Burma

Win Tin set free, but what next?

Sophie Team Observers — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:06:11 +0200

The longest-serving political prisoner of Burma, Win Tin, was released from jail on Tuesday after 19 years. One of our Burmese Observers offers an explanation to this astonishing gesture from the junta.

Win Tin, who is 79 years old, has been imprisoned since 1989, when he was sentenced to 20 years for "anti-governmental propaganda".

Burmese comedian Zarganar paying a high price for straight talk

Sophie Team Observers — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:02:07 +0200

Three weeks after his arrest on June 4, a Burmese comedian known as "Zarganar" remains in an interrogation centre in Rangoon. The junta has as yet given any explanation as to why they arrested Zarganar, but it is assumed that his critical attitude towards the government in the aftermath of the Nargis cyclone has something to do with it.

The Burmese comedian, film director and political activist has already been detained three times in the past 20 years. He is an avid and outspoken activist, and his comedy often contains references to the ruling regime. Last year he brought attention to himself by handing out food to the protesting monks in September's clashes.

This time, he was arrested after carrying out a humanitarian aid project that brought together some 400 writers, artists and activists to deliver aid to victims of the cyclone that struck almost two months ago. When asked by the media about his reasons, the comedian spoke openly. He told them that the government wasn't doing anything to help. It has now been three weeks since the 47-year-old was arrested, when ten policemen turned up at his home without warning at 10 pm.

Fifteen arrested during protests in Burma: first photos

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 27 May 2008 12:32:42 +0200

Around thirty members of Aung San Suu Kyi's dissident opposition party in Burma, the National League for Democracy (NLD), marched through the streets of Rangoon this morning. Fifteen of them were arrested. The protestors tried to get into the home of Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest, to commemorate the NLD's victory in the country's 1990 elections - elections which were rejected by the junta. These exclusive photos were sent to us by Moe Zaw Oo, a representative of the NLD in Thailand who is one of our Observers in Burma. According to him, the protesters were demanding the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and immediate aid relief for cyclone victims.

Red Cross aid packs sold in markets in Rangoon

Sophie Team Observers — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:46:26 +0200

The online journal Mizzima has just published this photo showing boxes of products emblazoned with the Red Cross logo piled up at a Rangoon market stall ready for sale. Is international aid funding the country's military officials?

Mizzima News, a Burmese information site based in India, says that its correspondents in the country found foreign branded noodles, biscuits, dried meats, tents and mosquito nets in several markets in the capital. According to the site, these are the same products that had been distributed to zones wrecked by the cyclone, which came from foreign aid packages sent by various countries including Thailand, China, the USA and Japan.

Kio, one of our Observers for Burma, confirms to us that products intended for humanitarian aid relief are being sold in markets all over the country. It's impossible to know how the goods got there, but Kio reminds us that each delivery of aid goes through the junta. According to him, the products would have been sold-off by Burmese regime officials.

Bound and braced for the winds

Julien — Mon, 12 May 2008 14:44:04 +0200

One of our Burmese observers sent us this image, taken in the Irrawaddy Delta region a few days after the devastating Cyclone Nargis slammed into Burma’s low-lying coastal regions on May 3. He explains why the bodies of these three children are bound together at the wrist - apparently to prevent them from being whipped away by the cyclone.

Western diplomats quoted by the AFP news service today talk about a death toll of around 100,000 people. Kio, our Burmese Observer based in neighbouring Thailand, denounces the lethargy of the ever-suspicious Burmese military junta, which has only allowed a trickle of international aid into the country. Kio is concerned about the risk of epidemics, as corpse-riddled waters contaminate the region’s water supplies. Burmese bloggers are publishing grim photographs of corpses (here and here). The Observers is publishing just one of these images to give an idea of the extent of the damage wrecked by the cyclone. This photo of three tiny, bound children provides some idea of the horrors many Burmese parents must have experienced in the panic-stricken moments before the full impact of Nargis. Apparently, the parents - or loved ones – of these children had the time to tie them together in a desperate attempt to prevent them from being carried away by the winds. But it was not enough to save them.

Exclusive eyewitness account from Burma

Julien — Tue, 06 May 2008 15:41:00 +0200

The Observers publishes an unreleased eyewitness account from a survivor of the cyclone that wrecked havoc in Burma during the weekend. The authorities have so far confirmed 22,000 dead and 41,000 missing people, but the National League for Democracy - the opposition party of Aung San Suu Kyi - says that the total is probably much higher.

This account was filed with the help of one of our Observer in Burma, Than Win Htut.

Fifty-four Burmese suffocate to death: "It's far from the first time"

Julien — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 18:34:47 +0200

Burmese stowaways step out of a police van in Thailand. Photo from the Human Rights and Development Foundation. Date unknown.

Fifty-four Burmese people have been found suffocated to death in a freezer truck on its way to the Thai tourist resort of Phuket on the other side of the border. The incident has shocked the world, but it's hardly an isolated case according to our Burmese Observer. Read more...

The victims were part of a group of 121 people crammed into the six by two metre cold storage container, which was normally used to transport frozen seafood. When the air conditioning system failed the stowaways started to run out of oxygen, trapped for a long time at a Thai checkpoint. According to AP, when he discovered what had happened, the driver of the lorry fled the scene. It was nearby villagers, hearing distress calls, that came to the rescue of the Burmese captives, most of whom were women.

China continues to supply Burma with military equipment

Julien — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 03:20:07 +0100

A blog by Burmese exiles in Thailand (Vimutti) has published photos of new military vehicles delivered to Burma from China on 15 January. The vans are the same model that was used to transport soldiers and prisoners during September's crackdown. However, Chinese diplomats insist they are working hard to get the Junta to negotiate with the opposition and to make efforts in terms of human rights. Kio, our Observer for Burma, comments on the situation.