Myanmar dissidents reported ready to go home

Australian broadcasting is reporting that some Myanmar dissidents who had fled to Thailand are preparing to return to home, in the wake of economic and political reforms by the Myanmar government.

The Australian news agency also says Myanmar has taken 2,000 activists and journalists off a blacklist that kept them from entering the country, but gives few details.

Tens of thousands of Myanmar citizens have taken refuge in Thailand since the 1989 elections which candidates from the National League for Democracy, the party led by Aung San Suu Kyi, won but were never allowed to take office by the military government.

However, during the past two years, the military leaders have instituted a series of political and economic reforms, culminating in elections earlier this year in which the Suu Kyi and her party were allowed to participate.

Myanmar releases UN Aid workers

Reuters news agency is reporting that two UN aid workers in Myanmar who were convicted of various charges, including inciting violence in the western province of Rakhine, have been pardoned and released.  The news agency says a UN spokesman announced the news Tuesday, but said a third aid worker remains in custody.  The trio had been sentenced to terms of two to six years in jail.
Fighting between Buddhists and Muslims in Rakhine has claimed dozens of lives since June, and displaced tens of thousands of people.  Most of the Muslims are members of the Rohingya minority group, which the UN has described as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world.

Thailand, Myanmar to hold border talks

Thailand's foreign ministry says it will hold new talks with Myanmar aimed at settling the disputed border line between the two countries.  The Bangkok Post reports that the news was released at a weekend seminar in Chiang Mai focused on border disputes between Thailand, Myanmar and Laos.

Thailand and Myanmar share 2,400km of border, of which only about 60km is marked.  It's been seven years since the two countries met to mark the remainder of the boundary.  Vasin Teeravechyan, co-chairman of the Thai-Myanmar Joint Boundary Committee, said the talks are set for October.

Army takes Thaksin's lawyer to court

Not content with accusing former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin and his supporters of trying to undermine the monarchy, now it appears that Thai officials are accusing them of defaming the military.  The Phukett Gazette reports that the head of the Thai army has filed a complaint of defamation against Robert Amsterdam, the attorney for former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his party, the UDD.  The complaint reportedly accuses Amsterdam of making defamatory comments about the army in a speech last May at a rally to commemorate the anniversary of Red Shirt protests in Bangkok.  Amsterdam says he stands by his comments: 

"As declared in a statement published on our Thai blog, Robert Amsterdam stated that he would not be discouraged by General Prayuth’s attempt to intimidate and silence those seeking answers over what happened in Thailand when more than 90 unarmed protesters were gunned down by Army snipers. Representing the Red Shirts, Amsterdam has prepared a number of critical reports including an application to the International Criminal Court advocating the initiation of an inquiry in the violence allegedly ordered by General Prayuth.  In late June, Mr. Amsterdam led a delegation of Thai representatives to a meeting with the ICC at The Hague.

"Mr. Amsterdam has also published an open letter to General Prayuth, which reads:  “If you were serious about upholding your soldiers’ reputation, you would use your remaining time as Commander-in-Chief not to make excuses for criminal behavior, but to remake the Royal Thai Army into an institution where those who abuse human rights are held to account. Submitting to a proper investigation in which the facts are examined fairly, without regard for the status of the perpetrators, by investigators who cannot be bullied into “apologizing” to you for their findings, would be a useful first step.”"

Here's a video of the speech.

Philippine Interior Minister confirmed dead

Divers have recovered the body of Philippine Interior Minister Jesse Robredo, after a small plane carrying him and three others went down off the coast of Masbate City, about 450 km south of Manila.  Divers also recovered the bodies of the plane's two pilots from the wreckage.  An aide to Robredo survived and was rescued shortly after the Piper Seneca crashed Saturday afternoon.

The plane was enroute from Cebu City to Robredo's hometown of Naga City when it began having engine problems. The pilots then diverted to an airport in Masbate, but witnesses says the plane crashed into the sea  only one kilometer short of the runway.

Infighting between army factions blamed for protester deaths

Thailand's Nation newspaper reports that a group of academics are blaming conflicts between Army factions for the fighting and high casualties during the red-shirt protests in 2010.

The group made its case in a lengthy report presented at Thammasat University Monday.

Read the full article here: http://nationmultimedia.com/politics/Army-infighting-caused-deaths-30188645.html

A Teetering Thailand?

By Sonia Rothwell for ISN Security Watch

The arrival of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan has done little to quell unrest in Thailand’s largely Muslim southern states. The government recently announced an injection of an extra $12.4m in emergency funding to boost military operations in the region in an attempt to stop what Thai media report to be an increase in the number of attacks since the start of Ramadan. This move may bring a superficial peace to the south, but Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s suggestion that state television channels deliver news and official information in the local Yawi dialect ultimately may be the start of a more interesting and positive shift.

The restive southern provinces of Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat and Songkhla have seen a revival in violence this year. Since 2004, almost daily attacks across southern Thailand - often but not solely against state targets - have chipped away at the security of this largely ethnic-Malay region which Thailand annexed in 1902. A coordinated series ofvehicle-borne bomb attacks on 31 March 2012, for example, hit the cities of Yala and Hat Yai. A car bomb, one mounted on a pick-up truck and two motorcycle bombs detonated, killing 14 and wounding hundreds of others. They were a reminder of the seriousness of this so-called “small war” conflict which, according to Thai media reports, has killed an estimated 5,200 people in 11,000 recorded incidents.
Read the full article here:  http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Security-Watch/Articles/Detail/?lng=en&id=151394