Several publications in Burma are being forced to run news stories about meetings between Rangoon-based western diplomats and the recently released former student leader Min Ko Naing, as well as with the main opposition party, according to journalists in Rangoon.
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Yangon: Myanmar’s Wa ethnic group, one of 17 rebel organizations that have entered cease-fire with the military government, has pledged continued support for the junta, saying it will take part in the National Convention to be resumed next February, state-run newspapers reported Wednesday, quoting a statement from the group.
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Yangon: A total of 338,911 people in Myanmar were estimated to have been infected with HIV as of this year, according to a latest figures disclosed by the Ministry of Health.
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Taknef: Bangladesh is exporting fake and expired pharmaceuticals into Burma at a reduced price, according to border sources.
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Vientiane, Laos: Southeast Asian countries came close to issuing a critical statement on the Myanmar military government’s treatment of detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi at their summit, but the plan was shot down by Thailand, sources said Wednesday.
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Kuala Lumpur: A group of ASEAN lawmakers on Wednesday condemned the decision by Myanmar’s military junta to extend the house arrest of democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
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Kuala Lumpur: Mobile teams will be deployed in an urgent effort to register refugees hiding in the jungles on the fringes of Malaysian cities ahead of an imminent government crackdown on illegal immigrants, the UN refugee agency said Wednesday.
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Bangkok: UN secretary-general Kofi Annan led international demands for the swift release of Myanmar’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose house arrest has been extended for another year by the military regime.
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Washington: The United States has warned it might boycott ASEAN meetings when Myanmar takes over the chairmanship of the Southeast Asian grouping in 2006, unless the military-ruled state improves its human rights record.
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Bangkok: Press freedom groups on Wednesday dismissed Myanmar’s prison release programme of more than 9,000 inmates as a “smokescreen” and said a cameraman was the only one of 13 detained journalists freed.
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The Asean summit in Vientiane has ended, without doing anything to make Burma’s leaders more accountable and their policies transparent. Disappointingly, Asean leaders failed to make any formal resolution on Burma.
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