After nearly 20 years under the rule of a military junta, citizens in Myanmar have made it clear they’re ready for a new government.

But the current government’s bloody crackdown on protests in the main city of Yangon is not encouraging. Washington has responded to the Myanmar violence by freezing the country’s assets in the U.S. and banning any financial transactions of its leaders.

On Sunday, United Nations envoy Ibrahim Gambari met with the country’s detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, and also with leaders of the ruling junta. More than one dozen people have died and hundreds more placed under arrest after the regime ordered its military to shut down the demonstrations several days ago.

Myanmar’s main Internet link was still shutdown for the third straight day on Sunday, and many Internet cafes remained closed, after individuals who had captured photos and video of the crackdown sent the images around the world.

Image above caption: A before image (left) depicts a small settlement in Burma on May 5, 2004, and (right) again on Feb. 23, 2007, with all structures removed. The images correspond with information provided by the Free Burma Rangers regarding December 2006 attacks at and near the Burmese village of Kwey Kee. (Lat: 18.79 N Long: 96.76 E.)

Image credit: Left image: Copyright GeoEye, Inc (Nasdaq:GEOY). Right image: Copyright 2007 Digital Globe.
Myanmar’s main Internet link was still shutdown for the third straight day on Sunday, and many Internet cafes remained closed, after individuals who had captured photos and video of the crackdown sent the images around the world.

But what the regime cannot control is the release of satellite images revealed on Saturday that tell more of the story. A new assessment of high-resolution satellite images – concluded by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has pinned down evidence consistent with village destruction, forced relocations, and a mounting military presence at twenty-five spots across eastern Burma (Myanmar) where observers have accounted human rights violations. 

The study by AAAS, a non-profit, independent organization and the world’s largest general scientific society, offers obvious physical evidence to confirm on-the-ground reports of precise cases of devastation. It is thought to be the first exhibition of satellite image assessment to document human rights violations in Burma, also known as Myanmar.

AAAS had until that time used the same technology to inspect the devastation in Darfur and Zimbabwe.

The latest research, however, was supported by the Open Society Institute and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

A military state since 1962, Burma’s ruling junta kept on in conflict with the National League for Democracy, and has apprehended the group’s elected leader — the world’s only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi – For nearly a twelve years thus far.

An estimated 90 percent of Burmese people live below or near the poverty level, subsisting on a dollar per day or less, Charles Petrie, the United Nations humanitarian chief in Burma told the Associated Press in August.

Working with three human rights groups in Burma, AAAS researcher Lars Bromley acquired field descriptions of more than 70 instances of human rights violations that were reported to take place from mid-2006 through early 2007 in eastern Burma’s Karen State and surrounding regions.

Bromley, director of the AAAS Geospatial Technologies and Human Rights project, said documenting human rights violations in Burma posed special challenges. Burmese military tactics reportedly include forcing ethnic minorities to abandon their homes, and the use of sprinkled mortar fire to frighten those who try to grow rice or other crops.

Despite such challenges, AAAS precisely mapped the locations of 31 of some 70 reported human rights violations by comparing field notes with information provided by the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

Satellite image analysis then revealed physical evidence to corroborate reported instances of human rights violations at 25 of the 31 accurately mapped sites. Wherever possible, Bromley compared archival satellite images with newly acquired shots to examine sites before as well as after the reported military activity.

In other cases, recent images revealed clear signs of destruction.

“Eighteen of the locations showed evidence consistent with destroyed or damaged villages,” Bromley reported. “We found evidence of expanded military camps in four other locations as well as multiple possibly relocated villages, and we documented growth in one refugee camp on the Thai border. All of this was very consistent with reporting by multiple human rights groups on the ground in Burma.”

Within the Papun District, human rights groups had described increasing conflicts and displacement, and the development of 33 new military camps beginning in late March 2006. Field reports then allowed Bromley to map the location of Papun District villages burned on and around April 22, 2007. Newly acquired satellite images revealed multiple burn scars in the midst of an otherwise thick green forest.

Before-and-after images showed the removal of structures, consistent with eye-witness reports of village destruction. Signs of an expanded military presence, such as the buildup of bamboo fencing around a camp, and construction of a satellite camp, also were identified.

Source: American Association for the Advancement of Science.