EU deplores lack of democracy progress in Myanmar

Mon, Nov 10 11:36 PM

Brussels, Nov 10 (IANS) The European Union Monday deplored the 'lack of progress' towards democracy in Myanmar and said that elections slated for 2010 in the junta-ruled nation would have no credibility unless pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was released.

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Myanmar's National League for Democracy (NLD) seeks release of Aung San Suu Kyi'

Aung San Suu Kyi  has been under house arrest for most of the last 19 years

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Wednesday September 24, 2:58 PM Myanmar opposition vows to continue fight for Aung San Suu Kyi Photo: AFP YANGON (AFP) - Myanmar's pro-democracy party on Wednesday vowed to continue pushing for their leader Aung San Suu Kyi's release after several of her close confidants were freed from prison by the ruling junta. Seven dissidents from the Nobel peace laureate's party were among the 9,002 prisoners freed Tuesday in an amnesty that state media said was ordered so they could take part in elections promised by the ruling generals for 2010. The most prominent was 79-year-old journalist and activist Win Tin, Myanmar's longest-serving political prisoner, who spent nearly two decades behind the bars of Yangon's feared Insein prison. National League for Democracy (NLD) spokesman Nyan Win said that although they welcomed the amnesty, they would continue to fight for the freedom of Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent most of the last 19 years under house arrest. "We will send an appeal for her release from detention this week to the cabinet in Naypyidaw," Nyan Win told AFP, referring to the nation's capital. "We are always hoping for her release. There are still many long-serving political prisoners ... All should also be released," he added. The release of Win Tin and the six other NLD members was immediately hailed by the United Nations, the United States and rights groups around the world. "We worked together to defend Win Tin's innocence and we are immensely relieved that he has finally been freed," press freedom organisations Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association said in a joint statement. "We hope other journalists and prisoners of conscience will also be freed and that Win Tin will be able to resume his peaceful struggle for press freedom and democracy in Burma," they added, using Myanmar's former name. Win Tin was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment on July 4, 1989 for acting as an adviser to Aung San Suu Kyi and writing letters to the then-United Nations envoy to Myanmar.    More

UN: Myanmar Forcing Cyclone Survivors out of Camps

UN: Myanmar Forcing Cyclone Survivors out of Camps
UN official says Myanmar is forcing cyclone survivors out of refugee camps
YANGON, Myanmar May 30, 2008 (AP)
The Associated Press

People line up outside an aid tent in Yangon, Myanmar, Thursday, May 29, 2008 awaiting medical treatment. Aid and relief has been slow getting to affected areas and people after a cyclone hit southern Myanmar causing mass destruction and death.

Myanmar's military government is forcing cyclone victims out of refugee camps and "dumping" them near their devastated villages with virtually no aid supplies, U.N. and church officials said Friday.

Eight camps set up by the junta for homeless victims in the Irrawaddy delta town of Bogalay were "totally empty" as the clear-out continued, said Teh Tai Ring of UNICEF, speaking at a meeting of U.N. and private aid agency workers discussing water and sanitation issues.

"The government is moving people unannounced," he said, adding that authorities were "dumping people in the approximate location of the villages, basically with nothing."

After his remarks were reported, UNICEF issued a statement saying they referred to "unconfirmed reports by relief workers on the relocation of displaced people" affected by the May 2-3 storm.

However, Teh said the information came from a relief worker who had just returned from the affected area and that "tears were shed" when he recounted his findings to UNICEF officials earlier in the day.

At a church in Yangon, meanwhile, more than 400 cyclone victims from the delta township of Labutta were evicted Friday following orders from authorities a day earlier.

"It was a scene of sadness, despair and pain," said a church official at the Yangon Karen Baptist Home Missions, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of official reprisal. "Those villagers lost their homes, their family members and the whole village was washed away. They have no home to go back to."

All the refugees except for a few pregnant women, two young children and those with severe illnesses left the church in 11 trucks Friday morning, the official said.

Authorities told church workers the victims would first be taken to a government camp in Myaung Mya — a mostly undamaged town in the Irrawaddy delta. It was not immediately clear when they would be resettled in their villages.

Aid groups said Myanmar's military government was still hindering foreign assistance for victims of the cyclone, despite a promise to U.N. Secretary Ban Ki-moon to ease travel restrictions.