Myanmar’s military junta has denied a U.N. contention that detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi lacks access to her doctors, insisting her health remains good. “We allow the doctor to visit her once a month or any time she requests it,” Police Chief Maj. Gen. Khin Yi told reporters at a press briefing late Wednesday at the country’s new capital of Naypyidaw. “She has not yet made any request for the doctor to see her.
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The Burmese regime on Wednesday turned the tables on the US attempt to achieve UN Security Council action on Burma, maintaining that Washington, not the Naypyidaw junta, threatened regional peace and security.
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Myanmar’s police chief has denied the junta had ordered the International Committee of the Red Cross to “close” its offices in the country, saying it merely asked that the ICRC offices temporarily “suspend their activities.” “It is not true that we had issued the order to close their offices,” Police Chief Brig. Gen. Khin Yi told reporters Wednesday in Myanmar’s new administrative capital Naypyitaw.
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More than 200 Burmese civilians fleeing Burmese army operations have arrived at a refugee camp near the Thai border after a gruelling17-day march and a further 3,000 are on their way, the New York-based Human Rights Watch reported on Wednesday.
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New battalions have been despatched by the Burmese Army to the border opposite Chiangrai province, Thailand, prompting both Thai and Shan forces to keep an eye on further moves, reports S.H.A.N. correspondent Zerng Tai.
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Minister of Health Dr Kyaw Myint on Wednesday told a press conference in Naypyidaw that Burma is winning the fight against HIV/AIDS, citing a drop in the number of cases over the past five years.
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A Burmese migrant and a Chinese national were apprehended for being in possession of a sophisticated illegal drugs making machine and contraband narcotics estimated to be worth Rs. 300 crores in Kolkata. The arrest followed a tip off from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
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Opium output in northern Shan State has decreased through it has done nothing to reduce the availability or use of drugs there, reports Hawkeye from the border:
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Human Rights Watch criticized the Burmese military Thursday for using thousands of civilians as “expendable pawns” in its battle against insurgents. “The Burmese army is driving thousands toward the border with Thailand and herding villagers into squalid relocation sites or into the jungle away from their ruined homes and dying crops,” said Brad Adams, the group’s director for Asia.
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