow. So, we, the unofficial refugees are safe.”

According to different sources, at least 20 people were killed and 74 others injured in storms and lightning strikes triggered by pre-monsoon rains at different parts of the country – Bangladesh.

Buses and cars plying on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway remained suspended from 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm due to bad weather on that day.

Maritime ports of Chittagong, Cox's Bazar and Mongla were advised to hoist local cautionary signal-3, the Met office said in a special bulletin on .yesterday.

All fishing boats and trawlers out in the Bay and deep sea were asked to come close to the coast and proceed with caution until further notice.

Ethnics’ representatives including Rohingya meet British Prime Minister, David Cameron

Ethnics’ representatives - Chin, Kachin, Shan, Karen and Rohingya – met British Prime Minister, David Cameron, at the residence of the British ambassador in Rangoon on April 13 at 7pm- 8 pm, according to a source from Rangoon and BBC Burmese.

Rohingya representative - Mr.Abu Taher- highlighting the situation of Rohingya  in northern Arakan

In the meeting, the Rohingya representative - Mr.Abu Taher- Central Executive member, Head of Political Bureau and Research and development of National Democratic Party for Development (NDPD), highlighted recent Rohingya facing – social, economic and political – problems in northern Arakan.

He highlighted the identification of Rohingya ethnicity and the root cause of Rohingya ethnic, where he mentioned that from Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) time to till today, the regime excluded from the list of ethnic –the 135 races- under the 1982 Myanmar Citizenship Law and that citizenship law is contradicting with 2008 Constitution.

The 1982 Myanmar Citizenship Law was designed specially in order to make deliberately Rohingyas from bona-fide citizen to non-bona-fide citizen. The law was done as a racist attitude. The regime has no legality or authority to exclude Rohingya from the list of ethnic, said the Rohingya representative in the meeting.

“The authority has to restore Rohingya ethnic rights and citizenship rights, before going durable solution, national reconciliation and durable peace process in Burma.”

Ethnics’ representatives meeting with British Prime Minister, David Cameron at the residence of the British ambassador in Rangoon

The representative also highlighted on going Human rights violations in Burma and especially in the area – northern Arakan - where Rohingya community reside.

He also submitted to Prime Minister an official letter on behalf of NDPD. After the meeting they were served by dinner at British Ambassador residence.

The Rohingya representative, Abu Taher, won from People’s Parliament, Buthidaung Township in 2010 election. But, Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) forcedly denounced his victor, according to NDPD press released and case file against Shwe Maung of USDP.

NDPD complained to Township Election Commission, the votes were recounted by the Commission where Abu Taher (NDPD) got 56,882 votes and Shwe Maung (USDP) got 53,702 votes, according to election watch in Buthidaung report.

“Obviously she [Suu Kyi] is ignoring the Rohingya problem, a key human rights issue in Burma. However, still the Rohingya have high expectations of her. Rather than avoiding the Rohingya people and their problem,... Aung San Suu Kyi should take all measures to formally accommodate Rohingya into the family of the Union of Burma, with full ethnic and citizenship rights, as one of the many ethnic nationalities of the country,” Nurul Islam, President, Arakan Rohingya National Organization ( ARNO) told IRIN News agency

.

British Prime Minister, David Cameron talking with ethnics' representatives

“There is no change of attitude of the new civilian government of… Thein Sein towards Rohingya people; there is no sign of change in the human rights situation of Rohingya people. Persecution against them is actually greater than before.”

Similarly, "The government is trying to show the West that they are dealing with the Karen [another aggrieved ethnic group] and other groups by giving rights and making a truce. But they are showing the carrot in one hand and the stick for us [the Rohingya] in the other. It's a distraction and a diversionary tactic," Dr. Wakar Uddin, chairman of the Burmese Rohingya Association of North America said to www. ibtimes.com.

"If somehow the Burmese government [manages] to get sanctions lifted and the Rohingya issue is not resolved, we are finished," Uddin told the BBC.

"There is no hope because they will not revisit this. Whatever needs to be done about the Rohingya, it has to be done before the sanctions are lifted."

According to the United Nations, the Rohingya who live in Burma are forbidden from owning property, marrying or even traveling without state permission. Many are subject to forced slave labor and extortion by authorities.

Many Rohingya have also moved to neighboring Bangladesh, where they are also unwanted.

UK PM Cameron in Historic Burma Visit

UK Prime Minister David Cameron touches down in Burma on Friday.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron has joined calls for an easing of punitive economic sanctions against Burma as he prepares to touch down for an historic visit to the military-dominated nation.
Cameron’s visit on Friday will be the first by a major Western leader to long-isolated Burma for 50 years, and comes in the wake of tentative democratic reforms by the Naypyidaw administration.
The Conservative politician has been visiting Asia as part of a trade tour to drum up business for British firms, and he has already signed significant deals in Japan and Indonesia.
The 45-year-old decided to pay a visit to the former British colony after the widely praised April 1 by-elections secured 43 seats for pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi’s main opposition National League for Democracy party.
The move has seen a litany of Western powers announce an easing of crippling international trade restrictions on Burma, but until now the UK premier has refused to make any such concessions.
“If Burma moves towards democracy then we should respond in kind, and we should not be slow in doing that,” Cameron told BBC Radio Five Live during an interview on Thursday. “But first I want to go and see for myself how things are going.”
And Cameron was quick to lavish praise on those who had pushed for reform in Burma during a speech to students in the Indonesian capital Jakarta.
“So let us pay tribute to those who for decades at huge personal cost to themselves have fought for that freedom and fought for that reform, not least, of course, the inspirational Aung San Suu Kyi,” he said.
“Let us also pay tribute to the leadership of President Thein Sein and his government, which has been prepared to release political prisoners, to hold by-elections and to legalise political parties that had previously been outlawed.
“And let us show that when they have the courage to reform, we have the courage to respond.”
Burma, also known as Myanmar, is slowly emerging from the international wilderness after years of Western sanctions due to human rights abuses perpetrated during more than half-a-century of military rule.
Former junta generals ceded power to a nominally civilian administration a year ago, but concerns remain regarding the widely condemned 2008 Constitution which guarantees 25 percent of parliamentary seats for the military.
There are also reservations about the residual power of the commander-and-chief of armed forces to cease control in times of “national emergency.”
However, in recent weeks both large and small multinational firms have set up shop in the former capital Rangoon in eager anticipation of the end of sanctions and the huge investment opportunities on offer.
Burma has a population of 64 million people and huge natural resources of lumber, gemstones and fossil fuels, as well as being strategically placed between the booming markets of India, China and Southeast Asia.
The US announced an easing of economic sanctions on April 4 with the subject up for review by the European Union on April 23, and it appears that the UK is now determined not to be left behind.
“In a world where there are many dark chapters, there is one potential chapter of light in Burma where there does seems to be a prospect of the flowering of more democratisation and freedom. We should be sceptical. We should be questioning it and not naïve,” Cameron told a press conference in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.
“But its not just the Indonesian President who thinks [Burmese President Thein Sein] is sincere, its not just the Malaysian Prime Minister who takes that view. Aung San Suu Kyi herself who spent so many years in such a lonely, but powerful resistence believes [Thein Sein] is acting in good faith.
“Just as Britain played a leading role in the EU on imposing sanctions, we should not be backwards in our response.”

Thein Sein Ripe for Japanese Reward: New Loans to Burma

Japan's Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Edano shakes hands with Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi at her home in Rangoon on Jan. 12, 2012

BANGKOK — Following the political reforms he has unleashed, Burmese President Thein Sein is on the cusp of reaping a financial harvest from Japan—new loans for development assistance.
A likely setting for the deal to be unveiled is an upcoming Japan-Mekong summit on April 21, when Thein Sein visits Tokyo to join government leaders from the four other Southeast Asian countries that share the Mekong River.
But a US $5 billion hurdle needs to be surmounted before Tokyo ends its decades-long suspension of loans to Burma: a decision on what to do about the amount the Burmese government owes Japan in unpaid debts from loans spanning from the late 1960s to the late 1980s.
Officials from Japan’s Finance Ministry and Foreign Ministry have been exploring a range of options to deal with the over $5 billion in unpaid debt that has to be paid back before a new tranche of loans from Japan can flow to Burma. The amount Burma owes Japan is the largest slice of its $11 billion in unpaid debt to foreign governments and international institutions. The amount it owes the World Bank, which has also suspended development loans for nearly two decades, is $789.2 million.
According to sources following the policy options being tabled, one school of thought favors Japan resuming loans to Burma by canceling the total or part of the debt. They are turning to a debt cancellation mechanism that was established by the trade and development board of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD- TDB) resolution in 1978 as a blueprint.
This view is up against another school of thought among government policy makers who are pushing for a “bridge loan” to help Burma repay its debt and qualify for new loans. This would rope in Japanese private banks, which would lend Burma the amount it needs to pay off its unpaid debts to Japan in order to break the ban on new loans until old debts have been cleared. It is also a debt-relief mechanism with precedents: six Japanese private banks loaned Vietnam $182.5 million in the early 1990s to help Hanoi pay Tokyo the debt it owed in order to qualify for new loans.
“Since public loans cannot be provided because of the overdue debt, there are no other options than mobilizing private money,” said Saturo Matsumoto, an expert on Japan-Burma ODA policies at Hosei University in Japan. “Some officials in the Finance Ministry seem to prefer the bridge loan because they feel ‘full cancellation’ could lead to moral hazard.”
And if a compromise is reached—opting for both debt relief mechanisms—one of the glaring stories of oppression during the years of Burma’s former junta leader, Snr-Gen Than Shwe, will cast a shadow: the attack by pro-junta goons on opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi’s motorcade in Depayin on May 30, 2003, which killed close to 50 people.
“The Japanese government had pledged to cancel the debt that had matured in January 2003 based on the UNCTAD-TDB resolution. But the May 2003 violent attack against Aung San Suu Kyi’s motorcade stopped Japan from providing further debt relief,” Matsumoto said in an interview. “The issue is how much had matured in January 2003 and how much is overdue.”
“According to my sources, the [amount matured] is about $2 billion, while the [amount overdue] is $3 billion,” he revealed. “The bridge loan will be approximately $3 billion.”
Japanese activists, however, prefer the “bridge loan” option, since it gives them more leverage to monitor the conditions under which such a debt-relief package is given.
“My understanding is that Japan would like to see Burma undertake further serious political and economic reforms,” said Yuki Akimoto, co-director of the Burma Information Network—Japan, a Tokyo-based monitor of financial flows to Burma. “I would hope that the Japanese government, with support from Japanese civil society, would use such leverage to help ensure that reforms are made.”
Such a window to monitor the loan conditions would also give a pivotal role to Burmese activists in Rangoon and elsewhere in the country, Akimoto said in an interview. “By working with Japanese civil society, members of Burma’s civil society can help inform the Japanese government how the new loan is being used and whether political and economic reforms are in fact taking place.”
Talks between Tokyo and Naypyidaw to explore debt relief began in early December, following the visit to Burma that month by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Her visit to engage with the reformist administration of Thein Sein lifted the pressure Washington had placed on Tokyo for decades to toe the tough, pro-Western line on Burma—including denying the country loans.
During the talks that involved officials from Japan’s Foreign Ministry, Burmese officials from the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development were given a reminder of Japan’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) Charter, a 1992 document that compels Tokyo to take note of the loan recipient’s records on military spending and its commitments to advancing democracy, protecting human rights and promoting a market economy.
This charter marked a turning point from the loans-without-conditions of Japanese ODA that shaped Tokyo’s assistance to developing countries in the previous decades. Burma under Gen Ne Win’s dictatorship was a major beneficiary, since Japan gave its first loan in 1968. Between 1978 and 1988, Japanese loans to Burma reached an estimated $3.7 billion, accounting for nearly 70 percent of the country’s foreign development assistance.
But Burma’s crumbling economy through the 1980s, its inability to repay its loans and the brutal crackdown on the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, in which an estimated 3,000 people died, ended the strong ties that Burma and Japan had developed since the end of the Second World War. “The default on the loans came first. The defaults could have been renegotiated afterward, but the country’s politics made this impossible,” notes Sean Turnell, an associate professor in economics at Australia’s Macquarie University.
“The World Bank loans were mostly taken on in the late 1970s and the early 1980s, and the Japanese and the Asian Development Bank ones across a similar period,” he explained. “Much was built out of it—much of it wasteful, much no longer functioning—but it was mostly used.”

Cameron and Suu Kyi want sanctions suspended

British PM, along with Myanmar's opposition leader, calls for suspension of economic sanctions during visit to country

David Cameron and Myanmar's opposition leader have called for the suspension of economic sanctions against the South Asian nation after holding landmark talks.

The British prime minister met Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday at her lakeside home where she was held under house arrest ...for 22 years by the country's military government.

"If we really want to see the chance of greater freedom and democracy in Burma, we should respond when they take action," Cameron said.

"For the sake of a country that has been crying out for freedom after decades of dictatorship, and that is crying out for a stronger economy after so much grinding poverty, it must be worth taking that risk."

Cameron said an arms embargo against Myanmar should remain but it was right to suspend, but not lift, remaining sanctions.

The visit was the first by a British prime minister in decades and comes amid thawing relations between the once-pariah state and Western nations.

Earlier, Cameron met Thein Sein, Myanmar's reformist president, who took over from Than Shwe, the general who was was in charge as Suu Kyi and other political prisoners' rights were violated.

The European Union is due this month to review its sanctions in response to political and economic reforms undertaken by the civilian government that came to office a year ago when the military government partially ceded power.

Quoting a source from Cameron's office, the Reuters news agency said it was unlikely all EU sanctions against Myanmar would be lifted.

"We will want that decision on the 23rd of April to be the right balance that recognises the great progress that's been made ... versus not taking our foot too much off the pedal and going backwards," the source added.

Britain, Myanmar's former colonial ruler, has traditionally stuck to sanctions because of human rights concerns and its shift is likely to clear the way for a suspension of the measures later this month.

'Thein Sein genuine'

Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate whose support is seen as crucial for any easing of the sanctions, including those imposed by the US, also called for a suspension of the measures.

"This would strengthen the hands of the reformers - not just the suspension but the fact that there is always a possibility of sanctions coming back again if the reforms are not allowed to proceed smoothly," she said.

"We still have a long way to go but we believe that we can get there. I believe that Thein Sein is genuine about democratic reforms."

Cameron said people should be "under no illusion about what a long way there is to go", and said Myanmar's leaders want to demonstrate that moves towards democracy were "irreversible".

The fact that Myanmar has been "largely unexploited in terms of business opportunities" is part of what is driving a steady stream of foreign dignitaries, including Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, and her British counterpart, William Hague, to the nation, Al Jazeera's Wayne Hay, reporting from neighbouring Thailand, said.

Myanmar's military rulers ceded power to a quasi-civilian government following a November 2010 election marred by opposition complaints of rigging, and won by a party set up by the military.

"In a world where there are many dark and depressing chapters of history being written there is a potential chapter
of light," Cameron said ahead of his visit.

"Of course we should be sceptical, of course we should be questioning."

The new government has released hundreds of political prisoners and introduced a wave off reforms including loosening media controls, allowing trade unions and protests, talks with ethnic minority rebels and sweeping economic changes.

In parliamentary by-elections earlier this month, Suu Kyi was elected to Myanmar's parliament after decades as a prisoner.

The last election she won under her NLD party in 1990 was not recognised by the military government.

David Cameron arrives in Burma for historic trip

 

Prime Minister David Cameron met Burma's president, Thein Sein, in Nay Pyi Taw

David Cameron has become the first UK prime minister to visit Burma in more than 60 years after arriving in the capital Nay Pyi Taw.

He met President Thein Sein and is to hold discussions with pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Rangoon.
Speaking on arrival, Mr Cameron said the government had to demonstrate that moves to democracy were "irreversible".
He is the first Western leader to visit Burma since Ms Suu Kyi's success in a series of parliamentary by-elections.
Burma was ruled for almost half a century by a military junta that stifled almost all dissent and wielded absolute power. The EU, US and other nations imposed sanctions.
The first general election in 20 years was held in 2010.
The installation of a military-backed, nominally civilian government in March 2011 and a series of reforms since - including the release of hundreds of political prisoners - has led to speculation that decades of international isolation could be coming to an end.
'Shining example' "There is a government now that says it is committed to reform, that has started to take steps, and I think it is right to encourage those steps," Mr Cameron said.
But he added: "We should be under no illusions about what a long way there is to go and how much more the government has to do to genuinely show this reform is real and that it's irreversible, and we should be very cautious and very sceptical about that."
He also said he wanted to meet Ms Suu Kyi, describing her as "a shining example for people who yearn for freedom, for democracy, for progress".
Mr Cameron is the first serving British prime minister to visit Burma since it gained independence from Britain in 1948.
It is the final leg of his tour of South East Asia promoting UK interests.

He stopped briefly in Singapore to meet its leader, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, before heading to Burma.
EU foreign ministers are to discuss policy towards Burma on 23 April.
Sanctions, which include an arms embargo and an assets freeze imposed on nearly 500 people, are due to expire on 30 April. Earlier this year, the EU lifted travel bans on more than 80 senior officials, including the president.
If they are satisfied that recent steps taken by the government are likely to be sustained, they could ease certain financial sanctions.
BBC South East Asia correspondent Rachel Harvey, in Rangoon, says although the UK has a reputation within the European Union as being among the most cautious about the recent changes in Burma, the pace of reform in the country is impossible to ignore.
Mr Cameron will want to use his meetings to help shape Britain's position within that argument, she says.

 

David Cameron was mobbed by students in Malaysia when he spoke at a university on Thursday

On Thursday, Mr Cameron told BBC Radio 5 live he would meet the Burmese president and "thank him for the work that he has done" on democratic reform.
Mr Cameron is expected to tell the president the UK is prepared to provide support to the country in areas such as how to build a democracy, tackling corruption and peace and reconciliation, if the country moves ahead with reform and the EU sanctions are lifted.
The PM is then set to take part in a joint news conference with Ms Suu Kyi, who was recently elected to parliament after two decades spent mostly under house arrest.
The pair are then expected to have a private dinner in Rangoon.
'Purely political' visit Earlier, while in Malaysia, Mr Cameron said he and other regional leaders believed the Burmese government's desire for reform was genuine.
"I hope that following my meetings I will have the confidence to go back to my country, back to others in the European Union, and argue that change in Burma is irreversible... and, in a world of difficult and darkness, and all sorts of problems, here is one bright light we should encourage," he said.
Ten members of the business delegation, which includes defence firms, accompanying Mr Cameron on his tour are also in Burma.
However, Downing Street has insisted the visit is purely political and the businessmen will merely be carrying out "cultural" activities.
On Thursday, former Labour minister Baroness Kinnock, the chairwoman of the all-parliamentary group on Burma, said the PM was correct to acknowledge there had been progress.
But she warned against any "chipping away of sanctions", saying it was too soon to consider lifting the arms embargo and restrictions on key industries such as mining and timber when the military still had a monopoly of power.
Mr Cameron is not the first major Western figure to visit the country. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a landmark trip to Burma in December 2011.

Suu Kyi meets Myanmar president

 

Suu Kyi met President Sein, right, for the second time since August 2011

 

Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has met President Thein Sein, as she prepares to take a seat in parliament after her by-election victory.
The pair met at the president's official residence in the capital, Naypyidaw, on Wednesday, Suu Kyi's security chief Khun Tha Myint said. It was their second meeting since the former general took office last year, marking the end of nearly half a century of military rule.
 "She will have lunch with the president's family after the meeting," Myint said.
Al Jazeera's Aela Callan, reporting from neighbouring Bangkok, said: "Both have made no secret of the fact that they need to work together, hence why this meeting has a formal as well as a private side to it."
The 66-year-old Nobel laureate, who spent 15 of the past 22 years locked up by the military rulers, will take her seat in the lower house of parliament for the first time on April 23.
Her National League for Democracy (NLD) party managed to win 43 of the 44 seats it contested, becoming the main opposition force in a national parliament that remains dominated by the military and its political allies.
Suu Kyi has rejected suggestions that she could enter government. But she has not ruled out taking on an advisory role, particularly on the subject of the ethnic minority conflicts that have gripped parts of the country since independence.
Political reforms
In August 2011, Suu Kyi and Sein held talks as the country embarked on a surprising series of reforms, including welcoming Suu Kyi's party into the political mainstream and freeing scores of political prisoners.
Observers say Myanmar's rulers now need Suu Kyi in parliament to bolster the legitimacy of the political system and spur an easing of sanctions.
With Myanmar being increasingly accepted by the international community, David Cameron, the British prime minister,  is due to visit the country on Friday to hold talks with both Sein and Suu Kyi.
His visit will be the first by a Western elected head of government since the military handed power to a nominally civilian government last year following a controversial 2010 election boycotted by the opposition.
The US announced last week it would ease some of its sanctions against Myanmar, but said measures would remain against those opposed to reform.
The International Crisis Group think-tank on Wednesday called on the West to lift remaining sanctions "without delay" to help the reform process, saying the government was unlikely to reverse course.
"Myanmar has turned away from five decades of authoritarianism and has embarked on a bold process of political, social and economic reform," the think-tank said in a report.

Bridge security personnel collect toll from vehicles and travelers

Maungdaw, Arakan State: Bridge security personnel have been collecting toll from vehicles and travelers since it started for public service last six months, said a village administrator office member from Mingalagyi village.

The road – Maungdaw – Mingahlagyi villages – had finished recently with villagers work forced, the member said.

“The road has three bridges – Shwezar – Kayoungchaung – Hlapoekaung villages to connect each side to run the road smoothly and each bridge has security personnel for safeguard of bridge.”

But, the security are collecting toll from Rohingya community who pass the bridge by forcefully,said a teacher from Shwezar village.

“The bridge security personnel are only to watch and guard the bridge only not to collect the toll.”

The bridge security personnel are collecting kyat 2000 per a vehicle and they also checked the travelers ( Rohingya) identity card  and forced the traveler to pay 100 kyat to them, said a driver who ply on this road.

“The security personnel forced the Rohingya (travelers)  to pay money event they have all the documents to travel. The officers are using what they (officer) want to do to the local people. There is no law for  them.”

“Sometimes, the security personnel robbed the travelers when they travel on the night (dark) and took all the belonging.”

Recently, at Shwezar bridge, Rashid and other two ( security personnel) are robbing travelers who go to their home from Maungdaw market at night, said a businessman from Maungdaw.

“The villager complained to the village administrator officer and concern authority ( local Nasaka)  about  harassment of security officers of bridge, but action was taken till now.”

Nasaka forces villager to pay pebble as fine in Maungdaw

Maungdaw, Arakan State: The Nasaka personnel from its headquarters have been checking nearby villages for repairing of houses and fined with pebble pits, said a village administration officer from Nwahyondaung village.

The Nasaka personnel went to the villages – Nwahyoudaung, Maung Hnama and Kyiganpin – nearby Nasaka Headquarters where the Nasaka checked the compounds of the villagers for searching if the villagers repaired their houses or extension of the house or toilets. If the Nasaka found any things new in the house, they (Nasaka) took photograph the things and summoned the villager to the Head office, he more added.

At the head office, the officer checked the field reports and imposed a fine of pebble pits of 5 to 10, said an elder from Kyiganpin village.

“A pit is measure with 9 feet long, 9 feet wide and 1 foot high with pebble and one pit cost around 5000 kyat recently.”

“To build the road, we need pebble and you have to pay for road where you will go on this road,” the officer said.

But, the Nasaka officers are asking not pebble pits, the officers want only the money as per recent market, said a teacher from Maung Hnama village.

Last month, the Township administration officer ordered to village admin officers to issue permission of build repairing with detail mention. Now, the Nasaka are collecting information of building repairing and forced to fine them, said a politician from Maungdaw.

40 NLD seats confirmed wins; results for five more to come soon

The Burmese Union Election Commission (UEC) announced on state TV on Monday the names of 40 MPs-elect in the April 1 by-elections. Results for five more parliamentary seats will be available soon, it said.

Aung San Suu Kyi observes a poll station in Yedashe village, Kawmhu Township, on Sunday, April 1, 2012. 

All of the 40 confirmed winners are National League for Democracy (NLD) candidates: 35 seats in the Lower House, three seats in the Upper House and two seats in regional or state assemblies. The NLD on Monday said it may have won in 43 or more constituencies.

The 35 seats of in the Lower House included all six seats in Rangoon region's six constituencies and all four constituencies in Naypyitaw, the captital.

Meanwhile, according to the NLD, in the Rangoon constituencies, Aung San Suu Kyi won over 85 per cent of the vote in Kawhmu: she received 55,902 votes compared to 9,172 for her strongest rival, Dr. Soe Min, the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) candidate; a third candidate Tin Yi of the Unity and Peace Party (UPP) received 397 votes, according to the NLD.

The parliamentary by-elections were contested by a total of 157 candidates represent 17 political parties and independents, competing for 45 vacant parliamentary seats in 45 township constituencies in nine regions or states: Yangon, Mandalay, Ayeyawaddy, Sagaing, Tanintharyi, Bago, Magway, Mon and Shan as well as Naypyitaw.

An adviser to President Thein Sein said the government was surprised by the scope of the NLD victory.

“I think the Obama government, they are starting to believe that we are really changing, but we need to convince the other guys in Congress,” adviser Ko Ko Hlaing said in an interview with The Washington Post.

He said the president’s relationship with Suu Kyi, whom he has personally met only one time, is grounded on a strong understanding based on actions rather than words. Representatives of the two sides were in regular contact, he told the Post.

Will the election qualify as free and fair and prompt the quick removal of significant western sanctions?

U.S. officials said Sunday’s poll represents a “significant step,” despite reports of some campaign and election irregularities. Suu Kyi has not yet given a pronouncement on the overall election’s fairness. The NLD is in the process of compiling a report of abuses and irregularities.

“There are tangible moments that demand a tangible response to support ongoing reform,” said a senior U.S. administration official. The possibilities include a lifting of visa bands for travel to the United States; nominate a U.S. ambassador to Burma, lift some minor sanctions by presidential order; or initiate military exchanges.

The most dramatic action would be lifting U.S. sanctions barring foreign investment in Burma and imports from the country. That will probably be withheld barring more dramatic democratic reforms, including the release of all political prisoners and establishing a last peace in ethnic areas, where war has raged for decades.

“For now, people on the Hill are open to giving small things that are reversible,” a congressional aide told the Post. “I don’t think there’s any appetite yet for lifting the major sanctions.”

The by-elections were observed by foreign diplomats and United Nations officials based in Burma as well as more than 150 invited international observers and media persons from Asean, and its dialogue partners, including the European Union and the United States. The parliamentary by-election was the first held in the new era of the civil government after decades of no elections under military rule.

Suu Kyi, in a speech at NLD party headquarters, invited all parties to join together for national reconciliation and to bring peace and prosperity to the country. The NLD victory was a “people’s

ASEAN wants Myanmar sanctions to end

Leaders of ASEAN bloc representing almost 600 million people convened in Phnom Penh 

Southeast Asian leaders have called for the lifting of international sanctions on Myanmar after the country's historic by-elections, a senior Cambodian official said at a regional summit.
Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) "call for the lifting of all sanctions on Myanmar," Cambodian Secretary of State Kao Kim Hourn told reporters on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Phnom Penh.
The summit of the 10-member ASEAN bloc commenced in the Cambodian capital on Tuesday, just two days after by-elections in Myanmar saw pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi win her first seat in parliament.
ASEAN foreign ministers applauded the "orderly" conduct of the polls during talks, setting the stage for a strong endorsement from the bloc's leaders at Wednesday's conclusion of the two-day summit.
Representing almost 600 million people from disparate economic and political systems, the ASEAN bloc comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Surin Pitsuwan, the ASEAN secretary-general, said the vote should contribute to the "reintegration of Myanmar into the global community", a reference to the possible lifting of sanctions.
Myanmar's human rights abuses and iron-fisted suppression of political dissent have often hijacked ASEAN gatherings in the past, much to the embarrassment of more democratic member-states.
But over the past 12 months the country's quasi-civilian government, led by President Thein Sein, has freed hundreds of political prisoners, eased media restrictions and welcomed the opposition back to the political fold.
At the last ASEAN summit in November, the country was rewarded for its efforts by being promised the bloc's chairmanship in 2014. Myanmar is eager too to win greater foreign investment with the prospect of sanctions being lifted.
Rocket launch
North Korea's planned rocket launch, described by Pyongyang as a bid to send a satellite into orbit but condemned by the United States and its allies as a thinly disguised missile test, is also on the the agenda for the Cambodia summit.
Albert del Rosario, the Philippine Foreign Secretary, said the ASEAN foreign ministers spoke with one voice against the nuclear-armed North's launch plans.
The Philippines, which lies beneath the rocket's proposed flight path, has lodged formal protests with Pyongyang's representatives at the United Nations, in China and at ASEAN.
"I think the countries that spoke on the topic ... were all of the opinion that we should be discouraging (North Korea) from undertaking that launch," Del Rosario said after the foreign ministers' meeting on Monday.
Regional tensions with China over disputed islands in the South China Sea are another vexing issue for the ASEAN leaders, diplomats said.
China has competing territorial claims in the sea with ASEAN members Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
The US says it has a "national interest" in keeping the vital trade route open to shipping.
The sea is a conduit for more than one-third of the world's maritime trade and half its traffic in oil and gas, and major petroleum deposits are believed to lie below the seabed.
US ally the Philippines has been leading a push for ASEAN to form a united front and present China with a binding "code of conduct" in the sea, but other members argue that Beijing should be involved from the start.
There are also differences over the "internationalisation" of the rival claims, with Cambodia insisting they are matters for quiet diplomacy between ASEAN and China but the Philippines asserting the primacy of international law.

NLD Claims 3 Seats in Naypyidaw

Young NLD supporters prepare for election victory

With ballots already counted at several polling stations in Naypyidaw, the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) is close to victory in three of the capital’s four constituencies.
According to a local reporter, the NLD is well ahead in two constituencies—Pobba Thiri and Dakkina Thiri, led by candidates Zay Ya Thaw and Naing Ngan Lin respectively.
A third seat, in Zabu Thiri, is also likely to go to the NLD candidate Sandar Min, the reporter said.
In Naypyidaw’s fourth constituency, Ottara Thiri, indications are that USDP candidate Hla Thein Swe leads, with ballots still being counted.

I Voted for Party Which Serves the People: Khin Nyunt

Former Burmese Prime Minister Khin Nyunt talks to reporters after voting at a polling station in Mayangone Township on Sunday.

Former Burmese Prime Minister Khin Nyunt said he voted for a political party which he believed served the interest of civilians.
Khin Nyunt, who is also a former spy chief, spoke to journalists after casting his ballot in Rangoon on Sunday—but did not disclose which party he voted for.
However, he said that he cast his vote in accordance with the will of the majority.
Meanwhile, his son, Zaw Naing Oo, told reporters in Rangoon that he voted for May Win Myint, a candidate representing the main opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
Khin Nyunt and his family cast their ballots in Mayangone Township to the north of the former capital. Despite the lack of an official comment by Khin Nyunt, many journalists believe that he also voted for the NLD.
According to preliminary results coming from polls so far, it is believed that Suu Kyi’s party is currently leading the race with the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which is filed with many ex-junta members, in second place.
Nyan Win, the main spokesperson for the NLD,“According to results so far, we can say that the condition of our party is good.”
Suu Kyi is contesting one seat for Kawhmu Township out of 45 constituencies up for grabs in the by-elections.

Profile: Aung San Suu Kyi

Released after enduring house arrest for years, Aung San Suu Kyi has become an icon of peaceful resistance.

   Aung San Suu Kyi is widely seen as the symbol of peaceful resistance in her struggle for democracy
Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for "her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights", Aung San Suu Kyi has become an icon of Myanmar's struggle for democracy and of the global struggle against oppression.
Kept under house arrest or in jail for most of the past 21 years, she is the most prominent of more than 1,000 political prisoners held by Myanmar's military government.
Born in Rangoon, now Yangon, in June 1945, Aung San Suu Kyi is the daughter of Myanmar independence hero General Aung San.
He was assassinated by political rivals when she was just two years old, six months before Myanmar, then known as Burma, was granted independence from Britain.
As a young woman, Aung San Suu Kyi studied politics in New Delhi before moving to Oxford University in the UK in 1964 where she studied philosophy, politics and economics.
There she met and married British academic Michael Aris, with whom she had two sons, Alexander and Kim.
Rising discontent
In 1988 Aung San Suu Kyi returned to Myanmar to look after her mother, who had suffered a stroke.
Her return coincided with a period of rising discontent with the military government of Myanmar's ruler, General Ne Win.
When that boiled over into nationwide pro-democracy protests, she found herself unable to stay silent.

Aung San Suu Kyi is the daughter of Myanmar independence leader General Aung San

"I could not, as my father's daughter, remain indifferent to all that was going on," she told a crowd of supporters in Yangon.
She was named secretary-general of the National League for Democracy (NLD) and travelled the country calling for peaceful reform and democratic rule.
On September 18, 1988 the Myanmar military launched a bloody crackdown on protesters in which an estimated 2,000 people died.
Aung San Suu Kyi's mother died in December of that year but she stayed on in Myanmar, keeping up the campaign for an end to military rule.
In July 1989, in an effort to silence her, the military government placed her under house arrest in her lakeside villa on Yangon's University Avenue, accused of "endangering the state".
She was offered freedom on the condition that she left the country, but she refused.
Landslide victory
A year later, apparently confident that its crackdown had worked, the military government called a nationwide general election - Myanmar's first in 30 years.
The NLD scored a landslide victory, winning 392 of 485 parliamentary seats, although Aung San Suu Kyi herself was barred from standing.
Stung by the rejection, the military refused to recognise the result and announced it was extending Aung San Suu Kyi's detention.

"It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it." - Aung San Suu Kyi

Despite being out of sight, however, she remained very much in the minds of her supporters.
Pictures of the woman many refer to simply as The Lady are kept and maintained with almost spiritual reverence, even though owning such items has in the past attracted serious repercussions from the authorities.
In 1991 Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her achievements as "the symbol of the revolt against violence and the struggle for a free society".

"The little woman under house arrest stands for a positive hope," said Francis Sejersted, chairman of the Nobel committee, at the prize ceremony.
"Knowing she is there gives us confidence and faith in the power of good."
Movements restricted
In 1995 following intense international pressure, the military government announced it was freeing Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest, although in practice her movements remained highly restricted.
Four years later her husband, Michael Aris, whom she had not seen for several years, died of cancer in the UK.

She has spent most of the past 20 years under house arrest in her Yangon home

He had been prevented from visiting his wife during his illness, and she herself had rejected government's "humanitarian" offers to be allowed to leave the country, fearing that she would not then be allowed to return.
In 2000, after breaking travel restrictions by travelling to the northern city of Mandalay for a meeting with NLD officials, she was again put under house arrest.
She was freed two years later, but in May 2003 was sent to Yangon's notorious Insein prison following a bloody clash between NLD supporters and a pro-government mob.
After several months in the jail she was returned to house arrest in her crumbling lakeside villa, where she was held virtually incommunicado for years.
Visitors to the house were tightly restricted, while mail and telephone communications were monitored and intercepted.
Frail figure
The few people who had made contact with her during her house arrest said the growing frustration at the lack of progress with the government had taken a heavy toll on her health.
Photographs of meetings with the United Nations' special envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, showed a thin and frail figure, spurring renewed international calls for her release.

Photos in early 2009 raised concerns over Aung San Suu Kyi's poor health

Despite her poor health, NLD officials said she remained as defiant and fearless as ever - determined to achieve her goals of bringing democracy to Myanmar through peaceful resistance.
In one of her most famous speeches delivered before the 1990 elections, she called for a country free from fear.
"It is not power that corrupts but fear," she said.
"Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it."
In 2009, Aung San Suu Kyi was convicted of violating the condition of her detention by allowing John Yettaw, a US national, to stay at her home after he swam across a lake to get there.
She has since offered to lobby the international community to lift wide-ranging sanctions on Myanmar, many of which were imposed more than two decades ago.
In the 2010 general elections, held for the first time in 20 years, Aung San Suu Kyi was barred from contesting and her NLD party boycotted the vote.
Aung San Suu Kyi was released on 13 November 2010, and, after boycotting elections that year, she stood as a candidate in the April 1, 2011, by-election for the constituency of Kawhmu, south of Yangon.
She said that she did not regret standing for parliament, as it boosted people's interest in politics after decades of military rule.

Suu Kyi 'wins seat' in Myanmar parliament

Democracy icon's party says she has triumphed in by-election contest seen as test of government's commitment to reform

Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi has been elected to the country's parliament in landmark by-elections, according to her National League for Democracy (NLD).
A senior party member, speaking shortly after polls closed on Sunday, said that Suu Kyi, who spent years as a political prisoner, had secured more than 80 per cent of votes in the constituency of Kawhmu, south of Yangon.
The announcement prompted cheers and celebrations from crowds of NLD supporters, although official results are not expected for days.
"Reports are coming through that Suu Kyi has won the polls in Kawhmu, a very poor, rural part of Myanmar ... That is a place where she spent the night on Saturday night, with the locals out there. She has been out there campaigning a couple of times, where she has received an incredible response," said Al Jazeera's Wayne Hay, reporting from Yangon.
Sunday's vote is seen as a key test of the military-backed civilian government's commitment to recent democratic reforms.
Hay said that provisional results from further north, an area near the city of Mandalay, where there were 10 seats up for grabs also suggested that NLD was ahead in eight of those seats.
More than six million people were eligible to vote on Sunday, with a total of 160 candidates from 17 parties, including six new to the political stage, contesting for 45 parliamentary seats.
The number of seats at stake is not enough to threaten the military-backed ruling party's overwhelming majority, secured in full elections in 2010.
Suu Kyi's apparent victory had been widely expected, despite complaints by the NLD over alleged voting irregularities and campaign intimidation.
She said she did not regret standing for parliament because the polls had boosted people's interest in politics after decades of outright military rule ended last year.
The government for the first time invited teams of foreign observers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations [ASEAN], European Union and the US, and journalists to witness the elections.
Political reforms
Since taking office a year ago, President Thein Sein has carried out reforms including releasing hundreds of political prisoners, easing media restrictions and welcoming the opposition back into mainstream politics.
Our correspondent, reporting earlier from Kawhmu, said: "There are international monitors on the ground, but they are not allowed inside the polling booths. They are certainly not allowed to oversee the counting when that starts later on Sunday."
"So, they are here to observe overall process, talk to voters about any irregularities that they might have seen," he said.
"What we are hearing is that some voters have complained that voting sheets have been tampered with. Some voters have complained that inside the polling stations some of the officials have been coercing voters into voting for a certain party.
"So, not the best of starts, but certainly something the National League for Democracy and Suu Kyi were expecting."
Nyan Win, a spokesman for the party, told the AFP news agency on Sunday that his party had submitted a letter of complaint to the country's election commission regarding alleged irregularities involving ballot papers that could potentially be invalidated without due cause.
The NLD won a landslide election victory in 1990 but the ruling military never allowed it to take office. The party also boycotted the 2010 polls that swept the army's political proxies to power and were marred by complaints of cheating and intimidation.
Suu Kyi, who spent most of the past 22 years as a political prisoner, described the vote as "a step towards step one in democracy", despite complaining on Friday that the polls were not "genuinely free and fair".
"What has been happening in this country is really beyond what is acceptable for a democratic election. Still, we are determined to go forward because we think that is what our people want," the Nobel peace laureate said.