BurmaNet News Feb 25, 2004

[editor at burmanet.org]

Feb 25, 2004 Issue # 2428


INSIDE BURMA
AP: Karen rebels wrap up peace talks with junta, describe it as 'successful'
BBC Monitor: Karen rebel group information chief views talks with Burmese
government
NST: 52 Myanmar illegals to be deported tomorrow
Shan: No sign of dam on the Salween

DRUGS
Shan: Labs move, number unchanged

BUSINESS / MONEY
WMA: Indian Power Company to Invest in Myanmar

REGIONAL
Bangkok Post: Norway to join Bangkok talks
Bangkok Post: Thai-Burmese plan to dam two rivers
Jakarta Post: ASEAN conflict resolution mechanisms needed

INTERNATIONAL
The Age: Thai Regime Bullies Asylum Seekers, Rights Report Says
Bangkok Post: Thai-Burmese plan to dam two rivers

OPINION / OTHER
Mizzima: The Ugly Face of the Constructive Engagement Policy
Irrawaddy: Peace Talks: "I want to go home"

MEDIA RELEASE
Burma Campaign UK: UK ignores EU Burma sanctions



INSIDE BURMA
___________________________________

Feb 25, Associated Press
Karen rebels wrap up peace talks with junta, describe it as 'successful'

Guerrillas belonging to Myanmar's largest ethnic rebel group described as
"successful" three days of peace talks with junta officials that ended
Thursday.

The Karen National Union, which has been fighting for independence for
more than five decades, is the only major guerrilla group in Myanmar that
has not signed a formal agreement to lay down arms.

The KNU and Myanmar officials used the peace talks to discuss demarcation
of territory, troop positions and resettlement of ethnic Karen displaced
by fighting, David Htaw, the deputy leader of the KNU delegation, told The
Associated Press.

The talks, the third between them, were held in the Myanmar border town of
Moulmein, said Htaw after returning to a KNU base on the Thai-Myanmar
border near Mae Sot in western Thailand. He was contacted by cellular
phone.

"We can say the journey was successful," he said, without elaborating.

The next round of talks will be held in the last week of March or early
April, he said.

Htaw denied that the talks were affected by the attack on a Myanmar army
outpost by Karen rebels, hours before the start of the talks on Monday, in
violation of an informal cease-fire between the two sides.

Bo Mya, vice chairman and elder statesman of the Karen National Union,
said Monday the attack was carried out by rouge KNU fighters without the
sanction of the leadership. He said the fighters disobeyed him and will be
punished if they violate the cease-fire again.

The KNU sent senior members, including Bo Mya, on an unprecedented visit
to Yangon in January to start the peace talks.

Myanmar's military government took power in 1988 after crushing a
pro-democracy uprising. It has reached cease-fire agreements with 17 armed
groups since 1989.
__________________________

Feb 25, BBC Monitor
Karen rebel group information chief views talks with Burmese government

It has been learned that an 11-member delegation of the Karen National
Union, the KNU, left Myawaddy (town) on the Thai-Burmese border for
Moulmein by cars at 0900 (local time) today to hold talks with the SPDC
(State Peace and Development Council) military government for the second
time.

According to sources on the border, the (KNU) delegation was led by Maj Tu
Tu Lay, KNU joint secretary general, and Phado David Thaw, chief of
foreign affairs. Maj (as received) San Pwint of the SPDC himself came to
Myawaddy to welcome and escort the delegation.

The KNU said the Moulmein meeting will last for a week and the relocation
of (military) camps belonging to both sides (the SPDC and the KNU); the
resettlement of war refugees who are hiding in villages; and the release
of Karen soldiers who were captured in battle will be mainly discussed at
the meeting.

Dear listeners, correspondent Khine Thazin interviewed KNU's chief of
information, Phado David Takaplaw, and filed this report on the KNU
delegation that went on the trip today.

(Khine Thazin - recording) Phado David Takaplaw said the withdrawal of
SPDC military units and the cessation of human rights violations in Karen
State will be mainly discussed at the meeting.

(David Takaplaw) The withdrawal of military units will be discussed so as
to have better control over the cease-fire. The cessation of human rights
violations such as forced recruitment of porters by SPDC military units in
most of the rural areas, which are like war zones in the entire Karen
State, will also be discussed.

(Khine Thazin) When I asked whether a topic on attending the National
Convention will be discussed at tomorrow's meeting -

(David Takaplaw) According to the KNU policy, we cannot skip the national
reconsolidation step. The road map is initiated by the National
Convention. This (attending the National Convention) will skip many steps
since a constitution will be drafted at the National Convention. We
believe a tripartite dialogue should be held first. The tripartite
dialogue is necessary to restore the national reconsolidation so as to
forgive each other and to build confidence. We can also discuss matters
related to the drafting of a constitution through the tripartite dialogue.
Under the current situation, there will be no benefit for us if we attend
it. Many changes must be made as I just mentioned. (End of recording)

This report is from Khine Thazin. The present discussion is the
continuation of the talks between SPDC Prime Minister Gen Khin Nyunt and
KNU Gen Bo Mya held in Rangoon in January. An official cease-fire
agreement is likely to be inked, according to reports from the border. It
has been learned that many people are interested in these meetings.
Besides being a long-time revolutionary organization, the KNU is an
organization that has given refuge to exiled democratic forces on the
border.

Source: Democratic Voice of Burma, Oslo, in Burmese 1430 gmt 22 Feb 04
__________________________

Feb 25, New Straights Times
52 Myanmar illegals to be deported tomorrow

THE Kelantan Immigration Department will deport 52 Myanmar citizens
including two women through Bukit Kayu Hitam, Kedah, tomorrow.
Its enforcement chief Malik Zaliman Deraman said the illegal immigrants,
aged between 20 and 45, are expected to leave the department's detention
camp in Tanah Merah at about 10am.

"They will board a bus and be escorted by several enforcement officers
until the border," he said today.

He said the immigrants were sent to the camp after being caught by local
authorities for entering the State without valid documents since last
year.

He added that a total of 82 illegal immigrants from several countries are
still being held at the camp.
__________________________

Feb 25, Shan
No sign of dam on the Salween

Refugees who had rafted down the Salween before arriving in Chiangmai's
Fang District told S.H.A.N. yesterday they saw nothing to suggest that the
construction of the planned megadam had started, although an agreement was
signed between Rangoon and Thailand's MDX Group on 20 December 2002.

"We stopped over at Palao near the damsite on 7 February," recalled Hsang
Aw, from Kunhing, 130 miles east of Taunggyi. "There were about 6-8
Burmese civilians, apart from the native villagers. As for the Army, it
was nowhere around."

Hsang Aw, who was familiar with the dam project, said a road from the
Tasarng Bridge to Palao had already been completed and the bulldozers and
tractors were continuing their way further north, probably to the
remaining teak forests. The area to the south has already been denuded of
timber.

The Thais, he was told, were billeted at Sala, a village south of Palao. 
They were believed to be workers from Thai Sawad, a Thai company
registered in Burma, that had a contract with MDX to build and maintain
the Tarsarng-Palao road.

There were 63 refugees in the group. Few of them could however add further
details except to concur with what he said.


DRUGS
_____________________________________

Feb 25, Shan
Labs move, number unchanged

More than two months after S.H.A.N.'s Show Business: Rangoon's War on
Drugs in Shan State was released, the number of drug refineries in Mongton
township, the largest in Shan State, remains most likely the same,
according to an informed source from the border.

Mongton is opposite Chiangmai province.

The source, a former "businessman" who maintains his communications with
his old associates, told S.H.A.N. while one of druglord Wei Hsuehkang's
factories in Hopang-Hoyawd had definitely moved on 4 September, at least
two labs hitherto unknown to him were discovered. There were also two
others which he was unable to verify their continued existence.

The largest cluster of refineries are found around Mongjawd (Mongkyawt),
on the western sector of the Mongton-Chiangmai highway, "under Wa-Burma
Army joint protection."

According to him, a Captain Thein Maung, Commander, Company 3, Infantry
Battalion 43 of Mongpiang, a township north of Mongton, had transported 40
barrels of unidentified liquid chemical, 20 liters to each barrel, and 4
bags of unidentified powder chemical, 50 liters to each bag, in 4 trucks,
to a refinery 3 miles west of Mongjawd on Thursday, 19 February.

The factory, owned by a Kokang Chinese, known only as Lao Sang Wu, was
transferred to the area on 7 March 2003, 23-days before Wei Hsuehkang,
Commander of the United Wa State Army's 171st Military Region, launched
his "War on Drugs" operation code-named "Hunting Leopard," on a rival
militia chieftain, Janu. His attack on 30 March resulted in the capture of
more than 200 kg of opium, 13.5 kg of heroin and 67.7 kg of morphine,
among others, according to Myanmar Information Committee.

"The fact that Lao Sang Wu's factory was not touched clearly proves they
are working hand in glove with each other," he concluded.  Methamphetamine
price on the border, in the meanwhile, has plunged to 3.5 baht from 10-12
baht last year, owing to the ongoing crackdown in Thailand.  "As a result,
most factories along the border are manufacturing only heroin", he said.
"Yaba is made only if an order was placed."


BUSINESS / MONEY
_____________________________________

Feb 25, World Markets Research
Indian Power Company to Invest in Myanmar - Mike Hurle

India's National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) is interested in
investing in the 800MW Tamanthi power project in Myanmar, according to the
Times of India newspaper. Whilst the project was first proposed five years
ago, the participation of an Indian partner could push it off the drawing
board, at a time when Indian delegations have been looking at a wide range
of energy co-operation options with their eastern neighbour (see Asia
Regional: 29 January 2004: India Considers Developing Energy Linkages to
Myanmar). Myanmar has over a dozen hydroelectric projects under
consideration and has been seeking assistance from its neighbours,
including in South-East Asia and China, as well as India.

Significance: Myanmar is in desperate need of new investment in generating
capacity, but a host of political risks including capital controls and the
weak legal system have made it impossible for foreign companies to find a
satisfactory projected return.


REGIONAL
_____________________________________

Feb 25, Bangkok Post
Norway to join Bangkok talks - Bhanravee Tansubhapol
Second round likely in mid-year, national convention to follow

Norway has agreed to participate in the second round of the Bangkok
Process on Burma's road map to democracy by the middle of this year,
Foreign Ministry spokesman Sihasak Phuangketkeow said yesterday.

Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai won the pledge in talks with his
visiting Norwegian counterpart Jan Petersen yesterday, the spokesman said.

''Thailand is looking forward to the country taking part in the next round
of the Bangkok Process.

''We want to see Norway at the meeting because it has played an important
role in other peace processes as well,'' the spokesman said.

Asked about the invitation to the United States, the spokesman said
although the US had not been directly involved in the process, it had made
its stand known _ that it supported and hoped the process would move
forward.

A source said the Bangkok Process meeting could be held before the middle
of the year, and that Thailand believed the national convention in Burma
would take place right after.
__________________________

Feb 25, Bangkok Post
Thai-Burmese plan to dam two rivers – Ranjana Wangvipula
Activists raise alarm over environment, impact on minorities

Thailand and Burma have agreed to make a joint study into the  feasibility
of a project to dam up two rivers they share for  irrigation, Natural
Resources and Environment Minister Praphat  Panyachartrak said yesterday.

The planned dams would create reservoirs on Burmese soil where the Kok and
Sai rivers originate and enter Thailand in the northern provinces of
Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai respectively.

Mr Praphat said the project would benefit thousands of square kilometres
of farmland in both countries.

``There will be two core irrigation canals from the dams _ one going to
Burma and the other to Thailand,'' he said.

The agreement is set out contained in a memorandum of understanding on
international water management, signed yesterday by Mr Praphat and Maj-Gen
Nyunt Tin, the Burmese agriculture minister.

Mr Praphat played down concerns the project could pose environmental
threats and reduce water levels downstream. He said the proposed dams
would be sited in degraded forests and their design would ensure little
impact on river water levels.

A joint team would conduct a one-year feasibility study, which may include
a plan to build hydro-electric dams, Mr Praphat said.  Other details would
be discussed later.

Mr Praphat's assurances failed to convince environmental groups, which
said the project would destroy forest areas and affect the Shan minority
group living near the Kok river in Burma.

``Leaf-shedding trees may give the forests on the Burmese side the look of
degradation, but they are in fact lush forests,'' said Chainarong
Sretthachau, director of the Southeast Asia Rivers Network Thailand,
responding to Mr Praphat's statement the dams would be built in degraded
forests.

Environmental activist Nikom Putta, of the Chiang Mai-based Ping watershed
management project, warned that soil erosion would reduce the dams'
water-retention capacity and their lifespan. Northern forest areas faced a
problem of rapid soil erosion, causing sediment to accumulate in dams at a
higher rate than at other dams.

``When forest areas are destroyed, the land's natural ability to hold
water will also lessen,'' he said. Forests were known for helping keep 80%
of rainwater underground before gradually releasing it outside the rainy
season.

Politically, Mr Chainarong said, construction of the dams would have
adverse impact on minority groups in Burma, and that would lead to
international criticism of the two countries for human rights abuses.

He suspected the plan was one of power plant projects being supported by
the Japanese Electric Power Development Company, which had pushed for
construction of dams on rivers near the Thail and Burmese borders
including the Kok, Kra, Moei, Sai and Salween.

``Mr Praphat must carefully consider the agreement because human rights
and environmental groups worldwide will keep a close eye on this issue,''
Mr Chainarong said.
__________________________

Feb 25, Jakarta Post
ASEAN conflict resolution mechanisms needed

Indonesia, the current chairman of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN), said there was a "crying need" for ASEAN countries to
strengthen their conflict resolution mechanisms, including a regional
peacekeeping force, given the unique array of security challenges they
faced.

"Most conflicts in the world today are not between states but within
states, and internal strife has a way of spilling over from the embattled
country to the rest of the region," Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan
Wirayuda told the participants of the 4th UN-ASEAN Conference on Tuesday
in Jakarta.

To deal with these conflicts, ASEAN's response must be comprehensive,
Hassan said.

"We have to begin developing regional peacekeeping arrangements and
exploring the establishment of supporting institutions to facilitate
efforts to settle conflict," he said.

The main theme of the two-day conference -- attended by representatives
from the 10 ASEAN member countries, United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) and experts from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies
(CSIS) -- was "Conflict Prevention, Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding
in Southeast Asia: ASEAN Security Community and the UN".

The ASEAN Security Community (ASC) concept was first proposed by Indonesia
last October at the ninth ASEAN Summit in Bali. The ASC is one of the
three pillars of the ASEAN Community, along with the ASEAN Economic
Community and the ASEAN Sociocultural Community.

The delegates to the conference may submit suggestions and inputs for
Indonesian officials to finalize the ASC draft and the establishment of a
regional peacekeeping arrangement.

The other ASEAN members have not yet endorsed the peacekeeping force
proposal, which is expected to be discussed formally in June at the ASEAN
Ministerial Meeting in Jakarta.

Hassan also said that a regional peacekeeping arrangement would not
exclude the possibility of participation from other international bodies
such as the UN.

"We can benefit greatly from the UN's vast experience in conflict
prevention, conflict resolution and peacebuilding," he said.

The cooperation between ASEAN and the UN, said Hassan, could and would
mutually strengthen the organizations and would be the beginning of a long
and fruitful partnership.

Meanwhile, Hadi Soesastro of the CSIS hailed the ASEAN peacekeeping force
plan, saying it would be more effective in resolving intra-regional
conflicts.

Currently, ASEAN member countries discuss security concerns on a bilateral
or a trilateral basis.

ASEAN's members are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar,
the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.


INTERNATIONAL
_____________________________________

Feb 25, The Age
Thai Regime Bullies Asylum Seekers, Rights Report Says

Singapore -- Thailand has been accused of violating international law by
forcibly repatriating thousands of Burmese who have fled their country's
military regime.

A report by the respected Human Rights Watch said the Thai Government was
systematically harassing and intimidating Burmese exiles to try to curry
favour with Burma.

It said about 400 Burmese being repatriated each month from an immigration
detention centre in Bangkok were being sent to a holding camp run by
Burmese military intelligence.

"Those whom the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has
recognised as refugees or asylum seekers are supposed to identify
themselves as such at the detention centre in order to avoid deportation,
but human rights workers fear that many people fall through the cracks,"
the report said.

Thai authorities announced plans in July to transfer all of the estimated
4000 Burmese refugees and asylum seekers in Bangkok and other urban areas
to border camps.

"The Thai Government is arresting and intimidating Burmese political
activists living in Bangkok and along the Thai-Burmese border, harassing
Burmese human rights and humanitarian groups, and deporting Burmese
refugees, asylum seekers and others with a genuine fear of persecution in
Burma," the report said.

Human Rights Watch condemned last month's decision by Thailand to suspend
the screening of new refugee applicants from Burma by the UNHCR.

"The decision - part of an apparent Government effort to forge friendships
with Burma's military rulers - has suddenly thrown thousands of Burmese
asylum seekers into legal and practical limbo," the report said.

It said refugee aid agencies and human rights groups had been flooded with
pleas from asylum seekers asking where they could go for protection.

"Thailand shouldn't be toughening its stance towards Burmese refugees when
there has been no improvement in the abysmal conditions causing them to
flee Burma," the executive director of HRW's Asia division, Brad Adams,
said. "Thailand should not allow commercial or diplomatic interests to
interfere with the ability of Burmese to seek safety in Thailand."

The report said continuing human rights violations in Burma included
forced labour, arrests for peaceful expression of political views, rape of
ethnic minority women and children by Government soldiers, conscription of
children and forced relocation of villages.

HRW said Thailand had begun a new campaign to deport thousands of the
estimated 1 million Burmese migrant workers in Thailand.

It said that under customary international law, Thailand was obliged not
to expel anyone to a country where their life or freedom was at risk.


OPINION / OTHER
_____________________________________

Feb 25, Mizzima
The Ugly Face of the Constructive Engagement Policy - Zin Linn

Ever since the dirty operation at Depayin on 30 May 2003 tried and failed
to remove Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi from her public role
as the voice of democracy in Burma, Senior-General Than Shwe has avoided
receiving any potentially critical foreign guests.

According to numerous eyewitness accounts and other damning evidence from
the scene of the crime, the attack in Depayin could only have been a
premeditated and highly organized conspiracy with connections to the top
echelons of power.  With fingers being pointed at Than Shwe, the General
has been backed into a very narrow corner.   He faces little choice but to
move one of his two knights to be the puppet premier of the junta. But
even this pressure has not changed the decision to go ahead with the
Junta’s sham national convention – an event that is fixed on formalising
the military taking of the lion’s share of any power sharing agreement. 
The Junta’s final goal is to ensure that the country’s head of the state
must always be male, Burmese and a general in mufti.

In other words, the Junta will never allow Aung San Suu Kyi, or a person
of non-Burmese ethnicity, to become head of state.  For that reason, the
patience that the people of Burma have with the ruling military Junta is
running very thin.  The people of Burma have been waiting for political
changes to occur through political dialogue for 15 long and frustrating
years.  Aung San Suu Kyi knows this very well because during her visits
throughout the country thousands of people showed up and voiced their
opinions on current issues ranging from ‘kitchen to constitution’. She
received overwhelming support for her dialogue politics approach and
non-violent means of engagement.

From the time that she first founded the National League for Democracy on
27 September 1988, Aung San Suu Kyi has openly and repeatedly called for
dialogue.  She has stressed that dialogue is the sole remedy to cure the
country's paralysis.  These calls have been ignored, with the military
regime showing no interest in dialogue or national reconciliation.  If the
SPDC truly believes in building up the welfare of the nation, it should
start by immediately taking a seat at the negotiation table together with
the NLD and ethnic leaders.

Nobody has been surprised that the Junta's decision-makers in Rangoon have
preferred to drag their feet away from round-table discussions at every
opportunity.  The generals' unwillingness to enter into political dialogue
is creating a hardening attitude towards democratisation in Burma. The
Junta's top three power-brokers know very well that neighbouring China,
India, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore will not support the western
sanction policy upon Burma.  Although the neighbouring countries' leaders
are claiming that the Western position will hurt ordinary Burmese people
rather than the Junta, their real opposition to sanctions is far less
altruistic.  These countries are primarily concerned with maintaining
their current economic gains from the exploitation of Burma’s natural
resources and other trade opportunities granted by the military ruled
country.  In the view of Burma’s neighbours, the continuation of the Junta
offers greater financial benefits than the uncertainty surrounding any
move towards a democratically elected government.

If this trend of poisoning the troubled waters continues, it is almost
certain that the process of political reconciliation in Burma will be
stalled for another decade.  Even though the United Nations, the United
States and the European Union have persistently called for the immediate
release of all political prisoners, the regime continues to ignore them
all.

The Junta's generals have been able to methodically cool down the domestic
situation in order to ease outside pressures and move towards a position
of political normalcy.  They have had some success in using the tactic of
drawing the international attention away from the threat of sanctions to a
process of constructive engagement.  As a result of cleverly engaging in
this delaying tactic, there is seldom any consensus among the
international community on how to approach the ‘Burma Issue’.  Even within
the domestic political scene, some organisations have changed their
attitude and become supporters of the military Junta.

With the backing of ASEAN and China, the SPDC's puppet Prime Minister
General Khin Nyunt is hoping that he can strengthen his authority within
the military ruling clique by accelerating the stalled dialogue with Aung
San Suu Kyi.  ASEAN leaders have consistently showed little sympathy
towards the opposition party leader or her role in helping transform Burma
into a democracy.  The present political situation in Burma has stagnated
as the Junta continues to completely ignore the will of the Burmese voters
following the 1990 general elections when the people cast votes
overwhelmingly in favour of the NLD and in support of democracy.  After 14
years, the SPDC has declared a new 'Roadmap' that supposedly covers a
transition leading to a discipline-flourishing democratic State.  Although
nobody knows when this will happen, 13 cease-fire groups have already
given strong support to Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt's road map for
the country.

Another intentional move by the Junta is to systematically fade out any
further release of political prisoners, tighten political freedom for
opposition parties and prevent genuine political dialogue.  The Junta's
formula is to ascertain that the political reform process is moving in a
sustained way, but at little more than a creeping pace.  The major tactic
here is to get the sham National Convention going as soon as possible. 
During the recent Bangkok Process, Foreign Minister Win Aung promised that
Burma would hold the National Convention in the near future.  He also
added that representatives of Burmese society, comprising ethnic
minorities, academics, intellectuals, workers, farmers and political
parties including the NLD, would be invited to send representatives to the
convention.  The pledge quickly gained support from the ASEAN countries
and China, although the participation of Aung San Suu Kyi and her party is
in a state of uncertainty.

The outcome is that Burmese people are very disappointed with ASEAN and
are hoping that the international community will increase their active
support for the democratisation process in Burma.  The Asian neighbours
have argued that the best way for change to occur in Burma is through
‘constructive engagement’.  But the people inside who are living and
struggling on a daily basis to bring democracy to Burma express no doubt
about the need for continued and stepped up international pressures to
bring about real political change in their country.  Burma's neighbours,
instead of increasingly engaging with the military regime, should firmly
support the democracy movement with words and actions.

The ugly face of the ASEAN leaders' ‘constructive engagement’ policy is
that their engagement favours only the military dictators, not the people
supporting democracy in Burma.  Although these leaders claim to represent
strong democratic nations, their stances show clearly what they really
have in their inner minds.  None of the ASEAN leaders face up to the fact
that the SPDC is merely a de facto government while the NLD is the party
elect.

While Amnesty International calls for the immediate and unconditional
release of all prisoners of conscience, the Junta continues applying
repressive legislation to criminalise freedom of expression and peaceful
association.  The latest example happened on 20 February 2004.  Six
students from Dagon University were sentenced to long-term jail terms on
the charges of having organised an illegal Students' Union and delivering
pamphlets criticising the Junta’s ‘Road Map”.

*  They join over 1500 political prisoners languishing in 39 prisons in
the military ruled country.

In brief, supporting the Junta's road map means encouraging the military
to commit greater human rights abuses throughout the country.  To help the
Burmese people, it is imperative that the UN, the US and the EU bring
concerted pressure reinforcing effective economic sanctions upon the
Junta.  Further economic assistance must be contingent upon the progress
of political dialogue with the NLD or the majority voters' party.

* The names of six students are Nandar Sit Aung (17 years imprisonment),
Zaw Lin Tun (17 years imprisonment), Kyaw Soe Moe (12 years imprisonment),
Lwin Ko Lat (7 years imprisonment), Kyaw Kyaw (7 years imprisonment) and
Han Win Aung (7 years imprisonment).
____________________________

Feb 25, Irrawaddy
Peace Talks: "I want to go home" - by Khaing Mar Kyaw Zaw and Saw Ehna

Seven years ago, Paw Paw (not her real name), a villager from Karen State,
Burma, endured a living hell.

Her husband, father, two brothers, an uncle and a family friend were
captured and killed by Burma Army troops when they tried to evade an order
to relocate from their village.

Paw Paw was sent to a relocation camp with her two daughters. But other
villagers feared talking to her as Burmese soldiers accused her of being
the wife of a Karen National Union, or KNU, soldier.

I hear little about the talks. I want peace. I want to go back to my
village. —Paw Paw

Fearing for her life, she fled to Thailand with one of her daughters. Now
aged 34, Paw Paw lives illegally in a Thai village. Her story is typical
of hundreds of thousands of Karens living either as internally displaced
persons still inside Burma, or as refugees in Thailand.

Karen State has been brutalized by more than five decades of civil war
between the insurgent KNU and a series of governments in
Rangoon—military-led since 1962.

According to the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Global IDP Project, The
Burmese regime’s counter-insurgency operation in Burma directly targets
civilians and has created a human rights situation that it describes as
"one of the worst in the world."

The Burmese Border Consortium, a humanitarian organization working with
displaced Burmese people, estimated in 2002 that there were over 200,000
internally displaced Karens due to the Burma Army’s relocation program.
Additionally, more than 100,000 Karen refugees were registered in Thailand
by the Karen Refugee Committee in January, 2004.

In order to resolve one of the world’s longest running civil wars, the KNU
has been holding peace talks with the regime. Currently a delegation is
meeting with government negotiators in Moulmein, about 160 kilometers
southeast of Rangoon, in a third round of peace talks.

"This round, we will talk to formalize the ceasefire," said David Taw,
chief of the KNU Foreign Department shortly before leaving for Moulmein.
"We will focus on the safe return of Karen villagers who were displaced in
the country to make sure they will not be killed, tortured, arrested and
forced to be laborers by the Burmese army."

"Then we will discuss how to support the returnees, to start their living,
because their villages were burnt down and destroyed," he said.

Paw Paw has received only scanty news about the negotiations and does not
properly understand them, but she does know what she wants them to
achieve. "I hear little about the talks," she said. "I want peace. I want
to go back to my village."

I very much want to go home. We stay in a country that is not our
birthplace. I want the KNU to get peace. —Pu Keh Poe

"I want to reunite with my family and see my daughter who is now eleven. I
am not happy in Thailand. It is not my home."

Like Paw Paw, the majority of Karen people forced from their homes or
affected by the conflict do not fully understand the peace talks.

"I hear different news of the peace talks on radio, from church and in the
community," said Naw Paw Htoo, aged 32, an intern at Mae La refugee camp,
Thailand. "I worry to go back. There are many landmines in the area."

"I very much want to go home," said Pu Keh Poe, aged 73, from Htam Hin
refugee camp. "We stay in a country that is not our birthplace. I want the
KNU to get peace."

Despite the talks, in January about 3,000 Karens in Papun district fled
their homes to the jungle because of Burmese military operations,
according to Hla Henry, secretary of the Committee for Internally
Displaced Karen People. "The fighting is still going on and forced labor
and portering is continuing," claimed Hla Henry.

Khaing Mar Kyaw Zaw is a Karen writer and Saw Ehna is an assistant editor
of the Karen language newspaper, Kwekalu.
____________________________

MEDIA RELEASE

Feb 25, Burma Campaign UK
UK ignores EU Burma sanctions

The UK and other European Union members are not fully implementing the EU
asset freeze on the Burmese regime. As a result total frozen assets could
be a meagre £57.

EU members have a joint policy on Burma, known as a 'common position'. In
2000 they agreed to freeze the assets of 'undertakings or entities
associated with the military regime'. However, the Bank of England list of
assets to be frozen only includes assets of
individual members of the regime, not any of the regime's companies or
associated undertakings.

Questioned by Conservative MP, Richard Spring, in a debate in the House of
Commons today, Foreign Office minister Mike O'Brien admitted that the UK
has not frozen any regime assets. During the debate MPs from all three
main political parties called on the government to impose tougher
sanctions on Burma.

"EU sanctions on Burma are weak enough as it is," said John Jackson,
Director of the Burma Campaign UK. "To find out that even these pathetic
measures are not being implemented is a disgrace. It is no surprise the
regime does not take EU threats seriously."

Failure to implement the sanctions will have given the regime time to move
any assets from the UK and other EU countries, rendering the measure
effectively meaningless. The Burma Campaign UK is only aware of one
government that has frozen any assets.  Germany has frozen 86 euros (£57).

EU foreign policy on Burma is now facing a crisis of credibility. If the
EU will not stand up to the regime in Burma, which massacres its own
people, uses rape as a weapon of war, forces thousands into slave labour
and has 1,400 political prisoners, when will it act? Only tough sanctions
on important sources of income, such as on gems and timber, will restore
EU credibility.

"Despite repeated calls from Aung San Suu Kyi, the EU has not imposed a
single sanction that has had any significant impact on the regimes
financial interests," says John Jackson. "It is time the EU banned gem and
timber imports, which earn the junta millions of pounds a year. Burma's
people are dying while the EU dithers."

NOTES TO EDITORS:

1. Despite strong rhetoric, the EU has only imposed very limited sanctions
on Burma. These include:A ban on arms sales: Impact: Minimal. EU arms
sales to Burma had already all but dried up.

A visa ban: Impact: None. The visa ban has been breached several times.
Being unable to visit the EU has had no visible impact on the behaviour of
the regime.

An asset freeze: Impact: None. The failure to fully implement the asset
freeze means total assets frozen Europe-wide could be just £57.

Withdrawal of trade privileges: Impact: Minimal: A welcome move, but The
EU has been one of Burma's biggest investors and trading partners, earning
the regime hundreds of millions of dollars.

2. In contrast to the EU, the United States has imposed tough economic
sanctions on Burma. These include a ban on new investment, an asset
freeze, a ban on Burmese imports, and a ban on financial transactions.

3. Failure by the EU to implement sanctions is undermining US sanctions.
Following implementation of financial sanctions by the US, the regime
switched from using US dollars to Euros. Swift - the international
financial technology co-operative controlled by most of the world's major
banks - is working with the regime to help it use euros so it can get
round US sanctions.

4. (EU Council of Foreign Ministers Conclusions June 2003) "In view of the
further deterioration of the political situation in Burma/Myanmar, in
particular the arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi and other senior NLD members and
the closure of NLD offices, the Council has decided to extend the scope of
the visa ban and assets freeze to include further members of the military
regime, the military and security forces, the military regime's economic
interests and other individuals, groups, undertakings or entities
associated with the military regime who formulate, implement or benefit
from policies that impede Burma/Myanmar's transition to democracy and
their families and associates."

For more information contact Mark Farmaner, Media Officer on 020 7324
4713, or John Jackson, Director of the Burma Campaign UK, on 020 7324
4712.
Mark Farmaner, Media and Campaigns Officer, Burma Campaign UK

E-mail mark.farmaner at burmacampaign.org.uk , www.burmacampaign.org.uk