Burma’s Presidential Office issued a notification on Monday saying that the number of appointees on the Monywa Copper Mine Inquiry Commission would be reduced from 30 to just 16.
Aung San Suu Kyi will still chair the inquiry, but prominent committee members such as Min Ko Naing and Ko Ko Gyi from the 88 Generation Students group have been “deleted” from the list of appointees, it said.
Sitt Myaing from the National Human Rights Commission is also among the 14 who were axed.
Similarly, the duties of the commission have also been reduced. In a previous announcement on Saturday, the duties of the commission were stated as: “an inquiry into whether the copper mine project should be continued or not; and an inquiry into the true facts on the manner of control used against the protesting crowd.”
The about-turn in Presidential statements is the latest inconsistency in a series of government statements regarding the Monywa copper mine and the protests against its expansion.
President’s Office notification 11/2012 issued on November 29, 2012, the same day of the brutal crackdown, stated that excessive force was not used by riot police in dispersing protesters. The announcement was retracted later that same day.
The 88 Generation students group issued a statement on Monday calling for police to stop arresting protesters. Meanwhile, Min Ko Naing and Ko Ko Gyi said that they had declined to join the Monywa Inquiry Commission.
