Dear Readers
Thank you for your continued support throughout the past few months.
In order to bring you updated news from inside Burma, we're consolidating our efforts, and we will now be posting news as part of Burmese Bloggers Without Borders.
Read us now at http://bbwob.blogspot.com/
Friday, December 14, 2007
Burmese Bloggers Without Borders
Posted by May at 9:41 PM 1 comments
Labels: Notices
Thursday, December 13, 2007
News from Inside Burma
Source: Nik Nayman
According to a soldier, part of a regiment on duty at one of Rangoon's universities, government agents have been compiling details of 9 university students whom they suspect have been involved in politics. They apparently took leading roles in the Saffron Revolution in September along with the monks. The agents are reported to have obtained their full names and their addresses, and investigations were still ongoing. These students are expected to be detained when they return after the vacation.
It was also reported that during the recent examinations at the same university, students who wore black were made to sign an agreement. Niknayman reported that the invigilators followed the students to make them sign the agreements, which stated that they will stop wearing black to the examination. This has left many students baffled and unhappy; they also expressed solidarity with the monks, and said they would continue wearing black or red in support of the Saffron Revolution.
In another university in Rangoon, a student was arrested last month in connection with anti-junta posters.
For the original article in Burmese, please click here.
Posted by May at 7:37 PM 0 comments
Labels: Translated Articles
New Footage on Burma's Protests
Source: Ch 4 News
New pictures reveal the scale of Burma's brutal crackdown against anti-government protestors as the UN delivers its damning report.
To view the video, please click here.
Posted by May at 8:54 AM 0 comments
Labels: Online News, Video Clips
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Myanmar's People Rise to The Occasion
Source: Deutsche Presse-Agentur via Monster & Critics
If anyone deserves a Nobel peace prize this year, it's Myanmar's people and the Buddhist monkhood for daring to take to the streets against a brutish regime that has mired their country in poverty and backwardness for the past four and a half decades.
For the full report, please click here.
Posted by May at 6:55 PM 0 comments
Labels: Commentaries
Laura Bush Calls fro Democracy in Burma
Source: agence France-Presse
US First Lady Laura Bush on Monday called on Myanmar's military rulers to free democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and urged the country's neighbors to pile pressure on the regime for political freedoms.
Surrounded by some of US President George W. Bush's top foreign policy advisers for Asia, Laura Bush said junta leader Than Shwe had offered "only token gestures" of reform in the face of a tightening international squeeze.
"If he and the generals are serious, they should give Aung San Suu Kyi unlimited access to the diplomatic community and other members of the Burmese opposition," she said. Washington refers to the country as Burma.
For the full report, please click here.
Posted by May at 6:53 PM 0 comments
Labels: Online News
Monday, December 10, 2007
U.N.'s Ban Says Patience Running Out with Myanmar
Source: Reuters
The international community's "patience is running out" with military-ruled Myanmar and foot-dragging over its moves towards democracy, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said on MondFay.
"I hope the Myanmar authorities will take it very seriously," Ban said during a visit to Thailand, where he urged the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which the former Burma is a member, to play a "special political role".
For the full report, please click here.
Posted by May at 8:41 PM 0 comments
Labels: Online News
Friday, December 07, 2007
Wanted Dead or Alive: Than Shwe
Source: Ko Htike
A group of overseas Burmese have started a campaign offering a monetary reward for the assassination (or capture) of junta leader, Than Shwe.
An announcement was put up on the 5th December at Ko Htike’s blog to alert readers to the campaign. A well-known blogger who gained recognition for up-to-date news about the Saffron Revolution, Ko Htike wrote in the post that anyone who wanted to make a contribution should contact him directly.
So far, the visitors to the blog have pledged over USD 12,000. Ko Htike himself has pledged 5,000,000 kyat (~ USD 3865).
He added that an official committee will be founded to keep track of the money collected. Should Than Shwe relinquish power or die of natural causes, the money will be refunded to the contributors, or donated to charity in accordance to the wishes of the contributors.
For the original article in Burmese, please click here.
Posted by May at 8:31 PM 0 comments
Labels: Campaigns, Translated Articles
Monks Boycott Exams
Source: Narinjara News
Many monks in Arakan State are boycotting the government exam by refusing to register their name for enrollment, in support of the monk alliance that has called for the boycott.
"Today is the last date of enrolling for the exam but many monks in Arakan State neglected to enroll their name. I heard many monks will not come to enroll for the exam," a monk from Sittwe said.
Ninety percent of monks in Arakan State are not enrolling in the exam, which will be held in March 2008, following the monk alliance's request to boycott the exam in protest of the government's recent crackdown on the recent monk-led 'saffron revolution'.
For the full report, please click here.
Posted by May at 8:20 PM 0 comments
Labels: Online News
IMF Sees Limited Sanctions Impact on Myanmar
Source: Reuters
Tighter Western sanctions imposed on army-ruled Myanmar after its bloody crackdown on democracy protests will have little direct impact on the economy, the International Monetary Fund said in a report.
"The overall impact is limited because of restrictions already in place and because the new sanctions cover only a small proportion of trade," the IMF said in its annual review of the former Burma's economy.
For the full report, please click here.
Posted by May at 8:07 PM 0 comments
Labels: Online News
ASEAN’s Next Chief Appeals for Greater US Involvement
Source: The Irrawaddy
The next chief of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations says that the United States remains the only guarantor of Southeast Asian security and should become more active in regional affairs.
Surin Pitsuwan, a former foreign minister of Thailand, said one reason that Washington has neglected its Southeast Asian friends is that the Bush administration has been distracted by problems elsewhere, implicitly referring to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
The US also has distanced itself from Asean since military-ruled Burma joined the group in 1997.
"Anybody can argue, `Well, we are there even if not physically present. The tsunami; we provided help then.' That's true, but a tsunami doesn't come every day," Surin said on Thursday.
For the full report, please click here.
Posted by May at 8:07 PM 0 comments
Labels: Online News
Burma: Crackdown Bloodier Than Government Admits
Source: Reuters
Arrests Continue Amidst International Inaction
Many more people were killed and detained in the violent government crackdown on monks and other peaceful protestors in September 2007 than the Burmese government has admitted, Human Rights Watch said today in a new report. Since the crackdown, the military regime has brought to bear the full force of its authoritarian apparatus to intimidate all opposition, hunting down protest leaders in night raids and defrocking monks. (To watch the video, please click here).
Many more people were killed and detained in the violent government crackdown on monks and other peaceful protestors in September 2007 than the Burmese government has admitted, Human Rights Watch said today in a new report. Since the crackdown, the military regime has brought to bear the full force of its authoritarian apparatus to intimidate all opposition, hunting down protest leaders in night raids and defrocking monks. The 140-page report, “Crackdown: Repression of the 2007 Popular Protests in Burma,” is based on more than 100 interviews with eyewitnesses in Burma and Thailand. It is the most complete account of the August and September events to date.
For the full report, please click here.
Posted by May at 12:37 PM 0 comments
Labels: Online News
Burma Junta Warned of Growing Anger
Source: Financial Times
A senior United Nations official expelled from
In an interview with the Financial Times, Charles Petrie, who until his expulsion on Tuesday was the most senior UN official in
“It’s very dangerous for the regime not to understand the grievances that people expressed on the streets,” Mr Petrie said. “People came out [to demonstrate] because the pain they are feeling is too much – they are suffering.”
For the full report, please follow this link: http://www.burmanet.org/news/2007/12/06/financial-times-burma%E2%80%99s-junta-warned-of-growing-anger-amy-kazmin/
Posted by May at 12:15 PM 0 comments
Labels: Online News
Manila Links Suu Kyi's Release to ASEAN Ratification
Source: ABS CBN
The release of
Mrs. Arroyo, striking a tough posture, told the Financial Times that
For the full report, please follow this link: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=101679
Posted by May at 12:13 PM 0 comments
Labels: Online News
Myanmar Crackdown Death Toll Seen At Least 20
Source: Reuters
Twenty people are known to have been killed in a crackdown by Myanmar's military junta on September's pro-democracy protests, but the real toll is likely to be far higher, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Friday.
In addition to monks, many students and other civilians were killed, although without full and independent access to the country it is impossible to determine the exact casualty figures," the report said.
For the full report, please click here.
Posted by May at 12:11 PM 0 comments
Labels: Online News
Sunflowers-Than Shwe's Latest Yadaya?
Source: The
Farmers in Pegu Division, about 80km north of
For the full report, please follow this link: http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=9522
Posted by May at 11:49 AM 0 comments
Labels: Online News
Regime Asks Asean Journalists to Help Counter 'Negative' Reporting
Source: The
The state-run daily, The New Light of Myanmar, reported on Wednesday that Kyaw Hsan had claimed at an Asean sub-committee meeting that “some powerful nations are misusing media as a weapon to interfere in the internal affairs of small nations.”
For the full report, please follow this link: http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=9521
Posted by May at 11:43 AM 0 comments
Labels: Online News
Chinese Military Weapons Seen En Route to Burmese Army Units
Source: The
A witness on the China-Burmese border told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that 21 artillery canons were seen on seven large trucks crossing through
For the full report, please follow this link: http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=9523
Posted by May at 11:41 AM 0 comments
Labels: Online News
UN: Impose Burma Arms Embargo to End Child Soldier Use
Source: Reuters
The United Nations Security Council should impose an arms embargo on
"
For the full report, please follow this link: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HRW/e9ad740d1fef062f6232519097623bce.htm
Posted by May at 11:40 AM 0 comments
Labels: Online News
China Supplies Military Trucks to Burma
Source: Mizzima News
Several military trucks are believed to have been supplied to the Burmese junta by
The light weight medium FAW trucks, manufactured by Chinese owned Tongfeng Company, were seen lining up at Ruili town, a Burmese who works at the car servicing centre told Mizzima.
"The trucks arrived this morning. They are light weight and all of them are of the same design. Since the trucks were dirty, they sent it to us for car wash," the local said.
For the full report, please follow this link: http://mizzima.com/MizzimaNews/News/2007/Dec/18,%20Dec,%202007.html
Posted by May at 10:47 AM 0 comments
Labels: Online News