BurmaNet News August 6, 2004

[Editor]

August 6, 2004, Issue # 2533

INSIDE BURMA
DVB: NLD petition campaign goes from strength to strength
DVB: U Htway Myint and some political prisoners’ conditions continue to
deteriorate
Xinhua: Five farmers murdered by anti-govt armed group in Myanmar: report
Narinjara News: Security tightened in Arakan as 8-8-88 anniversary nears
Narinjara News: Local's farms handed over to army families

DRUGS
Mizzima News: Misuse of Medicine Remains Illusive Killer

BUSINESS
Asia Pulse: India’s OVL-GAIL eye 50% state of Deawood in Myanmar Gas Block

REGIONAL
The Nation: Thailand unveils war on human trafficking
The Nation: Activists campaign to block Burma from chairing Asean

INSIDE BURMA
______________________________________

August 5, Democratic Voice of Burma
NLD petition campaign goes from strength to strength

The petition campaign of National League for Democracy (NLD) calling for
the release of all political prisoners including its leaders Daw Aung San
Suu Kyi and U Tin Oo, and the reopening of all NLD office throughout Burma
is going from strength to strength.

Former diplomat and a veteran politician Thakhin Chan Tun told DVB that
most people in Burma heard about the campaign through Burmese radio
stations abroad and they are keenly awaiting the opportunity to sign the
petition despite restrictions and harassments from the authorities.

He also persuaded the people of Burma to support and take part in the
campaign as it is also the campaign for their own freedom.

At some towns in central Burma including Pegu, Yenanggyaung and
Taundwingyi, even family members of the army officers and organisations of
the junta, State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) have been putting
signatures to the campaign.

The campaign is also warmly welcomed by exiled pro-democracy organisations
such as National Council of the Union of Burma (NCUB).

Its spokesman Phado David Thakabaw told DVB that the people of Burma need
to show their displeasure peacefully such at the trickeries and
oppressions of the junta.

U Bo Hla Tint of the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma
(NCGUB) also said the junta needs to know how much the people of Burma
want democracy and the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all political
prisoners.

A Burmese political analyst, U Aung Naing Oo said that the coming months
are going to be important ones politically and it is a great chance for
the NLD to ‘collect political water while it rains’.
______________________________________

August 6, Democratic Voice of Burma
U Htway Myint and some political prisoners’ conditions continue to
deteriorate

The health conditions of U Htway Myint, the vice-chairman of Democracy
Party who has been detained unlawfully with Act 10 (a) at the clinic of
Insein Jail in Rangoon is said to be deteriorating further.

>From the previous week, he has been unable to eat and the ICRC had to
visit him for treatments, according to his family members. When they went
to see him, his situation was so bad that he was not even in the condition
to speak.

Despite his serious condition, the military junta, State Peace and
Development Council (SPDC) neither shows the signs nor in the mood to
release him.

Katherine Gerson of London-based Amnesty International said that U Htway
Myint should be released on humanitarian ground as he is too ill and old
to survive the imprisonment.

Meanwhile, the junta recently decided to continue to detain two more
prisoners and elected representatives - Dr. Than Nyein and Dr. May Win
Myint with Act 10 (a) and the relatives and friends of other political
prisoners are worried that their loved ones could be subjected to similar
action when they are about to finish serving their old sentences.
______________________________________

August 6, Xinhua
Five farmers murdered by anti-govt armed group in Myanmar: report

Five farmers have been murdered by members of the Shan United
Revolutionary Army (SURA), an anti-government ethnic armed group, in
southern Shan state of Myanmar, state-owned newspaper The New Light of
Myanmar reported Friday.

The five were tied and shot dead with small arms by the group near a farm
hut on a mountain range, east of Metamonlong village in Namhsan township
on Aug. 1.

However, the SURA group spared the life of a woman who stayed with the
five by taking her to a place, southeast of the mountain range, and then
released her, the report said.

When the local army unit arrived at the scene, the bodies of the five were
found. The army unit is in hot pursuit of the group who committed the
murder, the report added.

The SURA, operating on the Myanmar-Thai border, is described by the
official report as "terrorist insurgents who are committing to various
forms of armed terrorism including disturbance of community peace,
murdering and torturing of innocent people and looting and robbery."

The Myanmar-Thai boder was once tense in May 2002 after a military
conflict flared up there when the SURA attacked four government outposts
which were first lost to the SURA. However, after 15-day battles with the
SURA, the government forces claimed to have re-occupied all of its lost
outposts.

Meanwhile, the government said a total of 17 anti-government armed groups
have made peace with it and returned to the legal fold since it introduced
a policy of national reconciliation in 1989, soon after it came to power
in late 1988.

However, it is reported that there are still over 10 such groups in
existence in the country as the Kayin National Union which is the largest,
Chin National Army, Arakan Liberation Party and Lahu Democratic Front and
so on.
______________________________________

August 6, Narinjara News
Security tightened in Arakan as 8-8-88 anniversary nears

Akyab: Military Western Command Authority has issued a directive to local
administration, to increase security in their respective town areas with
the anniversary of 8-8-88 approaching.

The directive was sent to the Burma Border Security Force (Nasaka),
Military Operation Planning Unite (Sabaka), Regional Military Supervision
Headquarters (Dhasaka) as well as local police forces, and state and
township level administration.

The directive was issued by the Military Western Command at end of July.

According to the directive, township level authority must inform Western
Commend Headquarters, by phone at least two times a day, of their area's
current situation. The Front Line Army Outpost and Battalion Headquarters
must also be in touch with the command by wireless radio at least 4 times
a day.

At Akyab University and several government high schools in Akyab, security
forces are not yet patrolling, but some intelligent informers are closely
watching the situation at all education centers in Akyab, said a student.

In previous years, as the anniversary of 8-8-88 approached, the security
forces had stationed at the Buragri compound, a famous Buddhist temple
near downtown Akyab, for better security.

Akyab is not the only area of the country to see tightened security
measures. The SPDC, (Burma's ruling military government), has increased
security everywhere in Burma as the opposition's important
indepence-related anniversary approaches.

The people's uprising in 1988 has become famous in many areas of the
world, as it ended the Myanmar Socialist Programme, the one party system
that was led by General Ne Win, who ruled Burma, with an iron fist, for
over 30 years.

______________________________________

August 6, Narinjara News
Local's farms handed over to army families

Ponna Gyunt, August 6: Farms recently confiscated by the army, from local
farmers in Ponna Gyunt Township, under the Akyab District, have been
allocated to army member's families, said an Arakanese monk, who wishes to
remain anonymous.

The families of men serving in the Light Infantry Battalion 555 Base in
Ponna Gyunt and the Light Infantry Battalion 374 Base in Pan Pe Chaung, of
Kyauk Taw Township, were each given 3 acres of the stolen land by the
local army officials.

"As far as I know, the Burmese army allocated three acres per family,
under a self-sufficiency program. Their intention is to give the farms to
the army member's families in place of their army ration. In the future,
if the Burmese authority doesn't provide rations to the families, they can
produce their own food on the new land," said the monk.

Army personnel get a monthly salary of 5000 kyat, as well as food rations,
including rice, peas, milk, sugar, chilly and candles from the government,
but these rations could be withheld in the future, since the families were
each given land to subsist off of.

The monk said that some army personnel, who were living in the camp,
could, themselves work on the given farms, while others who are serving on
the front line, could rent their farms to local farmers. In Arakan State,
the rental price of one acre of paddy field is about 50 baskets, the monk
added.

"It is like the Arakanese proverb, ' a paddy farm owner is being dried out
by a monkey'. These Arakanese farmers find themselves renting their own
land from army personnel. This present era, under the Burmese military
government, is a dark one for the Arakanese people," the monk said
angrily.

The SPDC, Burma's ruling military government, has also recently
confiscated, without compensation, over 3000 acres from farmers of
northern Ponna Gyunt Township, for a government teak-planting project. The
government authority is planting the trees at the foot of Bay Ngara Rang,
as well as other low hill areas, plateaus and animal grazing pastures, but
the remaining farms in the lower land areas, have been given to the army
families.

Currently, the government is only confiscating land in the northern part
of Ponna Gyunt Township, which is very close to Kyauk Taw Township. The
residents of Kyauk Taw are worried that a similar event will occur in
their area anyday, as there are at least 5 Burmese battalions stationed in
that township.


DRUGS
______________________________________

August 5, Mizzima News
Misuse of Medicine Remains Illusive Killer - Nava Thakuria

It is not heroin, normally smuggled from neighbouring Burma, but analgesic
capsule that remains the illusive killer in Mizoram in North East India.

Mizoram has witnessed over 950 drug-related deaths to date (since 1984),
of which only 47 were related to heroin, an excise narcotic squad record
reveals.

Over 800 cases were reported to be victims of the said capsule, which is
available in the market as Spasmo-proxyvon drugs. “Primarily the misuse
of the drugs, which is widely used as a painkiller, amplifies the volume
of the victims. The actual number of deaths due to drug-addiction would be
much higher than 950,” said Aizwal, an excise officer.

Moreover, many addicts had to be amputated due to injecting proxyvon in
their hands and legs.

The Spasmo-proxyvon remains the most common drugs abused by youths in
Mizoram since late Eighties. While, the analgesic capsule Spasmo-proxyvon
is meant for oral use, the drug addicts often use it intravenously by
dissolving it with water.

"This drug (Spasmo-proxyvon) is smuggled from Assam (Silchar) and those
are kept with some tainted pharmacists in Mizoram. Over 130 young Mizos
became victim of this drugs last year alone," claimed the excise official.

With Spasmo-proxyvon and heroin, the other common drugs abused in the
region include dendrite, cough syrup, ganja, diazepam, nitrosun, peptica
etc.

The revelation has confirmed that the misuse of Spasmo-proxyvon, which is
reported very destructive to the veins of the users, claims the highest
numbers of lives in Mizoram, not widely known heroin, which comes from
Burma.


BUSINESS
______________________________________

August 6, Asia Pulse
India’s OVL-GAIL eye 50% state of Deawood in Myanmar Gas Block

Indian gas major ONGC Videsh-GAIL India (BSE:GAIL) consortium, which holds
30 per cent interest in recently-discovered gas field in offshore Myanmar,
is eyeing 50 per cent stake of South Korea's Daewoo International
(KSE:047050) in an adjacent gas block.

A team of senior officials from GAIL and OVL visited Yangon earlier this
week to persuade the Myanmar government to allocate them half of Daewoo's
100 per cent holding in the A-3 Block, which was recently awarded to the
Korean firm.

Block A-3 is adjacent to Block A-1, where Daewoo-OVL-GAIL consortium had
made the Shew (gold) discovery that had initial estimated recoverable
reserves of between 4 trillion and 6 trillion cubic feet of gas and expect
to find a further 7-12 tcf.

"We are keen on a stake in A-3 Block as gas from the two blocks can be
tied to make transporting it in the form of liquefied natural gas by ships
to India economically attractive," senior government officials said.

New Delhi is considering liquefying natural gas found in Myanmar at 160
degrees and then shipping it in special tankers as it received lukewarm
response from Dhaka to the earlier proposal of laying a pipeline from
Myanmar to India via Bangladesh for transporting its share of gas in A-1.

"If our share from Myanmar is 10 million standard cubic meters per day,
then shipping the gas as LNG would become economically viable," the
officials said adding value-added products like C2/C3 and LPG can be
extracted at Myanmar port before shipping the lean gas.

Yangon has not yet responded on the matter.



REGIONAL
______________________________________

August 6, The Nation
Thailand unveils war on human trafficking

BANGKOK, Aug 6 (AFP) - Thailand announced a war on human trafficking
Friday, with Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra comparing those implicated
in the global scourge to murderers leading their victims to a life of
hell.

The campaign comes almost two months after the United States put Thailand
on a human trafficking watchlist for its failure to make progress in
stamping out the illegal trade.

"Human trafficking is cruel and equivalent to murder," said Thaksin,
describing how thousands of poor people in the Mekong sub-region were
being tricked into lives of virtual slavery by trafficking gangs.

"They (victims) are only seeing the heavenly tip of the iceberg, but the
hell part is much bigger," he said at a national conference on
trafficking.

The United Nations says up to one million people, mainly women, are
trafficked globally each year, generating some seven billion dollars in
annual profits for criminal gangs involved in the trade.

Thaksin pledged that Thailand would overhaul laws, create a special police
taskforce, improve protection for victims, boost preventative education,
forge greater local and international coordination and weed out corruption
among politicians and police.

"If border police are corrupt that is the end of the matter and this ...
is a waste of time," said a defiant Thaksin, adding that without effective
and transparent enforcement any move to toughen penalties would be
meaningless.

Thaksin said new legislation, yet to be signed into law, would more
clearly define human trafficking and separate traffickers from their
victims who are often reluctant to testify because of harsh treatment
under current laws.

Some 500 million baht (12 million US dollars) would be set aside to care
for and treat trafficking victims, he said.

Social Development Minister Sora-at Linparatoom said Thailand's role as a
country of destination, transit and origin of victims meant it was pivotal
to stemming the regional scourge.

"This government ... has declared war against human trafficking as
seriously as it did in its declaration of war against drug trafficking,"
said Sora-at, referring to a controversial narcotics crackdown which saw
more than 2,000 people killed.

The UN was highly critical of Thailand's drug war, but on Friday threw its
support firmly behind the new initiative.

"The response is pragmatic and focuses both on law enforcement and human
rights of victims," said the head of the UN's regional human trafficking
program Philip Robertson.

"First and foremost human trafficking is a human rights abuse and when we
talk about rights violations the first response should be to help the
victims, then we must focus on how to stop it from taking place," he said.

Robertson said the depth of the strategy would be the most crucial element
of its potential success.

"There is a recognition that it's not a problem that lends itself to
one-dimensional solutions and also that it's critical for Thailand to
cooperate with its neighbours and to better educate police," he said.

Thai police General Amnouy Phetsiri said better police training, coupled
with clearer laws targeting trafficking, would be a key factor in the new
strategy.

"They need to know how to work appropriately with victims who have
suffered physical and psychological harm," said Amnouy, adding that
officials are currently hamstrung because there is "no direct law or
definition on human trafficking."

Friday's announcement comes ahead of a regional pact to fight trafficking
that is expected to be signed between Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar,
Thailand and Vietnam when ministers meet in Yangon in October.
______________________________________

August 6, The Nation
Activists campaign to block Burma from chairing Asean

BANGKOK, Aug 6 (AFP) - Southeast-Asian human rights activists on Friday
slammed Burma as a "millstone around Asean's neck" and launched a campaign
to block the military-run state from chairing the regional grouping in
2006.

Burma, also called currently Myanmar, joined the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (Asean) in 1997 and is due to head the regional organisation
two years from now succeeding Malaysia.

But longstanding concerns over human rights, a lack of political reforms
and the continued detention of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi have
caused activists to pressure Asean leaders to disqualify Yangon from the
leadership role.

"It is increasingly obvious that the State Peace and Development Council
which rules Burma has lied and broken the promises it made to Asean about
economic and political reforms," 13 groups stated in a joint letter to
regional heads of government.

"The Burmese regime has become a millstone around Asean's neck by
perpetuating direct threats against regional security and jeopardising
Asean's credibility and relations with the international community."

The campaign was launched days ahead of the 37th anniversary of Asean,
which was founded in Bangkok on August 8, 1967.

The activist groups, including Forum Asia, Altsean Burma, and Burma
Campaign UK, highlighted concern over Burma's abuse of human rights
including sexual violence, torture and recruitment of child soldiers, the
mismanagement of the economy, and extensive drug production sanctioned by
the junta.

"We strongly doubt that all international leaders will be comfortable
attending high-level Asean meetings hosted by the brutal regime," the
letter stated.

A dispute has persisted this year over the participation of Burma in the
biennial Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) of heads of state or government,
planned for Hanoi in October.

The European Union has insisted that Burma be excluded from the talks, but
Asean has countered if Burma could not participate, neither could the EU's
10 new member nations that joined on May 1.

Diplomats have said the wrangling over the October 8-9 meeting would be
high on the agenda during a trip to Hanoi next week by Burma Prime
Minister General Khin Nyunt.