The below mentions "Kyaing Tong", my map says "Kawthoung" as being the Burmese town directly across from Ranong. Perhaps the same place. Pete
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GENEVA (AFP) - Myanmar's military regime has ordered the International Committee of the Red Cross out of key border areas and rejected moves to resume prison visits.
The ICRC said in a statement that it "utterly deplores" the decision by the Myanmar authorities to close five field offices in Mandalay, Mawlamyine, Hpa-an, Taunggyi and Kyaing Tong.
"The Myanmar authorities also announced that ICRC visits to detainees would not be allowed to resume," it added Monday.
The closure of all the ICRC's offices outside the capital Yangon will effectively stop most assistance and protection work in Myanmar, the aid organization said, especially for those held in prison, labour camps, or living in sensitive border areas.
"We had years of productive discussions with the Myanmar government, and our work since 1999 has had a tangible impact on people's living and security conditions," said Pierre Kraehenbuehl, the agency's director of operations.
"The ICRC is seriously worried that those most in need today will bear the brunt of the current standoff," he added.
The United Nations estimates Myanmar has more than 1,100 political prisoners, including Nobel peace laureate and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi who has spent more than a decade under house arrest.
ICRC spokeswoman Carla Haddad said the move largely restricted operations to caring for amputees, leaving civilians in tense areas without protection.
The military junta stopped the agency making independent visits to prisons to check on the condition of detainees in December 2005, when the Red Cross rejected a request to be accompanied by government-affiliated organisations.
Myanmar's information minister Brigadier General Kyaw Hsann said earlier this month that the junta was still holding talks with the ICRC on resuming the visits.
Haddad said the agency must meet detainees without government escorts, and independently check on the conditions for communities in restless border regions.
"There are certain sine qua non (essential) conditions that cannot be changed," she told AFP.
Between 1999 and late 2005, the agency made 453 visits to prisons and labour camps across Myanmar, which has been ruled by the military since 1962.
The ICRC had 332 staff in the country including 54 expatriates last year, but their numbers have dwindled since then, due to ongoing obstacles, to 220 including 20 expatriates, and may decrease further, Haddad said.
The UN's labour agency also voiced frustration last week with authorities in Myanmar.
The International Labour Organisation decided to bring its concerns about forced labour in the country before the UN Security Council and the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
The decision followed a mission to the country last month which failed to overcome deadlock on how to respond to complaints of forced labour.
The human rights group Amnesty International said last year that tens of thousands of people in Myanmar were being forced into labour and suffering other abuses.
Myanmar orders Red Cross out of key border areas
Must admit that I do question myself sometimes about the visa runs I make to Burma via Ranong. The Malaysian border's just so far away, although I used to go to Sungai Kolok regularly and that was 17 hours one way on the train.
A good friend of mine, who's a journalist, has effectively been banned for life from entering the country because of what he's written in the past. The last time he applied for a visa, in London, he was hauled into an office and told in no uncertain terms that he'd be imprisoned if he ever set foot there again.
Lovely place. Shouldn't think it's changed too much in most areas from how it's described in George Orwell's "Burmese Days".
A good friend of mine, who's a journalist, has effectively been banned for life from entering the country because of what he's written in the past. The last time he applied for a visa, in London, he was hauled into an office and told in no uncertain terms that he'd be imprisoned if he ever set foot there again.
Lovely place. Shouldn't think it's changed too much in most areas from how it's described in George Orwell's "Burmese Days".
Maybe try Cambodia once Lomu and see how it goes. There are limo busses of every size and description that leave from Bangkok daily and back the same evening, or you can stay overnight and catch the next day's bus back. May make for a pleasant change, or at least see how it compares to other places you've been. Pete 