Burma: catch all thread

[tequila]

Monks seize troops in Burma town - BBC News, 6 Sep.

Buddhist monks have taken about 20 members of the security forces hostage in central Burma, a day after clashes at a protest rally.


On Wednesday the security forces fired shots into the air to disperse some 400 monks demonstrating in Pakokku town.

When officials came to the monastery on Thursday, the monks locked them inside and set their vehicles on fire.

A series of anti-government protests have been held since the military junta doubled fuel prices last month.

'Tyrannical behaviour'
The officials had reportedly come to apologise for the clashes at Wednesday's demonstration.
But the monks burned four of the vehicles they came in and locked them inside the monastery.

Hundreds of people gathered outside the gates to applaud the monks.
"The security forces outside the monastery are too afraid to go near the crowd," one resident told the French news agency AFP. "They won't even show their walkie-talkies ..."

[Jedburgh]

BBC, 24 Sep 07: Monks Lead Largest Burma Protest

Tens of thousands of people have marched through Burma's main city of Rangoon in the biggest of a mounting wave of anti-government protests. Eyewitnesses said the number of monks and civilians demonstrating was more than 30,000, with some activists saying 100,000 were involved....

...But there are fears of a repeat of 1988, when the last democracy uprising was crushed by the military and some 3,000 people were killed, correspondents say.

Five columns of monks, one reportedly stretching for more than 1km (0.6 miles), entered the city centre to cheers and applause from thousands of bystanders....

[jcustis]

May Siddhartha be with them.

[tequila]

There is small community of Burmese exiles in my apartment building and surrounding area. From conversations with them in the past few days, I have little faith that this will end well. Hopefully they are wrong.

[sgmgrumpy]

Video advocates BURMA ISSUES travel deep into the jungles of eastern Burma to document one of the world's most urgent and most forgotten emergencies. The Burmese military has embarked on one of the worst offensives in its 30 year campaign to destabilize the lives of rural ethnic minorities. Half a million live driven from their homes. (Co produced with WITNESS) INTERNATIONAL ACTION IS NEEDED! To learn more and ACT NOW: www.witness.org/shootonsight

Shoot on Sight part I

Shoot on Sight part II

[Jedburgh]

Transcripts from 17 Oct 07 hearing on Crisis in Burma: Can the U.S. Bring about a Peaceful Resolution? before the Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and the Global Environment of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs:

Scot Marciel, Dpty Asst Secretary of State, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs

Lisa Chiles, Dpty Asst Administrator, Bureau for Asia and the Near East, USAID

Jeremy Woodrum, Co-Founder and Director US Campaign for Burma

Bridget Welsh, Asst Professor Southeast Asia Studies, Johns Hopkins University

[Jedburgh]

The Economist, 30 Jan 08: Kawthoolei Diary

...I have arrived at the camp at an opportune time. The new recruits, numbering about 90 and coming from all over Myanmar, are wrapping up their training. I am there to see them take their final exams, so to speak, which begin with a simulated mission into an “SPDC-targeted village”.

The instructors have set up an impressive makeshift town in the middle of camp, building huts and enlisting local volunteers to populate them. The recruits enter, gather information and dispense relief supplies. It is all going well until an explosion rocks the woods behind us, echoing off the trees.

Suddenly a wave of men in black shirts appears at the edge of the camp. They are carrying machine guns and advancing quickly on our location. All hell breaks loose as the recruits scatter, desperately trying to drag villagers with them. Some are left behind and pounced on by the armed men, who eagerly set fire to a row of huts. Amid the smoke I see one straggling villager being furiously questioned by a man with a pistol. They disappear behind a cloud of dust. When the air finally settles the villager is lying motionless on the ground.

It is all part of the simulation, of course, but the attack looks disturbingly real. One recruit, whose family was killed in a similar assault, runs off, unwilling to relive the experience. The others are hiding out, planning a counterattack. The Rangers do not look to confront the SPDC—recruits are told to retreat in the face of an attack—but the group refuses to leave any villagers behind. So after several minutes and with a sustained battle cry, the recruits storm back into the village and retake their position.....