International Crisis Group To Give Peace Award To Thein Sein

From our correspondent in New York

President U Thein Sein of Burma will receive the ‘In Pursuit of Peace’ Award from the International Crisis Group on April 22nd.

The International Crisis Group stated that the award; ‘recognises individuals for their outstanding contributions to the advancement of peace and security.’

The award will be presented at a lavish dinner in the luxury Pierre Hotel, where the top ticket package costs $100,000.

The Master of Ceremonies will be Katty Kay from the politically neutral BBC.

The presentation of a peace award to President Thein Sein will be controversial given his past personal involvement in human rights abuses, and serious continuing human rights abuses, including UN documented violations of international law. Also likely to spark controversy is the fact that conflict actually increased after Thein Sein became President, and the fact that almost 300,000 people have displaced by conflict in Burma in the past two years.

President Thein Sein, who stated on becoming President that one of his priorities was to build ‘military might’, continues military spending which is five times higher than on health, and which is actually increasing despite extreme poverty in the country.

International Crisis Group point however to the many ceasefires which have been signed with armed ethnic groups, although as with similar ceasefire agreements in the early 1990s, no progress has been made in starting discussions on the root causes of the conflict.

International Crisis Group may also face accusations of making the award in order to raise funds. Investors in Burma such as PTT Group and Chevron are key sponsors. The International Crisis Group has not stated how much profit it expects to make from the event.

NB (After publishing this article Burma Tha Din Network was made aware that the International Crisis Group really have given their peace award to Thein Sein. As a satirical publication, we apologise for the misunderstanding).