Pu Zo Zam, the chairman of the Chin National League for Democracy (CNLD), said that his party would “seize” the Chin State parliament during elections to be held next year. The remark, made at a ceremony on Friday for the opening of a new branch office in Kalay, Sagaing Region, aimed to raise expectations for the party’s prospects during Burma’s 2020 general elections. “The CNLD is focusing on two things. The first is building Chin State and the second is Chin nation-building. We have successfully implemented the first across Chin State. This means that the CNLD will seize the Chin…
Author: Editor
People living in a remote part of southern Chin State’s Paletwa Township are facing severe food shortages due to restrictions on the transport of rice from neighboring Rakhine State, where the Burma Army and the insurgent Arakan Army (AA) are engaged in ongoing clashes. Local people from the Lay Myo Myit area of Paletwa normally transport rice from Rakhine State’s Mrauk-U and Minbya townships by boat. Now, however, boats can only carry two bags at a time, making it difficult for local rice sellers to meet demand. “We can’t travel freely to Rakhine State and we are are only allowed…
Representatives of the Chin Christian Alliance met with Burma’s information minister on Monday to discuss the possibility of bringing an international Christian television channel to the country. “We requested permission to start broadcasting a Christian TV channel that is already available in more than 200 countries,” said the alliance’s secretary, Dr. Charity Htoo, referring to GOD TV, a UK-based broadcaster that has an audience of 262 million households worldwide. According to Dr. Charity Htoo, groups interested in bringing the 24-hour-a-day channel to Burma have been seeking government approval for the past three years. “We need to get permission from the…
In September, “2019 HWPL World Peace Summit” will be hosted over 130 locations in 87 countries including South Korea, France, Australia, Russia, India, Zambia, and the United States of America in cooperation between an international peace NGO named HWPL and international actors – civil society organizations and governments. With the theme of “Legislate Peace – Implementation of the DPCW for Sustainable Development”, the event is expected to expand the agreement by collecting further public support for the establishment of legally binding international law for peace based on the Declaration of Peace and Cessation of War (DPCW). The DPCW, a comprehensive…
Discussions are underway between the government and the World Bank for funding to upgrade the road linking Kalay in Sagaing Region with Falam and Hakha in Chin State, a government representative said. Zong Lae Thang, a parliamentarian for Constituency (4) in Chin state, asked in the legislature last week whether and when the plans to improve the road would be completed. U Kyaw Lin, deputy minister for the Union’s construction ministry, said in the parliamentary session that the project would be started “as soon as possible” but could not be rushed. “This Kalay-Falam-Hakha road upgrade project is a joint…
More than 100 villages in Chin State’s Falam Township will get electricity by the 2025-2026 fiscal year, the Union deputy minister of electricity and energy has said. The announcement came in response to a question posed in parliament on Friday by MP Zong Lae Thang, who represents Constituency 4 in Chin State. He inquired about the implementation process and plan for the whole country to get electricity by 2030, and how this would relate to rural Falam, where only 15 villages have electricity “There are 167 villages in Falam Township. According to our electricity distribution plan, 105 villages will get…
This September, the 2019 HWPL World Peace Summit: 5th Anniversary of the WARP Summit will be held in Myanmar. The event has been held annually in the Republic of Korea since 2014, providing a platform for leaders in politics, religion, youth and women’s groups, media, and civil society around the world to discuss the ideas and practices required to achieve peace, a common goal of the global community. In this 5th Anniversary, will share outcomes from the past year in which various fields focused on solidifying peace networks and more detailed direction of the advancement for actualizing world peace. For…
Children affected by influenza and dengue fever have been brought to Tedim public hospital, but the lack of doctors on staff has meant that not all can get the treatment they need. According to Tedim local Htar Tawng, who recently visited the hospital, there are seven specialist doctors on staff and three assistant doctors. However, to be fully staffed, there must be three assistants for every specialist, putting the required number for Tedim at 21. “They cannot take care of all of the patients in the hospital,” Htar Tawng explained. The number of children currently hospitalized in Tedim was not…
The number of people who have gone missing in Chin State’s restive Paletwa Township has been increasing, the Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) reported this week. In an August 12 report, CHRO said that armed organizations were likely to blame for the disappearances—mostly of young men—but did not identify particular groups. Battles between the Arakan Army and the Burma Army have been intensifying in the southern Chin State township. Aik Kyaw Lin Naing, 23, Aik Kyaw Sein, 31, Aik Ky Kyaw Than 28, and Aik Kyaw Lin, 25, disappeared after being arrested by soldiers at around 7:00 p.m. on July…
On February 2, Arakan Army (AA) forces entered the village of King-talin in southern Chin State and forced its inhabitants to go with them to an AA military camp on the Bangladesh border. Nearly six months later, after repeated demands from the Khumi Chin Ethnic Affairs Council and the Chin Human Rights Organization, the villagers were finally released on July 31. Of the 54 villagers who were originally detained, 14 escaped and one fell ill and died. Sein Mya, an Evangelical Methodist Church minister who was one of the 39 King-talin villagers released by AA forces at the end of…