Fighting in northern Burma’s Kachin state between the Kachin Independence Army and government forces intensified this month, according to the rebels.

La Nan, spokesperson from the Kachin Independence Organisation — the KIA’s political wing — said 52 clashes have taken place this month inside the group’s territories on the eastern banks of the Irrawaddy River.
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Zay Kabar, a Burmese company that has been accused of illegally confiscating more than 800 acres of land from farmers in Shwenanthar, a village in Rangoon’s Mingaladon Township, has continued clearing the land despite being told to stop by local authorities.
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A farmer from Nipukhan Vilage in Rathidaung Township, who is going to court for alleged trespassing, said that farmers are still being oppressed despite the new government.
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Chiang Mai– Burmese President Thein Sein’s website said on Friday he gave instructions to officials that the government needs a “second-level strategy” that is “citizen-centered.”

According to the website, the president said he wanted officials to give high priority to helping and protecting citizens and to avoid bribery and corruption. (more…)

Border affairs ministers visited the Wa capital Panghsang yesterday and are due to arrive in Mongla, the main base of the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA) today, according to sources from the Sino-Burmese border. (more…)

Kohima, May 10 2012: Exactly a month after signing a ceasefire agreement with the Myanmarese authority, the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang) has said it will open a “truce supervisory” office in the neighbouring country.

The sub-office NSCN (K) at Khamti town in Myanmar would be for preserving peace and tranquility ‘within its jurisdiction’, a statement by its information and publicity wing said today.
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United Nations unit says the country is vulnerable to corruption, commodity prices

The economic prospects of Myanmar, formerly Burma, could be undermined by volatile commodity prices, according to the United Nations, which says that reliance on the now-lucrative oil and gas sectors could hinder fiscal modernization.
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Reports this week that Lower House MP Aung Thaung, a former general who served as Burma’s industry minister in the previous military junta, will no longer head efforts to reach a peace agreement with the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) are just the latest twist in the long career of a man regarded as one of the country’s most corrupt officials.
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Asian Green Development Bank and Thailand’s Kasikorn Bank signed an agreement on 8 May to create a remittance service between the two countries.

On Tuesday, AGDB’s deputy-chairman Zaw Min and the K-Bank’s Senior Executive Vice President Somkid Jiranuntarat signed an agreement in Bangkok at Kasikorn’s headquarters in front of officials from the Burmese embassy and the World Bank. (more…)

Laotian authorities handed over Golden Triangle drug lord Sai Naw Kham to Beijing on Thursday—16 days after his reported arrest for the killing of 13 Chinese sailors on the Mekong River last autumn.

The 42-year old is understood to have started his trafficking career under late drug warlord Khun Sa—the leader of the now defunct Shan rebel Mong Thai Army.
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Burmese lawmakers paid the country’s first ever visit to the European parliament on Thursday in a new sign of growing warmth between the EU and the Southeast Asian nation.

Headed by lower house speaker U Shwe Mann, the delegation, including two other parliamentarians and a dozen officials, was to meet EU president Herman Van Rompuy and the bloc’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. (more…)

THE United Nations is ready to work with the government to permanently end conflicts with armed ethnic groups, particularly the Kachin Independence Army, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told journalists in Nay Pyi Taw on April 30.
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Myanmar’s government must allow reforms in the judicial system, and the first step is to guarantee its independence.

Progress must be based on an established rule of law, argues Aung San Suu Kyi [EPA] (more…)

Rumors of a reshuffle in Burma’s cabinet, fueled by hints from senior government advisers, have been circulating for months amid reports – strenuously denied by President Thein Sein himself – of a battle between the liberals and hardliners in the government. (more…)

The new government, elected by the choice of the people in accordance with multiparty democratic system, is now functioning. Economic, political and social transformation has been undertaken steadily in consistent with the Constitution which is in line with multiparty democratic practices. Necessary amendments to the relevant laws and regulations are being made.
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Senator Jim Webb (D-Va.), perennially oblivious to the brutality of the Burmese military government, has always opposed United States economic sanctions on the junta. Despite his attempts to gut them, U.S. sanctions were not only maintained but strengthened and are beginning to produce important results. (more…)