"Myanmar Junta’s Delaying Tactics"

Yangon, Myanmar (AP) - The expected visit of a special envoy to military-ruled Myanmar to assess that nation's self-proclaimed progress toward democracy has been held up because the government is too busy moving its administrative capital, the foreign minister said Friday.

Myanmar's Foreign Minister Nyan Win said his government could not host Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar, a representative of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, this month because the country is in the midst of moving government offices to a new capital at Pyinmana, hundreds of kilometers (miles) north of Yangon.

Syed Hamid was expected to assess the progress of Myanmar's self-proclaimed democratic reforms.

When asked if the visit could take place in February, Nyan Win told The Associated Press on the sidelines of a Chinese Embassy reception that a date could not be fixed yet.

The delay is another setback in the efforts of ASEAN to help resolve Myanmar's political crisis, which is affecting the region's relations with Western nations.

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Shan News: One of the Shan State Army's celebrated military commanders Khun Kyaw aka Than Gyaung, 40, surrendered to the Burma Army after a 4-month hide and seek campaign.  

  The story begins when on 24 August, Maj-Gen Myint Hlaing, Commander of Lashio-based Northeastern Region Command, fresh from his success in forcing two other ceasefire groups Shan State National Army and Palaung State Liberation Front in April and May, ordered the Shan State Army 'North' to withdraw its Third Brigade from all of its operational area north of the Mandalay-Lashio highway.   

  Presumably with the aim to fill up the vacuum, the non-ceasefire group Shan State Army 'South' immediately dispatched the 241st Brigade commanded by Khun Kyaw from its main base near the Thai-Burma border.   

  The Burma Army, however, appeared to have anticipated the move and had placed two infantry battalions, the 23rd and 136th, to block him. The attempt failed prompting the regional commander to alert all of its units in northern Shan State against the SSA-South's 241st.  

  From the beginning, the Burma Army did not lose sight of Khun Kyaw's passage despite the clashes in Namlan, Nawngkhio, Mongmit and other townships. For while his other units were busy engaging in apparently diversionary attacks, Khun Kyaw with 93 men, crossed the Namtu and made a dash to the Kachin-Yunnan-Shan State border. On 18 December he was reported approaching Namkham township at the Shan side of the triangle.  

  The small contingent, blocked and surrounded by 20 companies of the Burma Army, tried its best to breach the lines. But it was no match against the Burma Army units and the local populace that were completely intimidated by its forceful regional commander, despite the fact that it managed to emerge on top of each and every clash.  

  On 2 January, cut off from its rear in the south and rations, Khun Kyaw finally gave up to the inevitable.

The exiled Shan political group, Shan Democratic Union, has expressed deep concern over the safety of a Shan State Army 'South' commander and his 30 plus colleagues.

The SDU demanded that the troops led by Lt-Col Khun Kyaw "should be treated as Prisoners of War (POWs), according to the Geneva Convention."

  "Reports reaching international media indicate that the SSA-S's POWs might not be properly treated as prescribed by the Geneva Convention."

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"Doctors Without Borders" to withdraw aid in Mon areas

Panya Mon, IMNA, December 24, 2005: Doctors Without Borders or Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which has been helping Burmese refugees and Mon people in the Thai-Burma border areas since 1994, is going to stop its operation by the end of December 2005.

In 1995, the New Mon State Party, NMSP, agreed to a ceasefire with the Burmese military junta. Mon refugees who stayed on the border were forced to go back to Mon State but most of them refused and they have been under the protection of the NMSP but lack medical attention.

"The main disease afflicting them is malaria and malnutrition. The victims are mostly children, pregnant women, and jobless resettled persons," said a Mon health department employee in the border area.

The MSF and the NMSP negotiated with the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) in Thailand to allow MSF to cross the border freely to help refugees or the Mon's with medical treatment, said Nai Win, a Mon working for MSF.

"Now it's impossible to cross the border and help patients because MOI won't allow us to. So we'll have to stop our operations in those areas," explained Camelique.

The reason why MSF is not permitted to cross the border anymore is because the military regime put pressure on the Thai authorities, accusing them of allowing thai-visa-holding foreigners to pass through the border, said Nai Win.

Many are worried if medical care for refugees or Mon people can go on without medical supplements from NGOs.

"We have no idea how we will go on after MSF stops its programme," said Ae Kon, a doctor from the Halookani refugee camp.

According to doctors, there are, on an average, about 90 patients coming to hospitals for medical treatment each month and over 20,000 people are relying on MSF's medical treatment.