BurmaNet News, July 7, 2004

[Editor]

July 7, 2004, Issue # 2511


INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Iraq Through the Eyes of Burma’s Media
IPS: Real Magnitude of AIDS Hard to Tell, But Worries Rising
S.H.A.N.: Convention chair begs his way to "victory"
AP: Myanmar officials step up security on anniversary of university crackdown

ON THE BORDER
Mizzima: Burmese Studies Center to Be Set Up in Manipur

BUSINESS / MONEY
Mizzima: OIL to Double Gas Production with Burma’s Contribution

REGIONAL
AFP: Cambodia to refuse entry into ASEM until Myanmar allowed in: PM
IPS via Irrawaddy: AIDS catastrophe set to hit Asia, warns UN


INSIDE BURMA
______________________________________

July 7, Irrawaddy
Iraq Through the Eyes of Burma’s Media - Aung Lwin Oo

The image of the capture of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein caught
the attention of the world and, once again, his trial which began on July
1, draws him into the international spotlight. However, the fall of the
Iraqi strongman does not appear pleasing to the Burmese regime.

Although Burma’s newspapers cover the US-led occupation of Iraq, Saddam’s
ongoing trial has never been published or broadcast by the tightly
controlled media.

The government-owned New Light of Myanmar, an English-language daily
regularly runs 3-4 pages about the situation in Iraq while the some of the
Burmese vernacular press run full pages of photographs detailing the
ugliness of the US forces in the West Asian country. In addition,
criticism of the US occupation of Iraq get full coverage.

“Traditionally, our government is sensitive about news like riots,
defiance, coups and so on,” said Ludu Sein Win, a veteran Burmese
journalist in Rangoon who spoke to The Irrawaddy by telephone on
Wednesday. “It’s not the first time—the trial of the former Yugoslav
leader Slobodan Milosevic never appeared in the papers [either],” he
added.

All publications and media in Burma are subject to oversight by the Press
Scrutinization Board, or PSB, a department in the Ministry of the
Interior. In coverage of the situation in Iraq, journalists are allowed to
report only on news about conflicts and the defiance of the Iraqi
resistance.

The coverage is in line with an unwritten government policy to encourage
revolt against invaders—particularly the US—Ludu Sein Win claimed. Press
freedom watchdogs regularly pan the Burmese government’s abuse of the
press.

Freedom House, an international non-profit organization ranked Burma as
“worst of the worst” in its report, Freedom of the Press 2004: A Global
Survey of Media Independence which reviewed with 193 countries and was
released on April 28. Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontiers [Reporters
Without Borders] or RSF and the New York-based Committee to Protect
Journalists or CPJ are also critical of the lack of press freedom in
Burma.

______________________________________

July 7, Inter-Press Service
Real Magnitude of AIDS Hard to Tell, But Worries Rising - Larry Jagan

Lashio: Three young Burmese women sit quietly in the foyer of one of the
main tourist hotels here in this northern town in Burma. The youngest is
barely 13, and obviously very unhappy.

A few minutes later, a visiting Chinese businessman comes down to meet
them with his Burmese host, and the group goes out.

The three teenage women are 'escorts', often a euphemism for sex workers,
and the youngest in the group is possibly working for the first time.

”This is commonplace in any town on Burma's main transport routes,” a
Burmese resident tells me. ”Every hotel has an escort service,” he adds.

Lashio is a major commercial town in Burma's Shan state. It is situated on
the labyrinth of roads that connect the capital Rangoon, south of the
city, to China in the north and India in the west. Many buses, cars and
trucks use these roads.

”A woman is included in the price for a room in most of these hotels”
where travelers and drivers stop, said a Burmese driver who did not want
to identified. It is one example of how the movement of people in and
through places like Lashio, combined with risky sexual behaviour and a
lack of adequate information about the HIV/AIDS pandemic, help fuel the
spread of the disease.

Among the indicators of the HIV/AIDS pandemic - figures for Burma are an
issue of debate by themselves -- are estimates showing that more than
two-thirds of sex workers are HIV-positive and that HIV rates among
pregnant women were also high.

Two years ago, 17 percent of pregnant women in Lashio, who were tested
voluntarily by the local hospitals, were found to be HIV positive,
according to a local health official who wanted to remain anonymous.

International health experts say this level of infection appears to be
more consistent with the pandemics of Africa, where HIV prevalence rates
range from just over one percent to a high of more than 37 percent.

”The (Lashio) sample may be skewed as people offering themselves for
voluntary testing often have a greater fear they may be affected,” Dr Min
Thwe, the head of Burma's anti-AIDS campaign says an interview. ”It is not
a random sample,'' he says, cautioning against hasty generalisations.

But anecdotal evidence suggests that in Shan state at least, the pandemic
is of serious concern. ”The explosion of HIV/AIDS in Shan state is
frightening,” according to the U.S. AIDS expert, Dr Chris Beyrer.

He offers the estimate that more than 10 percent of adults are now HIV
positive. ”That's the worst ever incidence of the disease in the region,”
he says.

”It's on the level of that which hit northern Thailand a decade ago. The
difference then was that the Thai government recognised it and did
something about it, whereas the military junta are allowing this one to
rage out of control,” says Dr Beyrer.

There are some 330,000 adults and children living with HIV in Burma,
according to the just-released global HIV/AIDS report by the Joint United
Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

This is based on an estimated HIV prevalence rate - the estimated number
of adults with HIV at end-2003 - of 1.2 percent for Burma in the UNAIDS
report. It also says the range of rates can be from 0.6 to 2.2 percent.

Some U.N. officials believe that HIV prevalence rate is closer to around
four percent of the adult population.

As it is, Burma is already seen to have among the highest prevalence rates
in South-east Asia, together with Cambodia (2.6 percent) and Thailand (1.5
percent).

Development workers say there were many AIDS-related deaths here in Lashio
in the mid-nineties. ”Almost every week then, there was a funeral of
someone who had died from AIDS,” said a local Burmese development worker.

In northern Kachin state, there has also been a dramatic rise in the
number of people living with the pandemic. The rebel Kachin Independence
Organisation (KIO), which has signed a truce with the military regime in
Rangoon, says privately that the area is being devastated by the disease.

The former KIO leader Bran Seng, who died several years ago, once said in
an interview that he had entered into ceasefire negotiations with Burma's
military rulers for fear that HIV/AIDS was destroying the Kachin people.

”I realised that with AIDS there was a very real danger that we might
might win the battle (against the Burmese army), but lose the war (against
the disease),'' he had said.

Concerted efforts have been undertaken by the KIO, the Kachin Baptist
Church and international aid organisations, but development workers in the
state say AIDS orphans are becoming increasingly common.

”The growth of HIV/AIDS in areas of Kachin state is becoming increasingly
visible,” says a foreign expert who works in the area. ”There are
increasing cases of AIDS even in the remotest villages,” he adds.

But Burmese officials say they recognise the problem. ”We are doing
everything that we can, given our meagre resources,” says Dr Min Thwe,
Burma's leading anti-AIDS official.

”HIV/AIDS is a national cause,” Prime Minister Gen Khin Nyunt told the
English-language newspaper 'Myanmar Times' in early 2001. ”If we ignore
it, it will destroy entire races.”

Several government-supported campaigns have since been launched. There are
billboards in many urban centres, especially in the capital Rangoon,
warning people of the dangers of HIV/AIDS.

Last year, the prime minister opened a large exhibition in Rangoon
promoting measures to combat the spread of the disease.

The government has also had promotional activities including walkathons
and fun runs. More than 5,000 young people joined the last one on World
AIDS Day aimed at increasing their awareness of the dangers of the
disease.

But despite this new openness, critics say Burma's military rulers are
still in denial. Some insist that Burma's culture and religion, mainly
Buddhist, limits the spread of the disease.

”Another thing,” the deputy health minister Nay Oo lectures, ”we have the
religious teachings and traditional cultural values because Myanmar people
do not believe in premarital sex, and no extramarital sex - but we know
this is not enough.”

Most government officials dispute any HIV prevalence figures higher than
two percent of the population, but the head of the national AIDS programme
is far more frank.

”We think the estimated people living with HIV/AIDS from blood testing and
the reported cases to date are just the tip of the iceberg,” Dr Mynt Thwe
confides. ”We just don't know the actual magnitude of the problem.”

______________________________________

July 7, Shan Herald Agency for News
Convention chair begs his way to "victory"

The 13 ceasefire groups that had jointly submitted a paper finally
"decided  to give in" and "change the wordings" in their proposal,
following a two-day meeting with U Aung Toe, Chairman of National
Convention Convening Work Committee, who "almost went down to his knees"
to reconsider their demands, according to delegates from Shan State.

"He repeatedly said, 'I beg of you to rewrite it' citing the Convention
would drag on endlessly if we refused to heed his words," a delegate
recounted. "Now and then, he acted as if he would suddenly break down and
cry his heart out. It was a clear stand-off the first day. But we decided
to give in after he promised that our objections would be put on record."

The claims in question include that the states have legislative power and
that all residual powers rest with the states, among others, said another
delegate. As for more details, they simply said, "The rest will follow
after 9 July," when the Convention is expected to adjourn.

The delegates denied they had agreed to withdraw the 7-demands that were
opposed by the Convention's organizers.

"They were only rewritten, not withdrawn," insisted one.

Asked whether they had made the right decision in revising their proposal,
one admitted," I don't know. I guess that's for future history to decide.
But, if there is anybody who doesn't see eye to eye with us, please
remember that none of us here is an elected representative."

The majority of representatives elected in 1990 had chosen to stay out of
the National Convention that resumed on 17 May after an 8-year hiatus.

The National Convention Convening Work Committee, chaired by Chief Justice
U Aung Toe, is subsidiary to the National Convention Convening Commission,
chaired by Lt-Gen Thein Sein.

______________________________________

July 7, Associated Press
Myanmar officials step up security on anniversary of university crackdown

Myanmar officials tightened security in busy areas of the capital on
Wednesday, the anniversary of a 1962 crackdown on student protesters that
killed scores.

Policemen, plainclothes officers and neighborhood officials wearing blue
armbands reading "volunteer security" kept a high profile at busy
intersections in Yangon and at the Shwedagon pagoda, the Buddhist
country's most sacred landmark.

It is normal for the military government to step up security on the
anniversary of significant political events.

Wednesday was the 42nd anniversary of a bloody crackdown on students at
what was then called Rangoon University by the military regime of the late
Gen. Ne Win.

Ne Win, who seized power from an elected government on March 2, 1962, sent
armed troops to quell protests by students against restrictive university
regulations.

The operation culminated with troops blowing up the student union
building. The move established Ne Win's hard line toward political
dissent, a position he held until he was forced from power in 1988.

The military regime that succeeded him is slightly less authoritarian, but
also tolerates little dissent. Public demonstrations are extremely rare in
Myanmar and are usually the work of a handful of people who are quickly
arrested.

On May 30 this year, the junta detained nine youth members of Nobel
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's pro-democracy party for handing out leaflets
promoting human rights.

They had distributed the text of the United Nations' Universal Declaration
of Human Rights at markets and intersections to mark the anniversary of a
bloody 2003 attack on Suu Kyi and members of her National League for
Democracy.

The nine were released with a warning about a week later.

Security in the capital had already been stepped up, particularly in train
stations and the airport, since July 26, when three bombs exploded near
the capital's main railway station and four more unexploded bombs were
discovered. No one was injured by the explosions, which caused minor
damage. No group has taken responsibility for the bombs.


ON THE BORDER
______________________________________

July 7, Mizzima News
Burmese Studies Center to Be Set Up in Manipur - Nava Thakuria

Guwahati: A Burmese studies center is to be set up in Manipur, Burma
bordering state of Northeast India. The proposed center at Imphal, planned
by the Manipur University will provide the opportunity for the students of
the region to study about Burma.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) of India has already granted the
proposal.

"With an aim to bring the people of India and Burma emotionally, Manipur
University has decided to open the Burmese studies center, primarily for
the benefit of the students and scholars. UGC has approved the proposal
for opening a center," told the Manipur University registrar R.K. Ranjan
Singh, while interacting with the local media person.

Mr. Singh also added that the center would be inaugurated within this year
or in the early part of 2005. The funding would be provided by the UGC.

The Manipur University is celebrating its silver jubilee next year by June.

The present Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, while on his visit to
the border town Moreh almost a decade back, inaugurated the Indo-Burma
border trade point as the then Union Commerce Minister. Since then, Moreh
in Manipur (and Tamu in Burma) witness daily hectic trade activities.

Manipuri (Meitei), one of the richest communities in the cultural history
of India are however aware of Burmese culture, history, language since
long back. The center is supposed to increase awareness among the Indians
about the military ruling neighbouring country with facilitation of
necessary resources and materials relating to the history, culture and
languages of Burma.

The Moreh town near Manipur capital Imphal would be connected with Bagan
of Burma and Maesot in Thailand with the proposed Asian Super Highway
linking three countries namely India, Burma and Thailand.


BUSINESS / MONEY
______________________________________

July 7, Mizzima News
OIL to Double Gas Production with Burma’s Contribution - Nava Thakuria

Guwahati: Oil India Limited (OIL) has expected to double its gas sales
from North East India with the proposed transnational pipeline that will
ferry gas through the region to mainland India from Burma.

The chairman cum managing director of the government owned oil company, RK
Dutta has disclosed the plan on the occasion of OIL being upgraded To
Schedule ‘A’ company.

The first NE India based company to be honoured with the Schedule ‘A’
status, OIL recorded highest ever production and sale of Natural Gas
during the year 2003-04. The OIL would reportedly intensify its
exploration & development efforts in different frontier areas with its
primary focus on the NE India.

“We hope to double our gas sales from the North East India in the
foreseeable future. However a bigger objective is to create a gas grid in
the North East which will finally connect with the proposed transnational
pipeline that will ferry gas through the region to mainland India from the
A-1 discovery in Myanmar (Burma) and also the proposed gas line from
neighbouring Bangladesh,” told RK Dutta.

Highlighting the achievements of the company in the financial year
2003-2004, and the new initiatives and challenges in the current financial
year, Mr Dutta also added.

“OIL is in the process of investing around Rs. 5000 million in expanding
its existing pipeline to transport surplus product of the Assam Accord
Numaligarh Refinery in middle Assam to help the refinery in solving its
evacuation problem.

It is also planning to lay a gas pipeline from Duliajan to Guwahati Along
with Assam Gas Company. In addition to supplying gas to the refineries in
the region, additional gas available in the line will also help other
industries to develop in the region.

The Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises of India has
approved the schedule ‘A’ status to OIL in recognition of its performance
and various growth initiatives taken time to time. The Ministry of
Petroleum & Natural Gas of India put up the proposal.

The energetic executive, Mr Dutta also informs that the Assam based
company is also in the process of replacing its existing UHF communication
system with Optical Fibre based communication system in its 1157 kms long
trunk pipeline route.

After meeting the in-house requirement, the Optic Fibre Cable will have
sufficient spare capacity, which can be leased to other telecom service
providers. OIL has confirmed Government of Assam to supply its spare
capacity of Optical Cable Fibre for building the Assam State Wide Area
Network (ASWAN).


REGIONAL
______________________________________

July 7, Agence France Presse
Cambodia to refuse entry into ASEM until Myanmar allowed in: PM

Phnom Penh: Cambodia will refuse to join the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM)
unless the European Union also allows military-ruled Myanmar entry to the
biennial summit, Prime Minister Hun Sen said Wednesday.

The premier said it would stand alongside Myanmar to demonstrate a show of
unity among the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Some EU nations are opposed to military-ruled Myanmar's entry unless it
lifts restrictions on opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

But ASEAN has said it wants its newer members -- Cambodia, Laos and
Myanmar -- to be included in the summit, which is next slated for Hanoi in
October, to join in return for the participation of 10 new EU members, who
entered in May.

The demand had threatened the summit of heads of state or government until
last week when a compromise between the two sides was reached, the details
of which remain unclear.

"If Europe is allowed to include its new 10 members, ASEM needs to include
ASEAN's three members as well. We have to wait to join together," Hun Sen
told a conference opening.

"Before we thought that we had to go first, but now we will take a step
backwards ... if Cambodia or Laos goes first then ASEAN will face
difficulties," he said.

Cambodia's foreign minister complained last month he feared that the EU's
moves to keep Myanmar out would derail Cambodia's efforts to join the
grouping.

Hun Sen said the EU has included its own members "without saying anything
at all but they put conditions on Myanmar... How can we think that all of
Europe is good? Cambodia must make a sacrifice otherwise ASEAN will be
fractured."

While Cambodia did not support violating human rights, it would also not
interfere in another country's affairs, he said.

The EU is one of the fiercest critics of Myanmar's military, which has
ruled the country since 1962 and continues to keep democracy leader and
Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest.

In contrast, ASEAN has taken a much lower-profile stance in dealing with
member nation Myanmar, leading to accusations the group is soft on the
issue.

______________________________________

July 7, Inter Press Service via Irrawaddy
AIDS catastrophe set to hit Asia, warns UN - Marwaan Macan-Markar

With one in four new HIV cases being reported from Asia, the sprawling
continent is on the verge of being felled by an AIDS epidemic that would
dwarf the devastation wrought by the killer disease in Africa, experts
warned.

“Asia now is facing life and death choices when it comes to the epidemic,”
Kathleen Cravero, deputy executive director of the Joint United Nations
Programme on HIV/AIDS, orUNAIDS, said in Bangkok on Tuesday at the launch
of a global report on the pandemic.

If the region fails to implement effective prevention programmes, “we will
see an epidemic the likes of which we never imagined despite what has
happened in Africa,” she said.

By the end of 2003, Asia had an estimated 7.4 million people living with
the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, out of the 38 million adults and
children infected with the disease worldwide, the 2004 Report on the
Global AIDS Epidemic claimed. During that year, close to half a million
people are estimated to have died by the virus that causes AIDS, while 1.1
million people became newly infected, the 231-page report added.

Such a grim picture has been fed by the rapid increase in HIV infections
from two of Asia’s most populous countries—China and Indonesia—and nearby
Vietnam.

“In China, 10 million people may be infected with HIV by 2010 unless
effective action is taken,” the UNAIDS report warned, while in Indonesia
six of the country’s 31 provinces “are badly affected.” These three
country's are among the region's most populous, with China being home to
1.3 billion people, Indonesia having 203 million and Vietnam 77 million.

To compound that is the report’s remarks on India: it has “the largest
number of people living with HIV outside South Africa—estimated at 4.6
million in 2002.” Yet it is a picture that is deceptive and can result in
complacency, given the criteria used—percentage of population—to calculate
if a country’s HIV prevalence rate has reached a point to be deemed an
epidemic.

In this light, countries like China, India, and Indonesia appear
marginally affected when set against the high percentages in African
countries reeling under the AIDS epidemic. According to the UNAIDS report,
China and Indonesia have 0.1 percent of their populations aged between 15
and 49 years infected with HIV, as opposed to Botswana, which has 37.3
percent of the population infected with HIV, South Africa having 21.5
percent of HIV prevalence and Zimbabwe with 24.5 percent.

Of the Asian countries, only Cambodia, Thailand and Burma have the
percentages to be considered facing an AIDS epidemic, with Cambodia being
the worst affected with 2.6 percent of its population suffering from HIV
and Thailand with 1.5 percent. Such low percentages, though, cannot be
glossed over, asserted Cravero, as Asia is “potentially worse than Africa
because of the numbers.”

What are also setting the two continents apart are the factors that have
fueled the rapid spread of HIV. In Asia, injecting drug use has been a
major contributor, according to the report.

“Among injecting drug users, HIV prevalence is 35-80 percent in Xinjiang,
and 20 percent in Guangdong,” the report notes in reference to two
provinces in China.

HIV prevalence rate among Indonesia's 125,000-195,000 injecting drug users
“has increased three-fold—from 16 percent to 48 percent between 1999 and
2003,” the report stated. “In 2002 and 2003, HIV prevalence ranged from 66
percent to 93 percent among injecting drug users attending testing sites
in the capital city, Jakarta,” it added.

Furthermore, sex between men has also been identified as a reason for the
escalating HIV rates in Asia. “HIV transmission through sex between men is
a major cause for concern in many areas of India,” the report stated.

South Asian sex workers are also vulnerable to the spread of HIV, due to
low condom use by their male clients. In Bangladesh, the report noted,
“most of the men do not use condoms in their commercial sex encounters and
female sex workers report the lowest condom use in the region.”

Yet HIV/AIDS activists say that this reality will not change unless the
region’s governments pursue a more enlightened approach, particularly in
policies to bring those who inject drugs into the fold of AIDS prevention
and care.