Tomorrow is Army Day in Burma _ the moment the country's military leaders show a united front in a pompous ceremony in the new capital, Naypyidaw, that is held every year. The junta chief, Senior General Than Shwe, has imported another new Mercedes Benz to stand in as he leads the parade. He brought a new one in last year for the same occasion. But underneath this show of unity is the start of a new battle for Burma's future. This time it is not between the monks and the military, as it was last year, but between two factions in the army.

Any Shan or ethnic person living in Burma can become a victim of the junta. Men are sequester into the army, forced to be porters, or just outright murdered. The long term victims of the war in Burma is the hundreds of thousands of widows and orphans whose dreams of a peaceful and happy family life have been shattered by the SPDC. YouTube: http://youtube.com/watch?v=7JqMzb2ky1M

On March 9, 2008, people all over the world prayed for Burma on this the 11th year of this global day of prayer. From the cities of Japan to the mountains of Alaska, from the beaches of Thailand to the fjords of Norway, from the fields of South Africa to the plains of Europe, from the jungles of South America to the Pacific Islands; believers asked for God to intervene in Burma.

Till last September, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) office in military-ruled Burma had received few complaints about children being forced to join the army. But that is no longer the case. In a new report, the ILO makes a pointed reference to the shift noticed since last September. Prior to that month, the majority of complaints received about forced labour “concerned public works under local administration with only a few military-related complaints and cases of underage recruitment,” reveals a report submitted to the ILO’s governing body, which is currently meeting at the labour rights agency’s headquarters, in Geneva.

On 2 February, 2008, the first Run for Relief ever held in Burma was run in northern Karen State. There were over 100 participants, mostly school children in grades one to seven from the local village. They ran on a brilliant Saturday morning, following a course around rice fields and up and over a hill, starting and finishing at the school. The race began with shouts of "Free Burma!" and a prayer to remember their brothers and sisters throughout Burma and especially in northern Karen State where there are more than 30,000 people now living in hiding from the Burma Army. The run was followed by a time of singing and then refreshments of sweet hot tea with cookies. Several of the students, teachers and FBR team members talked about organizing another Run for Relief in the future so that more villages could participate.

As preparations for the May constitutional referendum are switching into high gear, so is the number of encounters between junta and rebel forces. In response to the question why there have been a significant increase in the frequency of engagements between the two since the beginning of March, Col Yawdserk explained that Burma Army units have been escorting official mobile teams assigned with the task to issue household registers and ID cards. “We are not against our people getting official recognition after years of neglect,” he said. “They may be from now on able to travel across the country more freely. However increased forays by the Burma Army into areas normally operated by us also means increased likelihood of altercations between us.”

Shan State Army (SSA) South leader Col Yawdserk has accused the Burma Army of inciting a resumption of hostilities between his organization and the United Wa State Army (UWSA). During a recent visit to Panghsang, the Wa capitial, by junta officials, Wa leaders were reportedly urged to reconsider withdrawal of the UWSA troops from the Thai-Burma border areas where they have been stationed since 1996. “The reason, the Burma Army told them, was the areas have been reserved for the SSA”, said Yawdserk. “The Wa people could stay, but the troops should return to Panghsang where they came from.”

For more than six years, I have been working in tribal areas all over Southeast Asia as a journalist. Whenever I go into these villages I always wish that I had more medical training and could bring the people direct aid as well as being their voice, telling the world about their plight. Since October of 2007, I have been working inside of Shanland, Burma, where the Shan ethnic minority people are being killed by their government. After a near brush with disaster on the border, I decided it was time for me to go get medical training. At times, I know that I am the only foreigner inside of Shan State and there isn’t even one qualified doctor or nurse.

The government's human rights record worsened during the year. The regime continued to abridge the right of citizens to change their government. Government security forces killed at least 30 demonstrators during their suppression of prodemocracy protests in September, and they continued to allow custodial deaths to occur and commited other extrajudicial killings, disappearances, rape, and torture. In addition, regime-sponsored, mass-member organizations such as the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) and regime-backed "private" militias increasingly engaged in harassment, abuse, and detention of human rights and prodemocracy activists.

Burma has been called “the world's largest prison for prisoners of conscience” and many political prisoners and journalists continue languishing in jail. Burma’s longest serving prisoner of conscience, U Win Tin, turns 78 on 12 March 2008, one of the country's most established journalists as well as an executive member of the National League for Democracy (NLD). He has spent almost 19 years of his life in prison. He has spent one fourth of his life in prison. U Win Tin suffers from a serious heart condition and is being treated at the Rangoon general hospital where he is confined to a diminutive cubicle cell designed for political prisoners.

Over 2,100 villagers have been newly displaced and are now hiding as the Burma Army launches fresh attacks into areas of northern Karen State. Troops from MOC 16 have displaced more than 1,700 villagers, and troops from MOC 4 have displaced more than 400 villagers in the northern Papun District. These villagers, many of whom were already displaced from attacks in 2007, are now on the run again as the Burma Army is seeking out villages and pockets of IDPs and destroying homes, food, and property they come across.

On the streets of Chiang Mai, Thailand, working women yesterday called for rights entitled to in their workplace, and to recognize all jobs held by women as proper jobs. On the International Women's Day of 8 March 2008, over 200 working women from several different work backgrounds marched on the streets to the square of Three Kings Monument of Chiang Mai, holding and shouting their slogans, demanding to have better conditions at their workplace.

Whenever I hang around the campus, girls look at my Shan attire.
They smile.
Whenever at the hospital, I am roundly upbraided by the nurses.

However you discriminate against me
I will embrace those old stories with my love
I don’t swap my identity with others
I am proud of being a hill person
But it’s not easy to be a Shan living in Mandalay

We, civil society participants at the conference on "The Role of ASEAN Civil Society in Supporting Human Rights and Democracy in Burma", held in Jakarta, 6-7 March 2008, call upon the governments and peoples of ASEAN to reject the Burmese regime's constitutional referendum unless steps are taken to guarantee genuine popular participation and a meaningful and time-bound tripartite dialogue process.

Through the help of my Kuntaw instructor, Master Frank, I am enrolled in an EMT course in Manila . The course starts on Monday, March 10. The owner of the school took pity on me when I told him about my work in Burma . He discounted the course 50% for me. I have more or less enough money to get started but have no idea how I will survive financially till the end. So, I still need help from anyone willing to be a sponsor. When I finish the training here, I will return to the Burma border and volunteer my new services. While I am here, I am still publishing one story and one video per week, about Burma , to raise awareness of the war there.

Burma remains the world's second-largest producer of opium poppies, but its share has dropped from 55 percent in 1998 to just over 5 percent a decade later, a global US State Department report said Friday. The report said despite the reductions, the Burmese government still failed to reach full compliance with its international anti-drug commitments.

“Burma is the largest producer of methamphetamine pills in the world.”

"On methamphetamine, I would speculate that a significant part of that is sourced in Burma, which is the largest producer of methamphetamine pills in the world. So the lack of cooperation that we have from Burma threatens not just its own public but also the countries of Southeast Asia.

“If I get discouraged, I can go home, but the Karen tribe cannot.” These were the words of one of the many brave volunteers who make up the Free Burma Rangers (FBR) a humanitarian service organization which works closely with the many tribal defense forces, resisting the repression of the Burmese government. FBR’s stated mission is to bring “help, hope and love to people in the war zones of Burma .”