South Asia Security Monitor: No. 213

April 3:

India has announced plans to build a multimillion-dollar seaport and transportation system in Myanmar, according to the Times of India. The agreement, inked between the second-highest member of Myanmar's ruling junta, Vice Senior Gen. Maung Aye, and Indian Vice-President Mohammad Hamid Ansari, will upgrade waterways and highways along Myanmar's Kaladan River and develop the port of Sittway in the country's northwest at cost of $120 million. The new transportation system will give India access to Myanmar’s extensive natural gas reserves, helping to fuel the country’s rapid economic growth. New Delhi is also eager to secure the Myanmar military’s cooperation in containing separatist groups fighting New Delhi's rule in northeastern India near the Myanmar border. Several groups have set up bases across the border and use them to launch attacks in India. Countering China, which has strengthened its bonds with the military junta, is also a concern.


April 4:

Speaking at a meeting with Singapore’s Chief of Defense Force, Desmond Kuek, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung hailed progress made between the militaries of Vietnam and Singapore. Kuek also met with Chief of the General Staff of Viet Nam People’s Army Lieutenant General Nguyen Khac Nghien. The two sides agreed to concentrate their military cooperation on training, medical corps and humanitarian aid, Vietnam’s official VNS news agency reports.


April 16:

Two alleged Indonesian members of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) were on their way to Syria to build contacts with an international terrorist network when arrested in Malaysia, according to Indonesian police sources quoted in the Jakarta Post. Malaysian security detained Agus Purwantoro, 39, and Abdul Rohim, 49, who were holding fake passports and have extradited both to Indonesia. Agus is reportedly the leader of JI in Poso, Central Sulawesi, and is also believed to have served as a doctor for fugitive terrorist Noordin M. Top.


April 17:

"Nuclear power, which does not produce carbon dioxide, is a trump card for global warming measures," said Japan's Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda in comments carried by United Press International. The remarks come ahead of the expected opening of a controversial nuclear reprocessing facility next month. The Rokkasho plant will allow nuclear waste to be recycled by extracting uranium and plutonium. Although Japan has 55 nuclear power plants, this will be its first large-scale reprocessing facility. Paris and Tokyo are expected to announce a common plan of action in favor of the civilian use of nuclear energy at the July Group of Eight summit of the world's leading industrialized nations, hosted by Japan.


April 18:

Thailand's cabinet has agreed to extend emergency rule in the Muslim south, although the prime minister, Samak Sundaravej, promised to lift it as soon as possible, AKI reports. The prime minister says the state of emergency will be extended for three more months in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat provinces, where a separatist insurgency has been raging since January 2004. Emergency rule provides security forces broad immunity from prosecution, while giving them sweeping powers of search and seizure. It also allows suspects to be detained for up to 30 days without charge. Martial law was imposed after the bloodless September 2006 coup that ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.