According to the Landmine Monitor Report 2008: Toward a Mine-Free World, 2007 witnessed at least 409 landmine related casualties in Burma, resulting in a confirmed 47 fatalities. In contrast, the previous year saw only 232 casualties and 20 deaths.The contested district of Taungoo, in Pegu Division, accounted for nearly 60 percent of casualty figures for 2007, in cases where geographic specific data was available.Recorded numbers are almost assuredly below actual figures, as no reliable system for data collection exists in the country.For the year, Burma and Russia are singled out as the only two countries in the world to have employed new anti-personnel mines. All but nine of the known victims for 2007 were civilians.Civilian casualties, for cases in which details are known, most frequently occurred while: foraging for forest and jungle produce or collecting wood (46), traveling (22), engaged in agriculture (19), portering (18), and during instances of forced labor (16).The International Labor Organization, active in Burma, received a number of allegations from civilians regarding the Burmese Army's employment of civilians for forced landmine clearing operations; allegations consistent with information that Landmine Monitor independently collected.Burma's Army has been chronicled to use mines to both dissuade villagers from returning to their homes and to prevent villagers from wandering beyond their isolated hamlets, given the situation at hand, according to rights groups active along Burma's borders in neighboring countries.As for non-state armed groups, mines are often reputed to be one of the few weapons they have at their disposal to oppose the superior firepower of the Burmese Army – with the detonation of a mine sometimes serving no purpose other than to alert villagers to abandon their homes.If unable to gain assistance from a nongovernmental organization, mine victims are often left to fend for themselves."The high cost of healthcare was the biggest obstacle to receiving treatment; ongoing conflict and travel limitations further hampered access to services," according to the report. Inadequate state facilities and investment into the healthcare industry are also said to blame.Domestically, Myanmar Defense Products Industries, a state enterprise in Pegu Division, is known to produce non-detectable antipersonnel landmines. Landmine Monitor, however, also calls attention to the foreign supply of landmines in Burma, of Chinese, Indian, Italian, Russian and American make.Among the non-state armed groups named by Landmine Monitor as using landmines during 2007, are the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the Karenni Army, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), the Shan State Army-South (SSA-S), the Monland Restoration Party and United Wa State Army (UWSA).Landmines littering Burma's rural areas are concentrated along the country's borders with Thailand, India and Bangladesh.Since independence in 1947, Burma's central authorities have intermittently come up against dozens of non-state armed groups, most of whom operate in border regions.Burma is not a signatory to the 1998 Ottawa Convention, or Mine Ban Treaty as it is commonly known. China, India, Russia and the United States are also among those countries not party to the Convention.
Thai protesters storm airport and disrupt flights
Flight operations at Thailand’s main international airport were disrupted today night after hundreds of anti-government protesters stormed the terminal building.
“We have ordered the closure of the airport because Pad supporters have come inside the airport, breaching international safety rules,” an airport spokeswoman told Reuters.
Members of the People’s Alliance for Democracy (Pad) broke through police lines and began roaming through the new, sprawling $4 billion Suvarnabhum international airport terminal, southeast of Bangkok, as startled tourists looked on.
The terminal invasion capped a dramatic day that also saw Pad protesters firing on pro-government supporters on a major road leading to the old airport to the north of the city.
Footage aired by public broadcaster TPBS showed at least two Pad security guards firing half a dozen rounds from handguns. The Pad said they were attacked first with planks and stones.
At least 11 people were hurt, a city emergency services official said.
There were chaotic scenes at Suvarnabhumi, gateway for the 13 million tourists who visit every year, when protesters broke through lines of hundreds of shield-toting riot police.
Earlier, thousands of Pad members waved plastic hand-clappers, flags and portraits of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, while others slung razor wire across the four-lane access road.
“Our goal is to shut down Suvarnabhumi airport until Somchai quits,” Pad spokesman Parnthep Pourpongpan said of the protest, aimed at Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, who returns on Wednesday from an Asia-Pacific summit in Peru.
He would not land at Suvarnabhumi, a spokesman said.
The airport siege, one of the Pad’s most disruptive acts in its six-month campaign, could undermine public support for a movement that appears to be going to ever greater extremes to provoke a violent government backlash.
Mr Somchai has rejected repeated Pad demands that he resign because of allegations he is a puppet of his brother-in-law, Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted as leader in a 2006 coup.
Even though a nationwide strike failed to materialise, the airport unrest could deepen the economic impact of a crisis that has stymied government decision-making and raised fears about the export-driven economy’s ability to cope with a global slump. (Reuters)
Flight operations at Thailand’s main international airport were disrupted today night after hundreds of anti-government protesters stormed the terminal building.
“We have ordered the closure of the airport because Pad supporters have come inside the airport, breaching international safety rules,” an airport spokeswoman told Reuters.
Members of the People’s Alliance for Democracy (Pad) broke through police lines and began roaming through the new, sprawling $4 billion Suvarnabhum international airport terminal, southeast of Bangkok, as startled tourists looked on.
The terminal invasion capped a dramatic day that also saw Pad protesters firing on pro-government supporters on a major road leading to the old airport to the north of the city.
Footage aired by public broadcaster TPBS showed at least two Pad security guards firing half a dozen rounds from handguns. The Pad said they were attacked first with planks and stones.
At least 11 people were hurt, a city emergency services official said.
There were chaotic scenes at Suvarnabhumi, gateway for the 13 million tourists who visit every year, when protesters broke through lines of hundreds of shield-toting riot police.
Earlier, thousands of Pad members waved plastic hand-clappers, flags and portraits of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, while others slung razor wire across the four-lane access road.
“Our goal is to shut down Suvarnabhumi airport until Somchai quits,” Pad spokesman Parnthep Pourpongpan said of the protest, aimed at Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, who returns on Wednesday from an Asia-Pacific summit in Peru.
He would not land at Suvarnabhumi, a spokesman said.
The airport siege, one of the Pad’s most disruptive acts in its six-month campaign, could undermine public support for a movement that appears to be going to ever greater extremes to provoke a violent government backlash.
Mr Somchai has rejected repeated Pad demands that he resign because of allegations he is a puppet of his brother-in-law, Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted as leader in a 2006 coup.
Even though a nationwide strike failed to materialise, the airport unrest could deepen the economic impact of a crisis that has stymied government decision-making and raised fears about the export-driven economy’s ability to cope with a global slump. (Reuters)
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