13 Children Die in Fire at Islamic School

A fire engulfed a residential school for Muslim boys in Yangon on April 2, killing 13 students. Officials blamed the blaze, which came after weeks of anti-Muslim riots in central Myanmar, on an electrical

Private Dailies Return to Newsstands

short. The government held two press conferences on the day of the fire to counter rumors that it was related to the earlier violence. Most of the 73 children living in the school dormitory, which was located inside a mosque compound, managed to escape, but smoke inhalation claimed the lives of 13 young boys sleeping in a small loft on the first floor of the building. The building burned from the inside and was put out soon after firefighters were alerted.

approved for publication. Despite the lifting of a ban on private dailies, the draconian 1962 Printing and Registration Act remains in place until a new media law is enacted.

reconciliation in Myanmar, organized the trip. The Japanese government has also granted more than $12 million through deals between the Myanmar Peace Center and Japanese NGOs.

third girl to escape three days later. An interpreter for the girls alerted Thai police, who raided the home of a family that had been holding them captive since January, forcing them to work without pay and have sex. Five people were arrested in connection with the incident, including the father, who allegedly impersonated an army officer to maintain the girls’ obedience. The girls, from Tanintharyi Region, were aged between 15 and 18.

Myanmar Detainees Clash in Indonesia

A woman sells newspapers in Yangon on April 1, 2013.

Four privately owned daily newspapers were launched on April 1, ending a decades-old monopoly by state-owned publications such as Kyemon and The New Light of Myanmar. The ruling Union and Solidarity Development Party now has its own daily, The Union, while the opposition National League for Democracy has also been licensed to publish a daily version of its journal D-Wave. Altogether, 16 daily newspapers have been

Myanmar Minority Leaders Travel to Japan, Meet PM

Leaders of 11 ethnic armed groups from Myanmar traveled to Tokyo in the first week of April for talks on aid for Myanmar’s conflict-affected border regions. Representatives of the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), an ethnic alliance, met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other senior officials during the visit. The Nippon Foundation, a major Japanese philanthropic organization that has pledged US $3 million to support national

Abducted Myanmar Girls Escape

Thai Captors

Buddhists and Muslims from Myanmar clashed at an immigration detention center in Indonesia on April 5, in an incident that left eight Buddhists dead and 15 Muslims injured. The eight Buddhists were among 11 fishermen who had been detained for illegally fishing in Indonesian waters, while the Muslims were Rohingya asylum seekers from Myanmar’s Rakhine State. Witnesses told police the clash started after a Muslim Rohingya confronted a Buddhist fisherman about sectarian violence in their homeland, although it was later claimed that the incident was provoked by the rape of Rohingya women at the center, allegedly by the Myanmar Buddhists.

Shan Farmers Demand Pipeline Compensation

Thai ac-

Two Myanmar girls who had been abducted and repeatedly raped over a period of three months fled their captors in Bangkok on April 2 and helped a

Farmers displaced by the Shwe Gas Pipeline project in Shan State say they have been cheated out of compensation they were promised. At a press conference in Yangon on April 9, the Taang Students and Youth Organization said that authorities in Man Satt village, where more than 20,000 hectares of land were seized for the project, stole from a fund set up by China National Petroleum Corporation. A local MP for Hsipaw Township denied the charges, however.

Support People, Not Govt, Daw Suu Tells Japanese

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi attends a news conference at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo

Opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said Japanese aid for Myanmar should focus on the needs of the country’s people, not its government. Speaking during a week-long visit to Japan in mid-April, the

Nobel Peace Prize laureate urged her hosts to support development that benefits ordinary citizens. “We hope that the aid that is given to my country will be given with the people in mind, rather than the government. Governments come and governments go, but the people are forever,” she said. She also criticized the government’s ongoing reform process, saying that it has “no structure, no sequencing or establishment of priorities regarding what is needed at this moment.”

EU Lifts Sanctions on Myanmar, Keeps Arms Embargo

The European Union lifted all sanctions on Myanmar except for an arms embargo in recognition of reforms instituted since President U

Thein Sein assumed power as head of a quasi-civilian government in March 2011. The move, first agreed by EU ambassadors on April 17 and given ministerial approval less than a week later, will allow European companies to invest in Myanmar’s economy. However, in an official EU document endorsing the change in policy, the Myanmar government was also urged to release remaining political prisoners and deal with communal violence. A ban on selling weapons to Myanmar will remain in place amid concerns about human rights abuses by the armed forces.

Chinese Fishermen Face Charges for Ramming Reef, Poaching

Twelve Chinese fishermen are facing multiple charges