Despite some notable successes achieved by the opposition movements outside Burma, unity among them was still top priority for some 30 participants at an unpretentious seminar held in Chiangmai last Saturday (13 January).
According to the meeting organized by All Ethnic International Open University (AEIOU) Programme, their outstanding successes during 2006 were:

After investing 30 years of his life in the suppression of illicit drugs, with several hundred major cases and over 1,000 arrests under his belt, Police Major-General Amaresrit Wattanavibool is one of the world's most experienced policemen in the field. In Thailand, penalties for drug trafficking are severe. Those who slip up face the loss not only of high profits, but possibly even their lives. Therefore, bribe offers are not uncommon. By all accounts, Amaresrit has survived all the challenges to his honour, and is widely respected for his honesty and dedication.

The material in this report derives from many different sources. Dictator Watch has received a large quantity of information, much more than what is presented here. We can hint at a bit of the balance but the majority we cannot discuss at all, because of risk to the sources. If you have any additional information about these subjects, including information that confirms or contradicts what is described below, please get in touch. We will disclose publicly only what you authorize. In our November 7th statement, we reported that the SPDC is mining and refining uranium and then bartering the final product, “yellowcake,” to North Korea and Iran. We have now learned that the announcement by the SPDC later the same day, that a North Korean ship in distress had taken refuge in Rangoon harbor, was an attempt to discredit the report. This in itself is indirect confirmation of the news. Also, the SPDC announcement was widely ridiculed, since Than Shwe and his fellow generals are known to be pathological liars.

Between 1989 and 1995, 20-plus armed ethnic groups agreed cease-fires with the Burmese military government. This year, these agreements are likely to come under renewed pressure. Since the fall of ex-prime minister Khin Nyunt in October 2004, the situation for most cease-fire groups has deteriorated, as they no longer have access to the centre of power in Burma. The situation is particularly difficult for groups such as the New Mon State Party (NMSP) and Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), which have publicly challenged the government - including by endorsing Burma's inclusion on the UN Security Council agenda.

Almost every week small groups of families attempt to cross this dangerous road and keep moving down towards a displaced refugee site on the Salween River. They are some of the over 25,000 people who have been displaced by the attacking Burma Army. The Burma Army continues its expansion of roads and camps making it more difficult and dangerous for people to move freely. 33 new camps were built in this area in 2006 alone. The growing road network allows greater control of the area as well as acting as a series of obstacles for villager and IDP travel in many places. These roads are garrisoned, patrolled and mined by the Burma Army. The teams here have to cross these roads multiple times during relief missions. It is always dangerous as well as logistically challenging for the movement of relief supplies and sick or injured people.

In an effort to bolster its armed forces, Myanmar's ruling junta continues to diversify the sources of its military hardware, finding willing suppliers in countries that are eager to gain access to the Southeast Asian nation's abundant energy resources. Although China remains the principal dealer of military equipment to Myanmar, India has recently offered a multi-million dollar military assistance package to the junta's leaders. According to the New York-based watchdog Human Rights Watch, the assistance package, presented by Indian air force chief S.P. Tyagi on a visit to Myanmar's new administrative capitol at Naypyidaw in late November, would include light helicopters capable of being modified to launch aerial assaults, avionics upgrades for the regime's fighter jets and naval surveillance aircraft. The assistance, which is likely to be provided through "soft loans" or other very favorable terms, has drawn international condemnation and sparked concerns from human rights groups that the weapons will be used to attack civilians in the government's continued assaults against the country's minority ethnic groups.

On behalf of the Shan Democratic Union and the people of Shan State, I would like to express our sincere and heartfelt condolences on the loss of our great leader, General Bo Mya. The death of General Bo Mya, the Father of the Karen Liberation struggle, the beacon of ethnic unity and genuine federalism, is a great loss not only for the Karen people but also for all the non-Burman ethnic nationalities and Burman democratic opposition as a whole. While we all mourn the loss of our great leader, I am optimistic that his death will inspire millions of people to work tirelessly and continuously for the restoration of democracy, rights of self-determination and equality in every sense of the words. Finally, on behalf of the people of Shan State, we salute our departed leader and commit ourselves to carrying on the struggle for a genuine democratic, federalism so that we could fulfil the vision that General Bo Mya had and encouraged in us all.

The U.N. General Assembly has adopted a resolution denouncing human rights violations in Myanmar, particularly atrocities in a campaign to suppress an insurgency among the Karen ethnic minority. The resolution, approved Friday night in response to a report from a U.N. special investigator, called on Myanmar's military junta to "end the systematic violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms." It demanded the government "take urgent measures to put an end to the military operations targeting civilians in the ethnic areas" and to the recruitment of child soldiers and torture.

General Bo Mya, the longtime leader of one of Burma ’s largest armed ethnic opposition groups, died early Sunday morning at a hospital in Mae Sot, Thailand , from complications due to diabetes.

He was 79 years old. A major figure among Burma ’s numerous ethnic insurgency groups, Bo Mya held key positions in the Karen National Union, including chairman and vice chairman. Despite chronic ill health due to diabetes in recent years, he still held the position of head of the KNU Defense Department at the time of his death.

Human Rights Watch said Burma was the only government in the world still using antipersonnel mines on a regular basis throughout 2006, and accused it of using civilians as "human minesweepers". The watchdog said the army used mines to disrupt the harvest and starve people in Karen state, where ongoing fighting between an ethnic rebel group and the army has forced thousands to flee. "In order to separate ethnic armed groups from their civilian population, the Burmese army lays landmines and other explosive devices in order to maim and kill civilians," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "This is a concerted policy aimed at denying people their livelihoods and food or forcing them to risk losing limbs or lives."

Burma is the best example of what can go wrong when authoritarian leaders spearhead economic development. For decades, a brutal military junta has created a modern-day national nightmare, locking up more than 1,100 political prisoners, virtually destroying the country's education system, crushing any independent media, and carrying out a brutal pogrom against ethnic groups in which more than 3,000 of their villages have been destroyed. Not only are villages wiped out, but these areas are mined to prevent anyone from returning.

In sociology and political science, the notion of social identity is individuals' identifying themselves as members of a particular group - such as nation, social class, subculture, ethnicity, and so forth. It is in this context that sociologists and historians speak of a national identity of a particular country. The Union of Burma is comprised of more than 100 different ethnic groups and sub-groups, making her one of the most ethnically diverse countries in Southeast Asia. According to the State Peace and Development Council, Burma’s military government, ministry of foreign affairs website (www.mofa.gov.mm), there are 135 "ethnic races" in Burma.

Burma report (extract):

During 2006 Burma continued to be characterised by wanton criminality of state officers at all levels, and the absence of the rule of law and rational government. Throughout the year, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) documented violent crimes caused by state officers, and the concomitant lack of any means for victims to complain and have action taken against accused perpetrators.

Brig-Gen Way Lin, Deputy commander of Kengtung-based Triangle Region Command, has arrived in Tachilek, opposite Maesai, to personally direct operations against the Shan State Army-South following recent clashes, according to both Thai and Shan sources: Way Lin's arrival in Tachilek coincided with tighter security measures in the city. 2 Chinese made six-wheel armoured cars were seen manning the Thai-Burma Friendship Bridge # 2 this morning. "More troops are seen everywhere," said a monk, "even temple grounds are no exception." Inquired by Thai border authorities, their Burmese counterparts reportedly said the situation was normal and they were only testing the armoured vehicles. This was contradicted by travellers coming from Talerh, 48 km away, who said they came across hundreds of Burmese troops on their way to Tachilek.

Shwe Ohn, who has been involved in Burma's tumultuous politics since 60 years earlier, has again rejected the ruling military council's claim to 'have twice saved the union' as an old joke. "How can a child that is not yet born die?" the 83 year old Shan politician asked S.H.A.N. rhetorically. "How can a union that is not yet in existence disintegrate?" Shwe Ohn, co-founder of Shan People's Freedom League (SPFL) in 1946 and the author of several political commentaries, was referring to the military's contention that it has saved the Union of Burma, formed in 1947 and later again in 1974, "from the disaster of being drowned in shallow waters."

Fuelled by the sale of energy and timber, a pariah nation seeks weapons to keep its enslaved people in line Locked into a bunker mentality, believing Burma is under siege from insurgents, determined to hold onto power and fuelled by profits from looting its forests and fossil fuel energy production, Burma’s junta is buying arms faster than ever. There are plenty of eager sellers even to pariah states if they have the money. In the latest turn of events, General Thura Shwe Mann, Burmese Army chief of staff, is suspected of sealing a deal for Indian military equipment when he visited India’s Eastern Command earlier in December. Indian spokesman, Wing Commander R K Das, would only confirm they discussed joint exercises and training.

A United Wa State Army (UWSA) official has spurned reports about its troops coming down from its headquarters on the Sino-Burma border to join hands with the Burma Army against the Shan State Army (SSA) South base of Loi Kawwan on the Thai-Burma border. The official who asked not to be identified told S.H.A.N. bluntly, "All of these reports are false." The latest of those "false" reports says a two UWSA battalion force led by Col Nyi Kaw had arrived from Mongpiang in the north to Wanhong, the UWSA base near Monghsat, on Thursday (14 December). He was accompanied by lieutenant colonels Ai Tun and Yang Guojong, commanders of Battalion 97 and Battalion 107 respectively.

With a phalanx of orange-robed monks seated behind him and a battalion of peasant soldiers in front, Colonel Yawd Serk rose to address his people in their mountain-top fortress on Myanmar's side of the border with Thailand. The man they call "the leader" congratulated his rebel warriors on surviving their 49th year of war and pledged to fight on against the brutal generals in Yangon until the Shan people taste victory and freedom. Rows of well-drilled men in uniforms cast off by the Cambodian army listened intently, the Shan State Army's snarling tiger symbol stitched on to their jacket shoulders and an extraordinary range of weaponry in their hands: M-16s and grenade launchers from the Vietnam war, AK-47s, Uzis and ancient Bren guns made in Britain.

Ye -- Several women were rounded up and tortured by the SPDC’s Burmese Army in retaliation for an ambush attack by a Mon guerrilla group during a military operation in southern Ye, Mon State early this month. According to Mon refugees, who recently fled from the Khawzar area, Mon women were beaten up and the men were given electrical shocks by the Burmese troops from Infantry Battalion No. 31. “After the guerrilla group carried out a surprise attack on the Burmese troop, they accused the local villagers of giving information on their movements. About a hundred villagers nearby were summarily tortured including children and women,” says an eyewitness, Nai Lin Aung from Khawzar, who gave testimony to a human rights worker on the border. The accurate number of people tortured is unknown and humanitarian access is not possible due to the insecurity.

Signaling a potentially momentous change in its foreign policy toward Myanmar, Thailand’s new Energy Minister Piyasvasti Amranand has said he intends to reassess, and possibly abandon, the previous Thai government's controversial joint-plans with Myanmar’s military junta to build five hydroelectric dams along the Salween River. More recently, Thailand’s new Foreign Minister Nitya Pibulsonggram echoed those sentiments, telling news reporters in Bangkok that Thailand’s ‘cosy’ commercial relationship with Myanmar is at an end. However, Nitya went on to say, "Some of the discussions relating to energy cooperation probably will continue," though he declined to give further details.

Thai officials from Mae Fa Luang District Office have warned villagers near the Burma-Thailand border of more armed clashes as more Burmese troops have deployed near Doi Kor Wan, the second largest military base of the ethnic rebel Shan State Army (SSA). Fighting broke out in the area over the weekend. Troops from the United Wa State Army were reportedly fighting alongside Burmese troops. Six Burmese soldiers were killed, including Capt. Tin Maung Win, 29, according to sources. One SSA solider was reportedly killed. Dozens of injured Burmese soldiers were admitted to Tachilek Hospital Sunday night.

Recent clashes between the Shan State Army-South (SSA-S) and the Burmese Army in Kengtung township, eastern Shan State have killed at least three Burmese soldiers and injured six, according to sources close to the SSA-S. On December 9 evening, when SSA-S troops were on their way back from patrol duty to its Loi Kaw Wan stronghold, fighting broke out with the Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 571 of the Burmese Army in the north of Tachilek, eastern side of Kengtung-Tachilek highway. The skirmish continued for about an hour and at least three soldiers of the Burmese Army were killed and six were injured, according to SSA-S sources.

The divide and conquer tactics employed by Myanmar's ruling military junta to reign in ethnic insurgent militias on the Sino-Myanmar border have further agitated delicate ceasefire agreements with the formerly China-backed rebel groups. Escalating tensions with the junta, known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), have prompted the largest of these players, the 20,000 strong United Wa State Army (UWSA), to re-supply its forces and bolster defenses in an apparent bid to deter a Myanmar Armed Forces attack on their largely autonomous enclave in Myanmar's Eastern Shan State, dubbed Special Region 2.

After chasing the villagers away from the Baw Kwey Day (Ti Ko) area of Mon township, the Burma Army entered the village and placed this landmine under a fireplace with the triggering device/pressure plate buried in the ground close to the fireplace. A group of resistance soldiers (KNU) who were providing security for the displaced people in this area triggered this landmine/IED. Three died and eight more were injured, four of them seriously. The landmine/IED was not the normal type used by the Burma Army. The hole dug for the mine was over one and one half meters deep and 15 centimeters wide.

The Pha Muang task force in Chiang Rai is carefully monitoring the border situation for possible incursions and is preparing for a spillover following a mass mobilisation of Burmese troops to attack Shan State Army (SSA) forces. Task force commander Maj-Gen Wannatip Wongwai said Thai border forces have been put on alert for a possible clash between the two sides at the border demarcation line, just 800 metres away from Poona village in Chiang Rai's Mae Fah Luang district. There have been reports of clashes near Tachilek on the Burmese side over the past four days.