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Japan’s Nippon Foundation offers assistance to Myanmar’s ethnic minorities
Post Date: December 14, 2012
Post By: PNA
In an effort to assist with the emergency aid response of
Myanmar’s remote regions, the Japanese operated The Nippon Foundation (TNF) has
donated nearly USD 30,000 in supplies to The New Mon State Party (NMSP). The
initial delivery of supplies to areas under the NMSP, is the first in a wave of
shipments totaling USD 3 million, which are aimed at improving relations
between the Myanmar government and the country’s various ethnic groups.
The donation will be presented as a
provision of the humanitarian assistance
programme for war victims in a ceremony at Mawlamyine’s State Hall in Mon state. In attendance will be Vice-Chairman of Union
level Peace-making (Work Committee Union Minister at the President Office) U
Aung Min; Union Ministers U Win Tun and U Zeyar Aung; Mon State Chief Minister
U Ohn Myint; Charge d’ Affaires of Japanese Embassy Mr Ichiro Maruyama;
(Friendship Ambassador of Japan for Social Security of Myanmar National Races)
Chairman of The Nippon Foundation Mr Yohei Sasakawa.
During the gift-giving ceremony, which will be held on
December 22, The Nippon Foundation will contribute 1,000 bags of Burmese-grown
rice as well as over 200 boxes of traditional Japanese and non-traditional Thai
medicine.
The Nippon Foundation
Chairman Yohei Sasakawa, who is also the Japanese government’s Goodwill
Ambassador for the Welfare of the National Races in Myanmar, commented on the
upcoming ceremony by saying, “I would like to make the relief efforts a
catalyst for realizing peace.”
Mr. U Aung Min, a chief Minister of U Thein Sein’s
presidential office and principal peace negotiator, has expressed gratitude
towards Mr. Sasakawa and has cited the ceremony as a start to improved
relations between the Myanmar government and ethnic minorities. The chief
Minister hopes the donation will help alleviate tensions within the country’s
worn-torn areas.
The civil war between Myanmar’s ethnic groups and the
country’s government has lasted for more than 60 years, propelling many of the
country’s minorities into neighboring countries or Myanmar’s mountainous
regions for refuge.
The emergency aid
program was realized in an effort to bring two memorandums to fruition. The
agreement orchestrated between The Nippon Foundation and the government of
Myanmar, as well as the accord between The Nippon Foundation and the United
Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) - a federation of 11 armed minority
groups, is the first private organization aid agreement with Myanmar’s
government and minority groups.
According to the NMSP officer in charge Nai Hong Sar Pong
Khine, the first shipment of donated goods will be organized by The Myanmar
Peace Center and will use secure routes from the town of Mae Sot, in Thailand’s
Tak province, to the Mon state capital city of Mawlamyine.
The chairman of the NMSP had visited areas under the NMSP in
October to determine sections in which the need
for assistance was most dire; Dawei District and Ye-Stream area were
designated as first priority in servicing aid.
Future aid deliveries
will be made to areas in Mon, Karen, and Karenni State. The humanitarian
assistance programme of The Nippon Foundation will provide foodstuffs to ethnic
groups phase by phase, once transport
routes are secured in these regions.
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