The United States has urged the Burmese junta to set free opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners.
The call has been made by the US state department ahead of the second anniversary of the attack on the pro-democracy leader and her supporters.
Regret. This word can mean a lot for many Burmese.
Looking back over the last 15 years of Burma’s political history, many Burmese, including its military leaders, might have many regrets.
May 26: May 30 marks the second anniversary of the brutal attack on Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters. Government-affiliated forces used bamboo staves and metal pipes to kill or injure members of the National League for Democracy and pro-democracy supporters. The Burmese junta continues to ignore requests by the international community to investigate the attack and refuses to take any responsibility or hold accountable those officials reportedly involved in the assault. The junta, which has detained Aung San Suu Kyi on numerous occasions over the past fifteen years, again detained her following the May 2003 attack. Today, she is held under house arrest and is virtually incommunicado.
Ma Su Su Nway, the villager from Htan Manaing Village, Kawmoo Township in Rangoon Division who successfully sued her local authorities for forced labour practice, was honoured with an award by the National League for Democracy (NLD), on 25 May, for her efforts in promoting human rights in Burma.
May 25: One of the armed ethnic national groups which signed ceasefire agreements with Burma’s military junta, State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), New Mon State Party (NMSP) urged the UN to intervene and help solve the problems of Burma before the situation becomes too complicated.
A Burmese rights activist, based in the Thai border town of Ranong, has been reported missing for a week after being taken away by few unidentified people.
More than 200 Chinese-made military trucks bought by the Burmese regime have reportedly crossed the border, arriving in the northern Shan State town of Muse on Wednesday and Thursday.
The value of Burma’s currency, the kyat, has dropped to its lowest level this year following a government announcement that measures are being taken to control black market trading.
As foreign investment comes jingling in the oil sector promising to pump blood into the anaemic Burmese economy, the flip side of the story paints a grim picture for the local people, engaged in traditional method of drilling.
A flag meeting between Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) and Burmese security forces (Nasaka) was held at Kur Khali (Lake Ya) village of Maungdaw north, Arakan State on May 18, 2005, said master Anwar hailed from Whykong village that has close relation with BDR.
Traders in Myanmar have been urged by the government to boost export under a tariff reduction scheme on import from Myanmar by China and some member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a local press reported Thursday.
A Bangladeshi private company held a press briefing in a hotel in Dhaka on the 23 of May regarding their negotiations with an international consortium about a tri-nation (Burma, Bangladesh, India) gas pipeline.
Malaysia, facing a nationwide labor shortage, said Thursday it will allow illegal workers from Indonesia and other countries who left under an amnesty to return as tourists and seek work, softening its policy on foreign laborers.
Environment ministers from six countries sharing the Mekong River, including China, Cambodia and Thailand, have affirmed their commitment to enhance cooperation on preserving their individual and shared natural resources, according to a statement made available to Xinhua Thursday.
A sweeping motion to ban Canadian investment in Burma and provide Parliamentary support to the democratic government-in-exile passed in the House of Commons this week without the backing of Liberal parliamentarians.
A sweeping motion to ban Canadian investment in Burma and provide Parliamentary support to the democratic government-in-exile passed in the House of Commons this week without the backing of Liberal parliamentarians.
There is no sign of a conclusion soon to ceasefire talks between the Karen National Union and the Burmese military government, a KNU official said on Wednesday.
May 24: Two of Burma’s ethnic Shan rebel groups have joined forces – one breaking a cease-fire with the military government – as they step up their struggle for an independent state. The move raises fears of renewed violence in Burma if other rebel cease-fire agreements break down.
Myanmar’s military rulers are hunting for three members of the minority Karen ethnic group suspected of carrying out bombings in Yangon earlier this month, the country’s ambassador to China said on Wednesday.
May 24: At least 70 people in all have been killed due to the bomb blasts which occurred at shopping centers in Burma capital Rangoon on 7 May.