Ethnic Armies Say Peace Talks to Proceed with Myanmar Government

 

Armed ethnic groups have agreed to meet with the Myanmar government next month for peace talks despite reservations over a number of conditions imposed under a proposed nationwide ceasefire agreement.

The talks will be held “in the third week of May” in Yangon, said Naing Han Tha of the Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT), which represents nearly all members of the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), a key coalition of 12 ethnic rebel groups.Next month’s talks will center on resolving disagreements with the government that are hindering progress on signing a ceasefire agreement, Naing Han Tha told RFA’s Myanmar Service, speaking at the end of a two-day meeting among NCCT representatives in Thailand’s northern Chiang Mai city.

Last month, the NCCT and the government’s Central Peace Making Work Committee said they had agreed on the first draft of the nationwide ceasefire agreement and would meet again in the second week of May to try to complete it.Naing Han Tha had warned on Monday that that six conditions proposed by the military at the last meeting, including the need for ethnic groups to disband their armies, could scuttle the talks planned for next month.

The NCCT has also expressed doubts over the proposed formation of a federal union that should give ethnic states greater powers. On Tuesday, Naing Han Tha said that the talks would go ahead as planned, but would focus on “what positions the government might be willing to change.”

“We plan to discuss including these points in the ceasefire agreement as a guarantee to enter into political dialogue” shortly after a completed ceasefire deal, he said.Naing Han Tha said that the NCCT will not abide by a military condition that would force ethnic groups to adhere to laws set out by Myanmar’s 2008 junta-drafted constitution, which is currently being reviewed for amendment in the country’s parliament.

“We have fought with the government for a long time because we don’t like these laws. So, we see [this demand] as unfair,” he said.“The government has said something like the 2008 constitution can’t be amended. We also can’t accept this. We want to find out why it is so difficult for us to achieve peace while the president, parliamentary speaker and some MPs are currently discussing amendments to the constitution in parliament.”

The Irrawaddy online journal quoted Naing Han Tha as saying that the NCCT wants to meet with the government to learn its views, “as the military’s proposal [in the last meeting] is unacceptable.”“We are not still clear on how the government views the military’s statement for the [first draft], and our proposal on federal policy and autonomy for our states to be included in the draft [nationwide ceasefire],” he told the journal.

Recent clashes

Recent clashes between the military and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA)—which is represented by the NCCT—in Myanmar’s Kachin and Northern Shan states during the past month that have left more than 30 soldiers killed or wounded have also threatened to derail peace talks.

Naing Han Tha told RFA that the clashes, which have prompted more than 5,000 people to flee their homes, demonstrated that the “government is taking advantage” of negotiations to try to gain control of strategically located ethnic-controlled territories.“But we also are led to think about whether the government really wants to [sign the national ceasefire agreement] because some generals don’t want Myanmar to become a democratic country, which would reduce the military’s power.”

During the second day of meetings in Chiang Mai, the NCCT selected Padoh Saw Kwe Htoo Win, general secretary of the Karen National Union (KNU) as the deputy chief of the eight-member delegation team which will hold the May discussions with the government on a nationwide ceasefire.

KIO request

KIA deputy commander-in-chief General Gun Maw echoed concerns about the latest clashes and said the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) had sent the government a letter on Tuesday requesting bilateral talks scheduled for May 10 in the Kachin state capital Myitkyina.“Because there have been several clashes with government soldiers in Kachin state and northern Shan state, it is likely to harm the bid for a nationwide ceasefire,” he said in Chiang Mai.

“We need to reconsider our participation [in this process]. We would like to hold a discussion with the government so as not to hamper the progress of the agreement.”The Kachin rebels and government officials have not had such a meeting since October last year.The KIO has also suggested that Vijay Nambiar, the Special Advisor on Myanmar for the U.N. Secretary-General, Chinese Special Envoy for Asian Affairs Wang Yingfan and central committee members of the NCCT should attend the May 10 meeting.

Kachin conflict

More than 100,000 people have been displaced as a result of the Kachin conflict, which erupted in June 2011, ending a 17-year ceasefire agreement.The KIO and an ethnic Palaung group, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), are the only two armed groups that have not yet signed a bilateral ceasefire with the government.Gun Maw has said that the KIA will not sign a nationwide ceasefire accord if the government tries to force it to the table through “military means.”

China Warned Over Use of Force As Obama Heads Home

 

U.S. President Barack Obama ended his Asian tour on Tuesday with a warning to Beijing not to use force to settle territorial disputes, sparking an angry response from Chinese media amid growing regional tensions.Obama told a gathering of U.S. and Filipino troops at the end of his tense four-day visit to the region on Tuesday that nations should respect each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

"We believe that international law must be upheld, that freedom of navigation must be preserved and commerce must not be impeded," said Obama as Washington signed a 10-year agreement to give the U.S. military greater access to Philippine bases. Obama said the arrangement will help promote peace and stability in a region unsettled by China's claims on disputed territories. Many of the details remain to be worked out.

"We believe that disputes must be resolved peacefully and not by intimidation or force," he told troops at Fort Bonifacio near Manila, before boarding Air Force One for the flight home to Washington.He said the U.S. commitment to defend the Philippines in the face of external armed attacks was "ironclad."But he omitted to give the same specific reassurance to Manila as he had to Tokyo on the first leg of his tour; namely that the U.S. would come to Japan's aid in the event of military conflict with China over ongoing and multi-party maritime disputes in the East and South China Seas.

Beijing responds

China's state media responded by accusing Obama of "ganging up" with its neighbors and creating a security threat of its own."It is increasingly obvious that Washington is taking Beijing as an opponent," said an editorial in the English-language China Daily newspaper on Tuesday.Beijing has come to view Obama's visits to Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines as a tour of anti-Chinese hostility, it said.

"With Obama reassuring the US allies of protection in any conflict with China, it is now clear that Washington is no longer bothering to conceal its attempt to contain China's influence in the region," the paper said."Ganging up with its troublemaking allies, the US is presenting itself as a security threat to China," it said.Obama on Tuesday also insisted that the United States is not seeking to counter or contain China.China's foreign ministry was relatively cautious in its response.

"As for whether the move is aimed at containing China, we need to see what the American side says and what it does," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a regular news briefing in Beijing on Tuesday."President Obama and other US officials have said on different occasions that the United States has no intention of containing China," Qin said. "We believe that China and the United States share extensive common interests in the Asia-Pacific region and in Asia-Pacific affairs."However, Beijing sent three Chinese coastguard ships into waters around disputed islands known as Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan, which controls them, the Japanese coastguard service said on Tuesday.

Two threats

Chinese political analysts say the administration of President Xi Jinping has pursued a more aggressive foreign policy than its predecessors since taking the reins of the ruling Chinese Communist Party in November 2012.According to retired Toledo University international politics professor Ran Bogong, Beijing sees two major threats to national security; domestically from acts of internal unrest, violence and terrorism, and externally, from Japan.

"In the near future, [perceived] threats to China's national security will come from two quarters at least: internally from terrorist activities; and externally from the challenge presented by Japan," Ran told RFA in an interview on Monday.China claims nearly all of the South China Sea, which is believed to contain huge deposits of oil and gas, even including disputed waters, islands and reefs close to its neighbors.Such disputes have sparked sporadic maritime standoffs with vessels from Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines in recent months, prompting calls for stronger U.S. support.

Ran said U.S. military power was still likely to be decisive in maintaining the status quo in territorial disputes."U.S. military might is still far greater than China's, and everyone including China recognizes that reality," he said.

Seeking stability

Li Xiaobing, director of the Western Pacific Institute at the University of Central Oklahoma, agreed."It would be very dangerous to underestimate America's military strength," he said in an interview at the start of Obama's trip.But he said Obama's aim in Asia was still to maintain stability."There is a lot of trouble in the world right now, so Obama will want to stabilize [the U.S.] backyard in Asia," Li said.

"He doesn't want to see any major conflict, and that includes clashes between China and Japan."

Refugee plan looks like a go

 

The government has “agreed in principle” to a controversial refugee resettlement scheme with Australia, but will hold off on inking a deal until the proposal has been further analysed, a senior Foreign Ministry official announced yesterday.A visiting senior UN rights official also said that the United Nations would be willing to provide assistance to ensure that any resettlement agreement meets international standards. 

Ouch Borith, secretary of state at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, made the comments to reporters yesterday after a meeting between Foreign Minister Hor Namhong and UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Flavia Pansieri.“In general, the government has agreed in principle, but it has not yet been given the OK,” Borith said, before clarifying that a committee was still “studying” the proposal, the exact details of which have been kept under wraps by both governments.

“The government agreeing in principle means that it is still under study. And we will do it in accordance to international standards, because the main important thing is [that this] is based on a volunteer principle, without [Cambodia] being forced,” he said.

In response to questions from reporters, Borith also denied that the deal, rumoured to involve $40 million being paid for Cambodia to settle 100 refugees processed at Australian detention facilities on the Pacific island nation of Nauru, had any financial or aid imperative for the government.

“Cambodia is [dealing with the refugee proposal] as a humanitarian act,” Borith said.

Simon Fellows, first secretary at the Australian embassy, declined to comment.Earlier this month, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott confirmed that his government had asked Cambodia to participate in the regional resettlement of refugees.In her comments to the media, Pansieri declined to make any “firm statements” on the Australian proposal due to a lack of clear details, but said that the UN would be willing to provide assistance if Cambodia decided to settle refugees.

“What we think is important is to note that Cambodia is well aware of its international commitments to human rights standards, keen to abide by them and to the extent there is any need for cooperation, we stand ready to provide support to ensure that standards are met,” she said.Pansieri, the most senior UN rights official to visit the Kingdom since 2010, also said that the UN would like to see a transparent investigation into the shootings of protesters by authorities on Veng Sreng Boulevard in early January that left at least four dead.Earlier in the day, she attended a civil society workshop on collective land registration for indigenous communities, where she criticised economic land concessions being prioritised over indigenous land titling.“In practice, what is happening in some degrees is that land concessions are receiving priority before communal land titling,” she said.

The government has said that 10 new communities would now receive titles every year, but Pansieri said it could do more.“I think we can be more ambitious than that.”

Tra Vinh woman dies of silicone injection

Doctors said the patient was taken to the hospital on Saturday in a state of weakened breathing, heart palpitations, high fever and sweating. The woman’s body was covered in red bumps and showed signs of infection.According to the patient's relatives, a day earlier the woman had been visited in her home by a mobile beautifying service provider. The provider, who lacks any certification in cosmetic surgery, injected silicone into the woman’s bust, neck, hands and feet. A few hours later, she began to feel tired and was overtaken by shortness of breath.

Doctors said the patient suffered from shock due to blood sepsis as a result of the large volume of silicone in the body. Though the doctors tried their best, the woman died on the morning of April 27 due to respiratory failure.This is not the first case of death due to abuse of silicone. Hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City sometimes receive patients who attempt to self-beautify, injecting silicone directly into their own bodies.In 2011, a 21-year-old man bought 500cc of liquid silicone to inject into his body after friends commented that his buttocks was small. The man was brought to HCM City’s Trung Vuong Hospital in a coma. He died of respiratory failure.

In 2013, Binh Dan Hospital in HCM City treated about 40 young men from a fishing village in the southern province of Ca Mau. The men, of ages ranging from 19 to 32, had all attempted to enlarge their penises by injecting liquid silicone into them.When doctors asked one of the men – NTK, 22 years old – why he had felt the need to "upgrade” his genitalia, he offered the following account:It started, said NTK, when he got drunk with friends and all went skinny-dipping in a river. There they commented on each other’s manhoods, and NTK was singled out for having one that was smaller than the rest. NTK was warned that, given his small size, he would be unable to satisfy his future girlfriend or wife.

Someone suggested that NTK buy silicon from Thailand to inject into his penis to make it bigger. NTK’s friends also told him about several men who had had successful penis enlargements from silicone injections. NTK did the same. After several injections, his penis did look bigger and he was very happy with the results.But it wasn’t long before the organ became swollen and had expressions of edema, became deformed and gave off an odor. NTK also could not urinate. Ultimately, with the pain unbearable, he had to tell his concerned family the truth, and was rushed to a local hospital. To save and restore his penis, the doctors recommended that he go to Binh Dan Hospital.

South Korean president apologizes for response to ferry sinking

 

The web of blame in the South Korean ferry sinking is getting wider, and now the country's president is accepting some of the heat.President Park Geun-hye apologized to the nation Tuesday over the government's initial response to the Sewol ferry tragedy."I am losing sleep as there is no news about saving more lives and because there are many families who don't know whether their loved ones are dead or alive still," the president said.

"I am at a loss for words for an apology that can be enough to console the pain and suffering even for a little while over insufficiency in efforts made to prevent the accident and also in the initial response to the accident," she added."I am sorry, and my heart is heavy that so many precious lives are lost because of the accident."

Earlier Tuesday, Park attended a memorial in Ansan, the Seoul suburb where hundreds of students on board the ship were from. She talked to family members and laid flowers at the memorial site.

"We'll fix the problems and change our practices so we'll have safer nation and won't let them die in vain," Park said.The ferry sank April 16 on the country's southwest coast. The number of dead now stands at 210. Another 92 are still missing."All we are asking for is, 'Bring the dead bodies out,'" a father wailed Tuesday. "We know they are not alive now."

 On Monday, South Korean authorities arrested three people on suspicion of destroying evidence connected to the ferry sinking. Investigators also raided a Coast Guard office in a probe of how officials handled the first emergency call from a passenger.The director and two other people with the Korea Shipping Association's Incheon office were arrested and accused of destroying evidence related to the probe of Chonghaejin, the company that owns the ferry.The Korea Shipping Association is a trade group that promotes the interests of the country's shipping industry.The site raided was the Coast Guard building in Mokpo, which includes the South Jeolla province emergency center -- a facility that provides 119 services, akin to the 911 emergency service in the United States.