BurmaNet News, June 17, 2004

[Editor]

June 17, 2004, Issue # 2498

INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Myanmar blames US sanctions for its poor record on human trafficking

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: Students flee burma in pursuit of education
Mizzima: Bannned rebel's activities increasing along India-Burma border

DRUGS
S.H.A.N.: Ex-farmers await UN rice

BUSINESS / MONEY
WMA: Panic Buying Follows Myanmar's Shock Import Tax Raise
AFX: Australia-listed Ivanhoe Mines to expand copper output in Myanmar,
Mongolia

ANNOUNCEMENT
OSI Burma Project (Chiang Mai) Seeking Administrative Intern


INSIDE BURMA
______________________________________

June 17, Agence France Presse
Myanmar blames US sanctions for its poor record on human trafficking

Yangon: Myanmar on Thursday took exception to a US report criticizing the
military-run state's poor record on human trafficking and blamed
Washington's tough economic sanctions for the problem.

The State Department's annual report on human trafficking put Myanmar
among the countries doing the least to combat the scourge, which sees
hundreds of thousands of people trafficked for forced labor, sexual
slavery and other forms of exploitation globally each year.

"The report failed to mention that the government of Myanmar is doing
everything it can possibly do to prevent and stop this trafficking," the
junta said in a statement.

"But the trade and economic sanctions imposed on Myanmar by the US
undermine our economy, taking away resources that could be used to fight
human trafficking effectively, help the victims and prevent potential
victims from being exploited."

In contrast, the US report said the regime's own economic policies were
fueling trafficking and responsible for Myanmar's listing in Tier 3, the
lowest category in the report.

"The military junta's economic mismanagement and its policy of using
forced labor are driving factors behind Burma's huge trafficking problem,"
it said, using the country's former name.

"The government of Burma does not fully comply with the minimum standards
for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts
to do so," it said.

In rejecting the report, Myanmar took a swipe at what it said was rampant
human trafficking and workplace abuse in the United States, charging that
a "huge sex trade and sweat shops" thrived there.

"It is unfortunate to realize that the US is merely putting all the blame
on others," it said.

"It not only refuses to directly shoulder its shared responsibility in
this war against trafficking in persons but indirectly promotes poverty
and unemployment by imposing sanctions on many developing countries,
creating the main cause for women and children in becoming easy prey for
human traffickers."

Myanmar's rejection of the report comes three days after the US House of
Representatives passed a resolution renewing a one-year ban on all imports
from Myanmar as part of sanctions for abuse of human rights and repression
of democratic opposition.

The resolution was adopted by an overwhelming vote of 373-2 and an
identical resolution introduced in the Senate is expected to be voted on
soon.

The administration of President George W. Bush has called for passage of
the resolution to pressure Yangon to hold talks with the opposition led by
Aung San Suu Kyi.

She is under house arrest and her National League for Democracy (NLD)
party's activities have been curtailed.

The NLD won overwhelmingly in Myanmar's 1990 elections, considered free
and fair by the international community, but was not allowed to govern.


ON THE BORDER
______________________________________

June 17, Irrawaddy
Students Flee Burma in Pursuit of Education - Anna Brown

A curious hush has fallen over the middle and high schools in Karenni
State, on Burma’s eastern border. The classrooms are full, yet the
teachers, employees of the Burmese government, refuse to teach. All day
Karenni students sit at their desks awaiting instruction, but none comes.

The work stoppage is just another front in the government’s ongoing war
against ethnic people, according a leader of the Karenni National
Progressive Party, or KNPP, an armed ethnic group still fighting the
Burmese military. They say the government is trying to further isolate the
marginalized Karenni people. After months of the silent treatment, Karenni
students have taken their schooling into their own hands.

Last month, about 100 Karenni teenagers said goodbye to their villages and
walked for 14 days through the jungle to Thailand to attend school—in
refugee camps.

“We need our education, we have a right to our education. The only way for
us to get it was to leave our families and come here to the refugee
camps,” said a 17-year-old boy in the tenth grade. All sources spoke on
the condition of anonymity.

For years the education system in Burma, run by the military government,
has been criticized by human rights organizations like Human Rights Watch
as inadequate. The situation is worse in ethnic minority areas, where the
government has led a years-long offensive against the local people,
burning down villages and often killing and torturing innocent civilians
according to local reports and international human rights monitors.

Usually ethnic minority families are too poor to pay high school fees in
Burma. Many families are in hiding, fleeing attacks from Burmese soldiers
and unable to even get to school.

Even for those who can attend the sorry state of schools in Karenni State
has become intolerable.

Some students said that new schools were built in their villages last year
but remain empty, with no teachers and no supplies. “They were just for
show,” explained an 18-year-old girl, now entering the tenth grade.

The students arrived in Thailand three weeks ago and are now attending
Karenni schools in refugee camps outside the city of Mae Hong Son. The
schools are run by the KNPP’s education department and are funded by the
Australian-based Jesuit Refugee Service.

The 21 students from central Karenni State have settled in Refugee Camp
One, several miles outside Mae Hong Son, and about 80 students from
southern Karenni State have moved into Mae Hong Son Camp Two. Now safe and
in school, it is clear that the students are still shaken from their
journey.

“We just hope to be someplace safe,” said a 16-year-old girl.

Asked if they were frightened on their trip, she and the other students
nod enthusiastically.

“It was terrifying, if we were caught or if we didn’t make it into
Thailand, then we didn’t know what the future would hold,” she said. “We
know that lots of families living in hiding in the jungles get caught and
they never see their sons or daughters again.”

With only the clothes she was wearing and a few days worth of rice this
young girl left her village in the direction of Thailand, following the
sun for navigation. For two days she walked alone, hiding from Burmese
soldiers, until she met up with 20 other students like herself. As a team
they walked together for two weeks before reaching Thailand.

She will be first person from her village to get an education above the
tenth grade, she says. She promises to return to her village, or wherever
the KNPP sends her, to impart her learning to other Karenni.

But returning to Burma could prove to be as difficult as leaving. If
caught sneaking back into their homeland, the students say they could face
imprisonment. If they do make it to their villages, their future still
remains dim.

Because of the ongoing war against etnhic minorities in Burma, there are
no jobs to return to in Karenni land, apart from selling fruit or flowers
in the streets. The Karenni people continue to be driven out of their
homes and into forced portering for the military. Under these conditions
it seems that a diploma would be useless, so why have these young people
risked their lives for a high school education?

“One day,” says a 17-year-old boy, “we will need jobs, we will need to
rebuild our communities. For this our people need education.”

For others, the pursuit of education is aimed at more immediate goals.
“The Karenni people need to be educated about our history before it
disappears,” said an organizer for the KNPP education department and the
newly formed Karenni Student Union. “We are a unique identity, an ethnic
group on verge of being wiped out entirely.”

On their long journey the students hid out for five days on the banks of
the Salween River while building a raft to shuttle themselves across. They
dreamt of Thailand. “I thought all the houses would be concrete and I
would be able to go to school everyday,” said one girl.

Life in the refugee camp is far from idyllic for these new arrivals, and
their new houses are not concrete. But for three weeks they have been
attending school. “I don’t even know how to hold all this information in
my head,” said one student.

“We’re doing this all on the hope that we can one day get back into our
homeland,” said another. “We’ll see.”

Anna Brown is a journalism student and an intern with The Irrawaddy.

______________________________________

June 13, Mizzima
Bannned rebel's activities increasing along India-Burma border - Surajit
Khaund

Assam Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi, today told reporters that the
activities of the banned United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) are
increasing along the Indo-Burma border.

"ULFA has strengthened it's relations with the National Socialist Council
of Nagalim-Issac Muiva (NSCN-IM) in bid to procure arms and ammunition.
Through these new relations, the ULFA has made a strong base in Burma," he
said.

Gogoi, addressing reporters in Assam's capital, Guwahati, said that
intelligence groups have gathered feedback from various sources that the
militant group has started to consolidate it's base in the bordering areas
of Burma.

The chief minister informed said he had already appraised the situation
with Minister for External Affairs, Natwar Singh, in relation to taking
stringent action on this issue.

The underground group has already stepped up operations in the Upper Assam
areas causing concern for the security forces. The security forces
operating in the areas are convinced that the ULFA is now entering India
from Burma to carry out subversive activities. Gogoi further said that the
state government would urge the Indian Home Ministry to seal the
Indo-Burma border to stop activities of ULFA.

"The new relations between the groups may cause damage in the state," he
added.


DRUGS
______________________________________

June 17, Shan Herald Agency for News
Ex-farmers await UN rice

Thousands of former poppy growers in Muse and Kokang are looking forward
to rice donations coming through the UN's World Food Program, reports
Hawkeye from northern Shan State:

In Mongkoe, a sub township of Muse, the Shan State's northernmost
district, where 80% of the farmers have been forced to quit their
traditional livelihood, many have turned to digging edible roots or, for
those more fortunate, maize corn, said a native of Mongkoe that comprises
six village tracts (tract=group of villages): Mongkoe, Mongya, Monghawm,
Mongzawn, Namzi and Mongpaw. "Some of us are even more unlucky," he told
S.H.A.N.. "They are being forced to grow two crops of paddy a year without
assistance, either financial or technical. And when their harvests turn
out poor, they are still expected to pay for the government's seeds."

Except for areas under the control of Kachin Democratic Army, a ceasefire
group, the poppy culture has become a risky businesses. "There are some
20,000 people waiting for the UN's rice," he said.

Another source, a native of Mongpaw, however, gave a slightly different
story. According to him, there are some 30 villages in Mongpaw tract: 15
Kachin, 7 Chinese, 5 Shans and 2-3 Lisu, and that since 2 June, World
Concern, an NGO active in the area, had distributed 1,000 baskets (1
basket = 53.33 liters) of unhusked paddy to some 20 villages. "The Shan
villages were not among the recipients," he said, "probably due to the
fact that they are lowland rice farmers."

World Concern, he was informed, had purchased the paddy at 3,000 kyat (3
yuan) per basket. "They told the farmers it was a loan, which they must
repay without interest after 3-years," he said.

The source could not say whether World Concern's distribution project is
part of the World Food Program's $ 3.7 million Emergency Food Assistance
Operation that began on 15 March. "Nobody here has ever heard of WFP," he
assured S.H.A.N..

In Kokang, where 60,000 people out of the estimated total population of
160,000 in the district have been earmarked for the year-long distribution
program, 1,500 tons of rice arrived in Laokai (Laukkai) on 8 June from
Lashio, according to a source close to ex-druglord Law Hsinghan. The
general situation, he said, was not different from other ex-poppy areas.
Like in Mongkoe, many are relying on edible roots or maize corn to
survive.

Peng Jiasheng, the Kokang leader, was reported to have threatened the
population last year with capital punishment for anyone who continued to
grow poppies in defiance of the opium ban. "As a result, except for those
who have access to Burmese units stationed in the district and take
necessary caution that their poppy fields are not visible from public
thoroughfare, no one dares to grow poppies anymore," he told S.H.A.N..

Nevertheless, it was later found out that the local people were reluctant
to receive any rice assistance at the beginning. "They told me how they
had to walk for several hours and waited for nights a few years back just
to collect 1 pay (3.33 liter) of rice for each number of the family," an
NGO employee recounted. "It wasn't worth the trouble, they said. One
farmer from Hsiaokai who had sworn never to accept anything from the
Burmese (government) beamed only after he was reassured the help coming
was not from Rangoon but from the UN."

There are some international agencies that have undertaken the
distribution task, according to him: UN Development Program (664
households), World Vision (69 households), ADRA-Adventist Development and
Relief (30 villages) Care Foundation and Japan International Cooperation
Agency.


BUSINESS / MONEY
______________________________________

June 17, World Markets Analysis
Panic Buying Follows Myanmar's Shock Import Tax Raise - Claire Innes

In a surprise move, the authorities imposed a 25% commercial tax on almost
all imports on 15 June. There was no warning of the move, and even a
government official admitted that he did not know why the authorities had
taken the decision. The move prompted panic buying, with consumers rushing
to buy goods in order to beat the price rises. Previously, tax on imports
was variable depending on the item, and ranged from 2.5% to 20%. According
to a Reuters report, a number of items are exempt, including medicines,
fertilizers and fuel. Exacerbating the situation, the authorities have
also announced that the manner in which duty is calculated has been
altered; a staggered rate of Kt100-Kt180: US$1 was used previously,
depending on the incoming good, but this has been replaced with a standard
rate of Kt450: US$1, further undermining the importers' position.

Significance: The move appears aimed at boosting the country's meagre
finances, while reducing pressure on foreign exchange reserves - currently
at critical lows - and consequently stabilising the beleaguered local
currency. However, the move highlights the ongoing deterioration in the
economy's position, subject to international sanctions.

______________________________________

June 17, AFX European Focus
Australia-listed Ivanhoe Mines to expand copper output in Myanmar, Mongolia

Sydney: Singapore-based Ivanhoe Mines Ltd said its Monywa joint-venture
copper project in Myanmar plans to lift output of premium priced LME grade
A copper cathode by 40 pct to a projected annual rate of 39,000 tonnes by
the third quarter of this year.

As well, Ivanhoe, listed on the Australian and Toronto stock exchanges, is
looking to lift copper output through the development of a new open-cut
copper/gold mine in Mongolia.

Ivanhoe deputy chairman Ed Flood said in a statement the 50/50 Monywa 
joint venture with state-owned Mining Enterprise No.1 has also initiated a
drilling program to explore high-grade copper structures recently
discovered during mining of the Sabetaung deposit, one of four copper
deposits at the Monywa project.

Flood said the increase in production is part of the project's original
development strategy, with a second phase projected to boost output to
50,000 tonnes, or 110 mln pounds annually once the stage one expansion has
been completed.

He said the expansion will be funded from cashflow generated by the Monywa
project.

"With copper prices having increased considerably over the past eight
months, the time is right to continue with the long-planned development of
this exceptional project," Flood said.

He said at current prices the mine is generating cash flow of 0.80-1.00
usd from each pound of copper.

Ivanhoe chairman Robert Friedland told a Melbourne Mining Club meeting on
Tuesday he expects copper to be the most keenly sought metal for the next
decade with demand underwritten by China's economic growth.

Friedland said global copper consumption is expected to exceed demand by
about 750,000 tonnes this year.

He said Ivanhoe is close to completing a bankable feasibility study on its
Oyu Tolgoi copper/gold project in Mongolia's Gobi Desert which is likely
to produce 50,000 tonnes of copper metal a year from 2006.

The project's reserves are estimated at 21 mln tonnes of copper and 20 mln
 ounces of gold.


ANNOUNCEMENT
______________________________________

Open Society Institute, Burma Project
Seeking Administrative Intern

Purpose: The intern would be responsible for assisting the office manager
with general administrative tasks such as filing, organizing the office
library,  accounting, research, inventory lists and data entry.

Ideal Person: This would be a good job for someone interested in working
in any kind of office or coordination position.

Location:	Burma Project Office, Chiang Mai

Job Description:
Assist with accounts
Update contact lists
Assist the office manager and Thailand Coordinator as required
Filing
Manage the small library
Conduct internet based research
Requirements:
Commit for three months
Have good written and spoken English
Have basic computer skills
Friendly, motivated, discreet and flexible
Be organized and methodical
Can work independently
Able to live alone

Benefits
On the job training
Transportation to Chiang Mai office
Food and accommodation provided
Medical expenses
Free computer and internet usage
Full use of the library

Stipend 	2,000 Baht per month

Application Deadline		June 30th 2004

Start Date			August 2nd 2004

To apply: Send your CV and a short letter explaining why you want to apply
and why you would be a good candidate to hsmaran at yahoo.com or to PO Box
223, CMU Post Office, Chiang Mai, 50202. Or Contact Htu San at 053 223 850
or 050377933