To say the least, I am very disturbed by the overall thrust of the article “Myanmar targeting civilians, report says” (June 10) and the inaccuracies it contains. Like most Western media reports, it indicates a shallow knowledge of my country. 

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It was only fitting that former President Corazon Aquino should lead Filipino activists in offering prayers for the unconditional release of Aung San Suu Kyi, the world’s only Nobel Prize winner who is being held prisoner, on her 60th birthday last Sunday. Ms Aquino’s husband, former Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, spent eight years in detention before he was allowed to go to the United States to be treated for a heart ailment. 

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U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has urged Burma‘s military junta to release detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The secretary-general joined politicians and human rights activists from around the world in sending greetings to Aung San Suu Kyi, as she prepares to celebrate her 60th birthday. But in carefully worded response to a reporter’s question, Mr. Annan avoided mentioning the detained Burmese opposition leader by name. 

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Johannesburg: South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu called on Tuesday for a fresh global effort to oust Myanmar‘s military junta, saying the southeast Asian state should be the “next South Africa” freed from tyranny. 

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Thai banks have been urged to allow foreign workers to open bank accounts to transfer money home so they don’t have to risk carrying the money themselves. 

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June 18: Thailand‘s Ministry of Commerce has proposed a plan to establish export wholesale markets along the Thailand-Myanmar border and in several inland trading towns, said an official from the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry. 

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Section: General News – An NGO has pointed that AIDS, gonorrhoea, and syphilis are currently present along the Mae Sod border. Meanwhile it has disclosed that women from Myanmar have been crossing the border on a day-to-day basis to conduct prostitution, with Burmese workers as clients. 

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June 17: Two girls were raped by the Burma Army while guarding the motor road in southern Mon State.

According to a witness who recently fled to Halockhanee refugee camp across from the Thai-Burma border, Mi Mon (not her real name) was taken away from her position and gang raped by Burma Army Battalion No. 61 on June 14, 2005.  She is 17 years old from Kwan Tamoi Taotak village of southern Ye.

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June 20: Life for Shans in Rangoon has become plainly unpleasant since the declaration of Independence in April by a group of exiled Shan elders who had also set up an interim government of Shan State in defiance of the military rulers that have governed the land for more than 43 years, said Shans coming from the capital. 

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A Kachin ethnic splinter group has accused the Kachin Independence Organization of victimization, leading to the arrest of up to 40 of its members and supporters. 

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The Burmese government is tightening restrictions on non-governmental organizations in an attempt to curb foreigners’ activities, say humanitarian workers in Rangoon. 

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Rangoon: National League for Democracy members across Burma are becoming increasingly nervous as journalists and government sources claim the junta intends to wipe them out.  (more…)