Daily News-April 12- 2001- Thursday

  • Thailand Sends Fire Trucks To Quell Blaze in Myawaddy
  • Burma's Sanctuaries Area Increases
  • Kachin State Special Region 1 (Panwa Region) Marks 10th Anniversary of Regaining Peace
  • BDR asks NASAKA to free 10 abducted Bangladeshis

    • Thailand Sends Fire Trucks To Quell Blaze in Myawaddy

    MAE SOT, Thailand (AP)--Thailand sent fire trucks to quell a nighttime blaze in a border town in neighboring Burma that left 100 people homeless early Thursday, Thai officials said.

    Burmese officials ran across the Thai-Burmese Friendship Bridge seeking help after the blaze broke out in Myawaddy, where local people and the town's single fire engine could not bring it under control.

    Five fire engines and two water trucks were dispatched from the Thai town of Mae Sot, which lies opposite Myawaddy, and helped put out the blaze that burned for more than two hours, said Samart Loifar, the Mae Sot district governor.

    Three brick buildings and 12 wooden homes were destroyed leaving about 100 Myawaddy residents homeless. They are now sheltered at a Buddhist temple in the town, Burmese vendors said.

    There were no reported deaths or injuries.
    Burma's Sanctuaries Area Increases

    Source : Xinhua

    The area of sanctuaries in Myanmar has now increased to 3.2 percent of the country's total area from 0.7 percent in 1988, according to sources at the Myanmar Ministry of Forestry.

    There are 28 sanctuaries in Burma.

    Plans are being made to expand such area up to 5 percent, an official of the ministry said.

    Meanwhile, a well-known botanical garden, established in 1917 in Pin Oo Lwin in the country's northern Mandalay division, has been transformed into a National Kandawgyi (big lake) Garden to enable people for relaxation, giving education, conducting research and promoting eco-tourism, the official added.

    According to official statistics, Burma's forest area accounts for 50 percent of the country's total land area, of which 18.6 percent are reserved and protected public forest.
    Kachin State Special Region 1 (Panwa Region) Marks 10th Anniversary of Regaining Peace

    source : MIC

    The 10th anniversary of regaining peace in Kachin State Special Region (Panwa region) was held on 9 April at Panwa, Chibwe Township, Kachin State attended by the Secretary-1 of the State Peace and Development Council Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt.

    The following are the excerpts of the speech of the Secretary-1 delivered at the anniversary.

    "---The remote border areas including the Kachin State Special Region 1 were unstable under the domination and manipulation of the Burma Communist Party in the past and local national people such as Kachin, Kokang, Wa, Shan, Ahka and Pa-O struggled to free themselves from the domination of BCP some ten years ago. At present, peace is prevailing in all the remote border areas as the national races together with the government are striving for peace and it can be said that it is the significant success of the entire national people.

    In the Kachin State Special Region 1 alone, the State has built or upgraded facilities such as nearly 100 miles of roads including Chibwe-Hsalaw and Manmein-Chibwe roads, one major bridge and seven suspension bridges, 34 primary schools, five middle schools, two high schools, four hospitals, 12 dispensaries and four retransmission stations. From fiscal 1989-90 up to February 2001, the State has spent K 174.75 million for development of all the sectors including the economic spheres such as agricultural and livestock breeding sectors of the region.

    The Kachin State Special Region 1 group is also endeavouring many regional development undertakings. As the State has to undertake the regional development tasks on a national scale, it cannot carry out the tasks to the extent of its wish. From fiscal 1989-90 up to February 2001, the State has spent K 20,475.85 million for development of all the border areas of the nation. The State is implementing the tasks not only on financial terms alone, but also for building economic and social development infrastructures in order to fulfil the requirements of all the sectors of the border regions. Economic enterprises such as farm and industrial production sectors are being set up in the areas in accord with favourable conditions.

    Arrangements are under way to cultivate perennial crops including tea and sugarcane which may grow well in Panwa region and to cultivate buckwheat in Thanlwin east region to export the crops to Japan. In addition to the existing universities and colleges, courses on higher studies are being opened to develop the human resources of the border areas. Priority is being given to implementing narcotic drugs eradication projects in conjunction with the border areas development plans to keep the areas free from the problem of the drugs which was created in order to shunt the border areas from the course of progress and to put the people's live under the domination and exploitation of foreigners. As peace is prevailing in the border areas at present, the government in cooperation with national races leaders has systematically laid down and implemented narcotic drug eradication projects.

    In addition to drug eradication method, the government with the participation of national races leaders are organizing and educating the national people, setting poppy substitution agricultural and farming and production businesses in striving to develop the public social standard. The Government laid down the 15-year drug eradication plan and designated periods to root out the narcotics region wise and it has declared to keep the nation totally free from drugs which the national task is being implemented on self-reliant basis . The international assistance for the plans is nil.

    Shan State Special Region 4 (Mongla region) has been declared "Opium Free Zone" in 1997, and the resolution to wipe out poppy growing in Shan State North Special Region 1 (Kokang region) has been successfully realized---".

    Then, the Leader of Kachin State Special Region 1 national race group U Za Khun Ting Ring said the region is seeing developments in all the sectors under the kind assistance of the State with the ten-year period. Efforts have been made for national as well as regional development.
    BDR asks NASAKA to free 10 abducted Bangladeshis

    Apr 11, 2001:The Independent Bangladesh

    ANDARBAN, Apr 10: Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) has asked Myanmar border security force (NASAKA) to immediately release 10 Bangladeshi nationals abducted from the bordering area of the hill district, official sources said.

    A team of NASAKA personnel entered Bangladesh through pillar no 37 in Dumdum union of Naikhyongchari upazilla on April 5 and abducted 10 Bangladeshi citizens from village Tambru at gun point, the sources said.

    Of the abducted persons, five were identified as Aungcha Prue, Pathrau Aung, UBA Thoai Aung, Sai Aung and Thai Hla Prue.

    BDR battalion commander of Naikhyongchari visited the bordering area on April 9 and asked NASAKA to release the victims immediately.