Weekly Diary, No. 308 (28 June – 4 July 2008)

Weekly Diary, No. 308 (28 June – 4 July 2008)

• 4TH OF JULY: U WIN TIN’S DAY!
• ‘WARRIORS’ STRIKE AGAIN!
• POLL SAYS PEOPLE DON’T ACCEPT CHARTER!
• BURMA ARMY ATTACK REFULSED!

Think Piece
A resort to force shows cowardice.
Oxford’s Proverbs

The World
27 June 2008

Cooling tower of the Yongbyon nuclear complex demolished. (Reuters)
 
30 June 2008
Oil prices close at $141.77. (Bangkok Post)
 
3 July 2008
^{Ingrid Betancourt}
Colombian army personnel, dressed as rebels, rescue Ingrid Betancourt, politician kidnapped by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (RAFC) since 2002. (AP)

International Relations
1 July 2008
^{Ban Kimoon}
Ban Kimoon, on a visit to Tokyo, promises that “I will work very hard to help the Myanmar people to enjoy genuine freedom and democracy.” (AFP)
 
2 July 2008
^{Zalmay Khalizad}
US ambassador to the UN Zalmay Khalizad says the Security Council will take up the Burmese issue again some time this month. (Irrawaddy)
 
3 July 2008
Inga Gruss, German volunteer with Myanmar Egress, an NGO set up by Nay Win Maung and Kyaw Yin Hlaing, left Burma last week after making interviews with ethnic leaders and senior politicians. (Irrawaddy)

Thai-Burma Relations
1 July 2008
A 16 year old cotton factory worker in Samut Sakhon taken away and raped by 2 Thais and one Burmese on 22 June. She was found in a bush inside the factory compound on 26 June. (Independent Mon News Agency)

Politics/ Inside Burma
30 June 2008
Htay Aung, editor of Cherry magazine, fired after he allowed a poem “Depayin Ga” to appear in the May issue. (Irrawaddy) Yin Yin Nwe, Upper Division Clerk of the censor board also demoted to library-in-charge rank. (Mizzima)
 
30 June 2008
^{Win Tin}
Win Tin, 79, who will complete 19 years on 4 July in prison, is suffering from severe asthma accompanied by excessive phlegm, says Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP). He cannot eat and looks thinner. He has to buy his own medicine prescribed by the prison medics. (Mizzima)
 
1 July 2008
Insein tightens restrictions on prisoners:

• No exercise
• Regular supply of books from family members stopped

(Irrawaddy)
 
3 July 2008
All Kachin Students Union (AKSU) paste 200 A4 sized posters against castor oil plantations in Myitkyina. Authorities are unusually slow to react to the campaign. Earlier all anti-junta posters were taken down as soon as they were seen. (Kachin News Group)
 
3 July 2008
Win Tin and Nyi Nyi Min, arrested in April for wearing T-shirts with No symbol and National Reconciliation, have appeared in court. (DVB)
 
3 July 2008
Yangon Times quotes the Ministry of Electric Power #2 as saying that it requires 135 million cubic feet (MCF) daily to meet daily power demand in Rangoon. At present it gets only 250 mw distributed alternately for townships in the city. (Xinhua)

Shans/ Shan State
2 July 2008
Poll conducted by SHAN says at least 62.7% people rejected the draft charter written by the junta. (SHAN)

Economy/ Business
1 July 2008
Under a deal signed on 20 June in Naypyitaw, China will be buying and piping natural gas from Burma to Yunnan thereby solving its Malacca Predicament. 80% of crude oil imports soil through the straits. (The Strait Times)

Human Rights

Environment
2 July 2008
21,834 storm victims found carrying TB virus, reports 7-Day News quoting TB Program of the Medical Association. (Xinhua)

Drugs
30 June 2008
Opium has replaced rice cultivation in Hugawng valley, Kachin State. It has over 100,000 acres of poppy fields. Sadung bordering Yunnan use chemical fertilizers procured from China. Most poppy fields there owned by Chinese businessmen. (Merinews)
 
3 July 2008

Drug addiction on the rise in Chinese owned casino in Kachin Independence Organization (KIO)’s Mai Jayang on the Sino-Burma border. (Kachin News Group)

War
29 June 2008
The Burma Army Forces have the following number of ranking officers:
Senior General                          1
Deputy Senior General              1
General                                    2
Lt-Gen                                    12
Maj-Gen                                  50+
Brig-Gen                                 100+
Colonel                                    340+
Lt-Col                                     1,300+

The latest reshuffles are the results of the first tri-annual meeting held during the year. Other results:

• Deputy Senior General Maung Aye will never be allowed to become the supreme commander in chief
• It is likely Lt-Gen Myint Swe might become Number One as he is younger, unlike Shwe Mann who has passed 60
• Both Myint Swe and Shwe Mann have been promoted through the backing by Madame Than Shwe

Than Shwe should still be careful though. Because according to the recently approved constitution, the commander in chief enjoys more power than the President. (NDD)
 
30 June 2008
DKBA forces backed by Burma Army overruns one of KNLA’s 201st battalions base opposite Tak’s Phop Phra district. A village on the border Phadee evacuated. (Irrawaddy) The DKBA retreated on the next day. (DVB)
 
1 July 2008
Explosion at dawn rocks USDA office at Rangoon’s Shwepyitha. No casualties reported. (AP) Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors (VBSW) later announced that was “our unit #18’s handiwork.” It vows not to harm innocent civilians. (Mizzima)