Burma blogs

Mike Ion Sat Sep 29, 2007 at 10:49:41 AM GMT Print-friendly version Facebook

Below is a list of some of the best blogs on the situation in Burma (hat tip to Mr Eugenides)



The Irrawaddy News: Rolling updates and photos from protests. There are unconfirmed reports that 7 monks have been killed.

Jotman - liveblogging and media coverage from Bangkok.

Nyein Chan Yar: Photos, accounts of the protests and links. The authorities have barred access to Blogger. (via Blood and Treasure)

Ko Htike - mostly in Burmese but a combination of news organisation and eyewitness photos, as well as some English content. He tells of working in hospital emergency ward and 4 gunshot victims coming in, one of whom died on arrival.

Narinjara: more photos and news.

Kachin News (representing the northern Burmese Kachin minority): 250 monks rounded up by riot police and taken away.

Prayer of Peace - Filmmaker and activist blog - based in Thailand, but updates and photos.
Asian Human Rights Commission

Burma page - video, news updates and background

Voices for Burma People Power - news collated from various sources

Burma Digest - lots of photos from recent days


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Burma blogs | 2 comments (2 topical)

Re: Burma blogs (#1)

by Mike Ion on Sun Sep 30, 2007 at 12:59:53 PM GMT

I received the following comment on my blog earlier today:


Hello,

People can send messages of support to the demonstraters in Burma via our web page and radio broadcasts. We are Radio Netherlands Dutch international broadcaster and we have Short Wave transmissions into the country our homepage www.radionetherlands.nl
best regards

Andy Clark - head English department Radio Netherlands Worldwide



Re: Burma blogs (#2)

by Wilberforce on Sun Sep 30, 2007 at 10:20:25 PM GMT

Whilst all this is going on, the Burmese PM himself is in a hospital in Singapore. David Miliband was meeting Singapore's Foreign Minister George Yeo in New York yesterday, I wonder if he raised this with him?

<h1>Burma's PM in long stay at Singapore hospital</h1>
By Ian Timberlake

September 28, 2007 06:12pm

Article from: Agence France-Presse

 

WHILE his country is convulsed by protests and bloodshed, Burma's ailing Prime Minister Soe Win remains under treatment at a Singapore hospital, an embassy staffer said.

Soe Win, the suspected mastermind of a deadly attack on opposition forces in Burma four years ago, has been at the Singapore General Hospital for three to four months, said the staffer.

Asked about the prime minister's condition, the staffer said, "According to the doctors, we cannot meet with him".

Attempts by AFP to locate Soe Win at the hospital were unsuccessful.

But the embassy staffer said: "He is well. He is on recovery".

Although Soe Win wields little power in the regime, his health problems highlight the ageing nature of the junta which rules Burma.

The junta leader, Senior General Than Shwe, 73, also visited Singapore in January for what an embassy official said were medical checks.

Despite "a lot of speculation" about the leader's health he was "very much OK" after the checkup at the Singapore General Hospital, the official said.

Burma officials rarely speak on the record for fear of repercussions by the junta, which has drawn international condemnation for a two-day crackdown on mass protests that left at least 13 people dead and hundreds more arrested.

Four years ago the death toll was even higher, dissidents said, after an attack allegedly plotted by Soe Win on the motorcade of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in May 2003.

The clash between supporters of her National League for Democracy and a pro-junta group left up to 80 people dead, according to dissidents. The Government said four people were killed and 50 injured.

Soe Win, a lieutenant general, is thought to be aged about 58. He replaced the disgraced Khin Nyunt as Prime Minister in October 2004, following his swift rise in the leadership after allegedly plotting the attack.

Soe Win is considered to be among the leadership hardliners.

The Singapore General Hospital computer lists several patients by the name "Soe Win", including a foreigner on the VIP ward.

But when an AFP reporter visited the four-bed VIP room where he was listed as staying, a nurse said Soe Win was not there.

A board showed the names of patients in the room, but all were Chinese. One bed was sealed off with a curtain.

Another hospital worker said the last record of Soe Win staying there was in July.

Soe Win has a twin brother, and dissident sources said recently that the twin had died.

In May, Government sources in Burma said Soe Win had returned to Singapore for medical treatment - just 10 days after going back to Burma following at least seven weeks in the Singapore hospital.

Authorities insisted then that Soe Win was in good health and was merely in Singapore for medical checks. Dissidents and exiles in Thailand believe he is suffering from leukaemia.

Analysts have said that even if Soe Win became too ill to work or were replaced, it would have little effect on the Government because all real power lies with Than Shwe and his loyal deputies in the military junta.

Than Shwe has ruled Burma, also known as Myanmar, since 1992, but Thailand-based analysts said earlier that his health was weakening and he was considering handing more power to his trusted protege, Shwe Mann.

Shwe Mann, the military's joint chief of staff, has long been seen as the likely successor to Than Shwe.


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Burma blogs | 2 comments (2 topical)