Myanmar moves seat of government from Yangon
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-11-08 10:37

Myanmar is moving the seat of government from Yangon to a compound outside the town of Pyinmana, the information minister said as workers frantically packed up their offices.

The announcement has been months in the making. But the order to pack up came only on Friday as the junta moved the first group of civil servants to a still-unfinished compound outside Pyinmana, 200 miles (320 kilometers) north of Yangon.

"Up to now, Yangon has always been the seat of government since independence when successive governments opted to use Yangon as the capital," the information minister, Brigadier General Kyaw Hsan, told reporters.

"But now due to changed circumstances, where Myanmar is trying to develop a modern nation, a more centrally located government seat has become a necessity."

Yangon, previously Rangoon, has been the capital of Myanmar since 1948, when the country -- then named Burma -- won independence from Britain.

"The government has made all necessary arrangements to see to the welfare of the state employees, including all housing and health and social welfare services," Kyaw Hsan said.

But much of the government and military compound remains incomplete, without even housing for the staffers of the commerce, foreign, home affairs and post and telecommunication ministries which began moving to Pyinmana.

Kyaw Hsan declined to say when the move would be complete, but government workers told AFP they had seen a written order that the shift must be finished by next April.

As the minister spoke, Chinese trucks lined the streets as movers emptied the foreign ministry building.

One diplomat said the government had briefed embassies. "In that, they said they are moving all the government functions to Pyinmana," the diplomat said.

"But they told us there is no need for foreign diplomats or international organizations to move to Pyinmana at this time."

"They have decided to move the government functions because Pyinmana is strategically located," the diplomat added.

Analysts have said the move was prompted by fears of an invasion by the United States, one of the junta's staunchest critics. They said the 2003 invasion of Iraq apparently reinforced the fears.

Only a handful of people in the first group who arrived in a military convoy have managed to telephone back to Yangon, mainly to ask relatives to send them food.

The complex lies in a valley 20 miles (30 kilometers) from the nearest town Pyinmana, they said.

One analyst in Yangon told AFP the move was also part of the military's broader plan to change the system of government after it completes drafting a new constitution through a national convention.

"Obviously the whole idea is motivated by security and strategic concerns," he said.

The new compound is part of the military's plan to maintain its control of the state, even after it hands power to a government that could eventually be elected under the constitution it has been drafting for years, the analyst said.