The verdict is in – Aung San Suu Kyi is the one who is authoritarian says UN official who worked with Myanmar military

A former UN official who opposed international pressure on Myanmar’s military and was later paid by Norway to work with the previous military controlled government on the failing peace process has accused Aung San Suu Kyi of being authoritarian.

In a scathing article for the Washington Post, drafted while drinking tea made from a black kettle, Charles Petrie, who as UN head in Myanmar lobbied for the lifting of sanctions against Than Shwe’s military dictatorship, cited a report from a civil society organisation he once used to dismiss as one of many ‘out of touch hard-line exiles’ based on the Thai Burma border.

Petrie’s attempt to spin the 2007 Saffron uprising uprising as being a protest against poverty, rather than being a political protest against the military dictatorship, in order to further his agenda of increasing unrestricted aid to the country, backfired when the military took offence at the implication that they had caused poverty in the country. 

Petrie was expelled from Myanmar, which he later tried to spin as being because he bravely spoke out against the military. However, he continued to act as an adviser to Ibrahim Gambari, the UN envoy to Myanmar who had previously worked for the Nigerian dictatorship, in that role defending the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa.

Gambari, who used to hold hands with Senior General Than Shwe when visiting Myanmar, and was later criticized by Human Rights Watch for hugging Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide by the International Criminal Court. Petrie advised Gambari not to mention ‘delicate’ ‘no go ’issues like violations of international law against ethnic minorities.

After General Thein Sein, who was documented by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar as being responsible for war crimes in Shan State, and who oversaw the drafting on the 2008 constitution which preserved the power of the military, came to power as President in a rigged election in 2010, he asked the Norwegian government for assistance for a new ‘peace process’.

Norway, whose Telenor mobile communications company was coincidentally later awarded a license by Thein Seins government to operate in Myanmar, and whose ambassador at the time, Katja Norgaard, was coincidentally later appointed Executive Vice President of Telenor, appointed Charles Petrie to head the controversial Myanmar Peace Support Initiative (MPSI), set up at the request of the military controlled government.

The MPSI was accused by ethnic civil society groups of acting in a one sided manner supporting the agenda of the military led government, and failed to produce any tangible positive outcomes. An independent evaluation of the MPSI criticized Petrie’s leadership, concluding it ‘it lacked operational management’, ‘failed to develop a clear communications and outreach strategy’, ‘did not adequately share either its purpose or its analysis’.

Petrie was excused by the evaluation for some of these faults because at the same time he was, in violation of UN rules regarding working for UN member state governments while being employed by the UN, also working for the UN on a ground-breaking evaluation of the UN response to the civil war in Sri-Lanka, in which he criticized the UN operation there for doing almost exactly the same as he had while heading the UN in Myanmar.

Unlike his proposed approach to the military dictatorship, to use international aid to try to ‘open doors of trust with the military’, Petrie did not propose using international aid to work more closely with ‘authoritarian’ Aung San Suu Kyi to build her trust and persuade her to respect human rights. Instead he informed the world that he feels ‘sad’.

‘Independent’ analysts Ashley Horsey and Richard South were quick to come to the defense of Petrie, citing numerous lucrative consultancy contracts.

Burma Tha Din was unable to reach Charles Petrie for further comment, but this could be because he mistakenly thought that we are based on the border of Thailand.

UN Security Council shocked to learn not just Rohingya and Bamar Buddhists in Myanmar

UN Security Council members were left frantically googling ‘Kachin’ and ‘Shan’ during last weeks briefing by the Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, trying to find out who or what the UN investigators were talking about, it is learned.  

UN investigators on Wednesday told the UN Security Council that Myanmar’s domestic investigation was not credible and called on the Council to support the referral of Myanmar to the International Criminal Court, or establish an ad hoc tribunal to investigate and prosecute crimes in Kachin and Shan States, as well as in Rakhine State.

“We thought we knew our stuff when we learnt that there are Rohingya people in Myanmar as well as Aung San Suu Kyi and the military, but the revelations from the Fact Finding Mission that there are other ethnic groups in Myanmar has taken us aback,” a French diplomat told Burma Tha Din on condition of anonymity.  

In a revealing insight into the operations of the Council, Burma Tha Din has learnt that the Swedish Ambassador then googled ‘ethnic people Myanmar’, and using WhatsApp sent a screenshot of a map showing other ethnic states in Myanmar to the ambassadors present at the meeting.

A Dutch diplomat told Burma Tha Din that they then messaged everyone suggesting commissioning UNESCO to send explorers into these states, but luckily the Deputy US Ambassador had prior knowledge of Myanmar and told them that the British government and American Baptists had already done that 200 years ago.

The Chinese Ambassador then replied “We could have told you that, we have been making a killing supplying both sides with guns for decades. (Excuse the pun).”

Karen Pierce then reportedly messaged them back saying it didn’t matter that Myanmar’s domestic investigation only covered the Rohingya and not the Shan and Kachin because British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt found Aung San Suu Kyi to be quite charming and so they were going to keep backing her domestic enquiry regardless.

The Russian deputy Ambassador at the meeting was apparently too busy sulking to take part in the WhatsApp chat.

Aung San Suu Kyi ‘one more lost award’ away from giving Rohingya citizenship

News that later today (UK time) the City of Edinburgh may revoke their Freedom of the City award to Aung San Suu Kyi has apparently prompted her to reconsider her policy of refusing to give citizenship to the Rohingya.

Her lawyer and close advisor, Michael Marett Circleby, as usual speaking to media on condition of anonymity, told Burma Tha Din that although she might not show it, Aung San Suu Kyi is actually very concerned by the removal of many awards in response to her defence of the mass rape and slaughter of Rohingya villagers.

“We managed to avoid legal action at the international criminal court, the suspension of aid to the government, and economic sanctions, but these awards keep being revoked and it’s just not fair,” said Marett Circleby “Everyone expects the impossible and should just go away and leave her alone.”

Organisations which have revoked awards to Aung San Suu Kyi said that this justified their decision to remove the awards whilst not doing anything else to help the Rohingya or anyone else in Burma.

New Commission on Commission Names Established

The President’s Office has established the Emergency Commission For The Naming Of Commissions On Rakhine State (ECNCRS) following the realisation that the government was running out of combinations of names for commissions on the situation Rakhine State. Officials have warned that there are few combinations left for the key words ‘Commission’, ‘Committee’, ‘Advisory’, ‘Rakhine’ and ‘Implementation’.

Headhunting begins for foreign diplomats to front new Advisory Commission to the Committee for the Implementation of the Recommendations on Rakhine State by the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State on the implementation of the Recommendations of the Rakhine Commission of Enquiry.

Despite the Rakhine Commission of Enquiry not being expected to make its report until late next year, following difficulties in finding foreign diplomats gullible, naïve or unprincipled enough to front the Rakhine Commission of Enquiry, the State Counsellors office has already begun the search for members of a planned Advisory Commission to the Committee for the Implementation of the Recommendations on Rakhine State by the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State on the implementation of the Recommendations of the Rakhine Commission of Enquiry. (ACCIRRSACRSIRRCoE)

“I don’t know why we are finding it so hard to find people to help,” a senior government official told Burma Tha Din shortly after the abrupt sacking of the Advisory Board for the Committee for Implementation of the Recommendations on Rakhine State.

Aung San Suu Kyi Planning Major Changes to Peace Process Following Panglong III Failure

Burma Tha Din has learned that a small group of State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s key advisers held a crisis meeting today at the Presidents palace following the failure of the Panglong III conference to make any significant progress. 

There is concern that international support for the current peace process is waning due to lack of progress, and that pressure may be applied to make changes which would lead to substantive discussions on ethnic rights and autonomy. Burma Tha Din understands Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is keen to avoid such a development.

One proposal put forward was to drop the word peace from the peace process, so that people don’t judge the process on progress towards peace. Instead the term ‘The Process’ would be used.

Another is to change the Panglong conference name to the 22^nd Century Panglong. This was considered to be more realistic in terms on progress, and ‘forward looking and positive’.

The establishment of more government peace committees and sub groups, each chaired by the State Counsellor, is also under consideration.

Burma Tha Din understands that any suggestion that there are inherent problems with The Process and that any policy changes should be made were unanimously rejected.

It was also decided to continue with the policy of not blaming the military for problems such as ongoing conflict, refusing to negotiate on preconditions unacceptable to ethnic organisations, and vetoing discussions on key issues. Instead the policy of blaming small under-resourced ethnic groups for delays and being unrealistic in demands would continue.

All those present agreed that these cosmetic changes would be more than enough to keep the EU and European governments on board, and that the USA doesn’t really care either way so would continue support as well.

Burma gov thanks Amnesty for showing how it failed to do its job

State controlled media today devoted significant time and space to coverage of an Amnesty International report detailing how the Myanmar government and military completely failed to do their job, resulting in the deaths of at least a hundred people.

“We have been trying to tell everyone that we let terrorists massacre at least one village of people, and then failed to arrest and jail those responsible, but apart from the huge amount of domestic and international media coverage at the time, no-one would listen,” said government spokesperson Zaw Htay.

“We failed in our most basic duty, to provide security for the population. It’s not like this happened out of the blue, we had been warning about increased terrorist activity for months. We were just so focussed on the propaganda side of things we forgot to actually protect people. It’s an absolute scandal which in any other country would have resulted in the resignations of government ministers and senior military officers. They failed to do their job, and people died as a result. Now at last, thanks to Amnesty International, the truth is out there. We are delighted to keep letting people know just how badly we messed up, and will keep gloating about our failure for at least a week.”