BurmaNet News Jan 4, 2005

[Editor]

January 4, 2005, Issue # 2628

INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Opposition Called for the Release of Political Prisoners
AFP: At least 25 dissidents freed in Myanmar mass prisoner release: NLD
AFP: Hundreds of Myanmar fishermen likely killed by tsunami: UN
BBC Monitor: Democratic Voice of Burma says over 400 may be dead after
tsunami
SHAN: Tsunami quake kills two in Shan State

ON THE BORDER
Asian News.net: Myanmar is withholding true casualties figures, says Thai
priest

DRUGS
Xinhua: Myanmar exposes 266 drug cases in November 2004

REGIONAL
AP: Exile groups, scientists question Myanmar's low official death toll
from Asian tsunami
AFP: Satellite images show less damage to Myanmar than neighbours: Powell
Xinhua: India delivers relief to Andaman, Nicobar through Myanmar

______________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

January 4, Associated Press via Irrawaddy
Opposition Called for the Release of Political Prisoners

The main opposition party led by Aung San Suu Kyi marked Burma’s
Independence Day on Tuesday by urging the country’s military rulers to
free all political prisoners, while the junta used the occasion to tell
people to be loyal.

Burmese soldiers stand at attention during a ceremony to celebrate the
57th anniversary of independence from Britain Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2005 at
People’s Park in Rangoon, Burma.

The ruling generals released 5,588 detainees from various prisons on
Sunday ahead of the 57th anniversary of independence from British colonial
rule. Those freed included eight members of Suu Kyi’s party and nine other
political prisoners.

Among the prisoners released was a journalist, Zaw Thet Htwe, 38, who was
arrested in 2003 and sentenced to death after being convicted of high
treason. His sentence was later reduced to three years to life. It was not
immediately clear why he was released early.

In a statement to mark the anniversary, Suu Kyi’s National League for
Democracy, or NLD, urged the release of more than 130 party members still
in detention.

The junta Tuesday also released a statement heavy on nationalism that gave
no suggestion that more detainees would be freed.

“The nation was strong and developed when there was national unity and it
was weak and in backwardness when unity among the nationalities
disintegrated,” the statement by junta Chairman Sr-Gen Than Shwe said. “It
is the duty of the people to bear in their hearts (a) positive attitude
and to play an active part with the full sense of Union spirit.”

The impoverished nation's military rulers marked the day with a
flag-raising ceremony.
____________________________________

January 4, Agence France Presse
At least 25 dissidents freed in Myanmar mass prisoner release: NLD

At least 25 political prisoners have been released in military-ruled
Myanmar, the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party said
Tuesday, including two party MPs and three journalists.

NLD parliamentarians Ohno Kyaing and Kyaw Khin were released after serving
15 years and nine years in prison respectively, along with six other party
members, said a list released at the party's headquarters.

The NLD said three journalists were among 17 other dissidents freed
including sports reporter Zaw Thet Htwe who had already had a death
sentence commuted to life.

France-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) welcomed the release of
journalists Zaw Thet Htwe, Thein Tan and Aung Myint in a statement Tuesday
but called on the junta to "release nine other journalists, including the
most prominent of them, U Win Tin".

Those freed were among 5,588 inmates released Monday on what state radio
described as "humanitarian grounds" and in time for Tuesday's celebrations
to mark the country's independence from Britain 57 years ago.

The latest release brings to 19,906 the number of prisoners, mainly
believed to be petty criminals, whom authorities say they have set free
since November 18.

Some 400 NLD members celebrated independence day with diplomats from
countries including the US, Britain and Japan at its party headquarters in
Yangon Tuesday.

A source said this year's celebrations took on a sombre atmosphere as
those present held one minute of silence for the victims of the Asian
tsunami.

An NLD statement released at the event called on the junta to enter into
dialogue with "the political parties representing the people" and to
release all political prisoners, which the party estimates to be about
400, including 135 NLD members.

About 50 dissidents are believed to have been freed by the junta in the
three previous releases.

This week's gesture differs from the previous three mass releases. They
were due to what the junta described as "irregularities" in arrests by a
military intelligence organisation.

>From the beginning of the releases in November the junta has acknowledged
that the inmates may have been wrongly imprisoned by the powerful National
Intelligence Bureau.

The bureau was disbanded in October in a purge that saw its former head,
premier General Khin Nyunt, sacked and placed under house arrest for
corruption.

Khin Nyunt was seen as a pragmatist who favoured limited talks with Aung
San Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate currently under house arrest.

The military has ruled Myanmar since 1962 despite a landslide election
victory by the NLD in 1990 that was never recognised.

_____________________________________

January 4, Agence France Presse
Hundreds of Myanmar fishermen likely killed by tsunami: UN

Hundreds of fishermen were probably killed in Myanmar by Indian Ocean
killer waves, the World Food Program (WFP) said Tuesday, as Yangon put the
tsunami toll at 53 killed and 21 missing.

"We are afraid that hundreds of fishermen may have died," WFP spokesman
Simon Pluess told AFP.

"Some 30,000 people are in immediate need of shelter, food, drinking water
and medical drugs," he added.

Yangon made an appeal for international aid on December 30, four days
after the tsunami devastated Indian Ocean coastlines after initially
believing that the problem could be resolved by local means, said the
spokesman.

On Saturday, official Myanmar media reported that 53 people had died in
the waves in 17 fishing villages. Another 21 people were reported missing,
43 injured and 778 homeless.

A previous UN toll spoke of at least 90 dead on December 28. Damage by the
tsunami has been estimated at 53,000 dollars.

Myanmar borders Thailand where the tsunami killed nearly 5,200 people,
almost half of them foreign holidaymakers, according to the interior
ministry in Bangkok. It said 3,810 are missing.

On Tuesday, the number of people killed in the undersea earthquake and
giant waves that hit Indian Ocean shorelines on December 26 neared
146,000.

Myanmar's military junta rarely gives any figures on natural disasters
hitting the country which is among the least developed in the world.

Pluess said that a WFP evaluation team would on Tuesday assess damage in
the coastal region around Kawthaung which is among the hardest hit.

A similar mission last weekend inspected the Irrawaddy delta region where
10,000 people were found to be in urgent need of food.

The WFP coordinates UN relief actions in the region along with the
International Federation of the Red Cross.

____________________________________

January 4, BBC Monitor
Democratic Voice of Burma says over 400 may be dead after tsunami

Text of report by Burmese opposition radio Democratic Voice of Burma web
site on 3 January

The death toll from the tsunami waves that hit Burma on 26 December is
estimated to be at least over 400, according to reliable sources. Most of
those who lost their lives are Salon people who live in the sea and
fishermen from Irrawaddy Division. A person who does not want to be
identified and who visited Lampi Island where most Salon people live told
DVB (Democratic Voice of Burma) that almost 200 people were missing from
that island alone.

He said although the extent of damage on the island was not severe, almost
200 Salon people who went out to sea have not yet returned until now. All
Salon family members already assume that their missing relatives are dead.
They told the visitor that Salon people can withstand regular storms but
not Tsunami waves.

Another fishing schooner owner, who also does not wish to be identified,
said he saw destruction on other small islands. Fishing schooner owners
say most of the fishing boats that left Labutta, Bogale, Moulmeingyun,
Pyapon, Bassein, and other townships of Irrawaddy Division have not
returned until now and the missing boats could not be contacted.

A fishing schooner owner from Labutta who does not wish to be identified
said almost 100 small and large fishing boats have not returned yet. He
believed that the boats had sunk and crew members manning these boats had
died at sea. However, SPDC (State Peace and Development Council)
authorities in Irrawaddy Division are refusing to confirm the news until
now. We have learned that the tsunami waves caused damages on Tha Htay
Kyun casino resort for foreigners. In this connection, we contacted DVB
correspondent Maung Maung Hein in Ranong:

(Begin recording) (DVB) U Maung Maung Hein, we understand that the Tha
Htay Kyun Island was also hit by tsunami waves. What do you know about the
extent of destruction and casualties there?

(Maung Maung Hein) From the information in hand, we are not certain about
the casualty figures for foreigners and staff workers there. But, what we
know is that the water level rose above the swimming pool reserved for
foreigners and flowed into the bedrooms of the hotel. The water rose
knee-high and destroyed the furniture and other valuable property inside
the Tha Htay Kyun Hotel.

(DVB) U Maung Maung Hein, we understand that Salon people regularly come
to your area, so how is the situation on Salon islands?

(Maung Maung Hein) What we understand is that no one living on the islands
died but the Salon boats that went out to sea are still missing.

(DVB) I see. What sort of relief programmes are the authorities undertaking?

(Maung Maung Hein) Presently, we have only heard the news about Divisional
Commander Maj-Gen Ohn Myint inspecting the region. Until now, we have not
heard anything about the assistance rendered, or the casualty figures, or
the relief work they will be undertaking. (End of recording)

That was a report by DVB correspondent Maung Maung Hein.

Source: Democratic Voice of Burma web site, Oslo, in Burmese 1430 gmt 3
Jan 05

____________________________________

January 4, Shan News Agency
Tsunami quake kills two in Shan State

The 6.4 on Richter scale earthquake in southern Shan State that followed
its devastating forerunner in Indonesia on 26 December had centered in
Namzang township where two people were reported killed when their homes
collapsed, said a Shan elder in Taunggyi this morning.

"It had also torn down the umbrella from the town's pagoda," said the 58
year old resident of the state capital, 62 miles west of the epicenter.

Meanwhile, some buildings were reported to have crumbled in Langkher, 57
miles south of Namzarng, but no deaths were announced. Strong tremors were
also recorded in Loilem and Panglong, 15 miles and 21 miles respectively
west of Namzang.

Details, however, are still absent of Burma's share in the sufferings of
the world's most recent natural disaster that had left more than 150,000
dead and millions homeless in eleven Asian and African countries.

For further information, please contact S.H.A.N. at:

Shan Herald Agency for News, P.O. Box 15, Nonghoi P.O, Chiangmai 50007,
Thailand
e-mail: shan at cm.ksc.co.th

_____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

January 4, Asian News.net
Myanmar is withholding true casualties figures, says Thai priest

A missioner in Ranong, a town on the border between Thailand and Myanmar,
says locals talk about 600 victims. Burmese political dissidents say the
same.

Ranong (AsiaNews) – Exiles from Myanmar claim the figures of
tsunami-related deaths is high and that the Myanmar (formerly known as
Burma) is withholding the true number of casualties, this according to
Michael Geeraisak, a Thai missioner in Ranong, a town just a few
kilometres short of the Myanmar border,

Speaking to AsiaNews, Father Michael said his sources and information
relayed by Myanmar dissidents put the death toll at 600. Official figures
released by the military junta in the capital of Yangoon (formerly known
as Rangoon) say that only 90 people died.

“I spoke to some Burmese and they told many people died on the Burmese
islands”, Father Michael said. The islands in questions are the Mergui
archipelago off Myanmar’s southern coast.

“They couldn’t give me an exact figure, but they said there were many
victims”. The number of 600 dead, Father Michael said, came from a local
Thai newspaper.

“I am convinced that the Burmese government is hiding the real extent of
the disaster. What is sure is that Myanmar has many islands which were
right on the tsunami’s pathway”.

Based on information garnered inside the country, political dissidents
from Myanmar claim that the death toll ranges from “400 to 600”, that is
many more than what the junta in Yangon said.

“The military government has deployed large numbers of troops into the
areas and is not allowing people to speak about the damage," said Zin
Linn, a spokesman for the National Coalition Government of the Union of
Burma, an umbrella organisation for Myanmar dissidents.

What is more, the UN World Food Program said some 30,000 people are in
need of care in Myanmar.

The Red Cross is sending a delegation to the Mergui Islands to find out
what the situation is.

Ranong’s Stigmatine community, which runs a local parish and school with
1,500 pupils, is helping tsunami victims.

According to Father Michael, there is “a good arrangement between the
government, Buddhists and Christians” in distributing aid. “We are
providing food, water and clothing to about 200 displaced families,” he
said.

_____________________________________
DRUGS

January 4, 2005, Xinhua
Myanmar exposes 266 drug cases in November 2004

Myanmar exposed 266 narcotic-drug- related cases in November last year,
punishing 380 people in this connection, state-run newspaper The New Light
of Myanmar reported Tuesday.

During the month, the army, police and the customs seized 8.7 kilos of
heroin and 9.8 kilos of marijuana as well as more than 165,000 stimulant
tablets.

The authorities had charged 3,235 drug offenders in 2,336 related cases in
the first 10 months of last year.

According to official statistics, Myanmar saw a total of over 2, 760 drug
cases in 2003 and 3,848 people were arrested. Drug haul during the year
included 568 kilos heroin, 1,481 kilos opium, 85 kilos marijuana and 308
kilos ephedrine as well as 4 million stimulant tablets with seven opium
refineries being destroyed.

Meanwhile, during the poppy cultivation season this year, a total of 3,055
hectares of such plantations were destroyed.

Besides, there was 34 percent drop in poppy cultivation, registering over
30,000 hectares in 2004 and 39 percent decrease in opium production during
the year compared with 2003, according to a survey report for 2004 of
opium yield jointly conducted by Myanmar and the United States' Criminal
Narcotics Center (CNC).

Another ground survey on poppy cultivation, jointly conducted by Myanmar
and the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC), also show that
Myanmar's opium poppy cultivation area in Myanmar stood 44,240 hectares so
far in 2004, declining sharply by 29 percent from 2003 and 73 percent from
1996, while opium production was 370 tons so far this year, dropping by 54
percent compared with 2003.

Myanmar has been implementing a 15-year drug elimination plan ( 1999-2000
to 2013-2014) to totally wipe out drugs and the second five-year plan
beginning 2004-05 is underway.

With the successful establishment of drug-free zone in Shan state's Mongla
region in 1997 and the Kokang region in 2003, the Wa region in the same
state is targeted to follow suit by 2005.

_____________________________________
REGIONAL

January 4, Associated Press
Exile groups, scientists question Myanmar's low official death toll from
Asian tsunami – Paul Alexander

Even after looking at satellite photos of Myanmar, U.S. Secretary of State
Colin Powell said Tuesday he isn't sure what to make of claims by the
reclusive country's military junta that the Asian tsunami killed only 59
people there.

"I don't know whether to believe or not to believe them," he told a news
conference during a brief visit to Thailand, where more than 5,000 people
are confirmed dead and another 4,000 missing, just across the border from
Myanmar.

Aid agencies have said at least 90 were killed along Myanmar's southern
coast. Dissidents and exile groups claim the toll is in the hundreds,
perhaps even in the thousands.

The U.N. World Food Program says some 30,000 people need help in Myanmar,
also known as Burma.

"In the first stage, the Burmese government thought they could deal with
the problem themselves, but they revised their position. So our offer of
service has been accepted," said Simon Pluess, WFP'S Geneva-based
spokesman.

Powell said the photos appear to show that Myanmar wasn't hit as hard as
other countries. Aid agencies share that assessment - at least as far as
the mainland, where some groups have been allowed to send assessment
teams.

But the situation is much more unclear on the offshore islands. No one
outside Myanmar even knows how many people may live there, and the
government is sensitive about allowing access because it has military
bases in the south.

"One of the areas we are concerned about is ... the archipelago to the
west of the mainland coast," said Sean Healy, spokesman for Medicins Sans
Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) in Australia, pointing out that the
Andaman and Nicobar Islands, off India to the west, were devastated.

"That is the worst-case scenario," he said. "Until we go there, we're not
going to be sure."

The International Committee of the Red Cross and the Myanmar Red Cross
have hired boats and were to assess the islands on Tuesday and Wednesday,
ICRC spokesman Eros Bosisio said.

Nearly 150 Myanmar nationals living in New Delhi demonstrated Tuesday near
the Myanmar Embassy on the 57th anniversary of their Independence Day,
demanding the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other
political detainees and dialogue to restore democracy.

Former Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes, who led the
demonstration, accused the military regime of hiding tsunami damage.

"They can never be expected to tell the truth," he said.

Fernandes said he didn't know how many people have died there, "but the
figure is much more than what they are saying."

Zin Linn, spokesman for National Coalition Government of Union of Burma,
the umbrella organization for Myanmar dissidents and ethnic nationals,
claimed the death toll is 400 to 600.

"The military government has deployed large numbers of troops into the
areas and is not allowing people to speak about the damage," Zin Linn
said.

So Myint, the New Delhi-based editor of a Burmese pro-democracy Web site,
said the total could be as high as 5,000.

"There is no news of casualties from Coco Islands close to India's
Andamans and Nicobar Islands," So Myint said. "The government also says
the Margui region in Myanmar close to southern Thailand has escaped
damage. How can that be? More than 5,000 people have died in Thailand."

Exiled Burmese who live near the delta Irrawadi township estimate 400-500
dead in five towns alone - Busshin, Laputta, Bogalay, Pharporn and
Ngabudaw, and say Victoria Point also was hit badly. In Busshin and
Laputta, about 7,000 shanty houses were washed away and about 70 fishing
boats sank, they said.

However, Kyaw Kyaw Khai, who works at the 70-room Chaung Tha Bungalow
beach resort in Irrawadi, said everything was fine, with no dead or damage
where he works.

"We only felt shaking. Water receded from the beach for about one
kilometer (more than a half mile), and 10 minutes later, the water came up
to the beach at the normal level," he told The Associated Press by
telephone, adding that he had no information about the towns that the
exile groups say were hit badly.

A computer model of the tsunami suggests Myanmar could have been hit as
hard by the waves as nearby southern Thailand, said Steven Ward, a
research geophysicist at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

The model, however, has not been validated with real-world measurements,
he said.

Associated Press writers Sutin Wannabovorn in Bangkok, Meraiah Foley in
Sydney, Elaine Ganley in Paris, Alexander G. Higgins in Geneva, Michael
McDonough in London, Tini Tran in New Delhi and Matthew Fordahl in San
Jose contributed to this story.
_____________________________________

January 4, 2005, Agence France Presse
Satellite images show less damage to Myanmar than neighbours: Powell

Satellite images of isolated Myanmar's shoreline reveal it was not as
badly damaged by the deadly tsunami as other countries in the region, US
Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday.

While touring hard-hit areas in neighbouring Thailand, Powell said the
images showed the military-ruled country -- formerly known as Burma -- had
escaped the full brunt of the killer waves, but conceded information on
Myanmar was still sketchy.

"Examination of satellite photos taken earlier in the week suggests that
Burma was not hit as hard as other nations in the region," he said.

"It did not receive the same kind of damage as we received here in this
area or in other parts of the region," he added.

In Geneva the World Food Program announced that hundreds of fishermen from
Myanmar were likely killed by the tsunami.

"We are afraid that hundreds of fishermen may have died," said spokesman
Simon Pluess.

The ruling junta has put the country's death toll at 53, with 21 still
missing, 17 seaside fishing villages destroyed and some 778 people
homeless.

The United Nations children's fund UNICEF has said at least 90 people died.

_____________________________________

January 4, Xinhua
India delivers relief to Andaman, Nicobar through Myanmar

The Indian armed forces have launched its biggest peacetime relief
operations in the remote Andaman and Nicobar Islands through Myanmar, the
Indo-Asian News Service reported Tuesday.

For the first time in 15 years, Indian helicopters flew to Yangon, capital
of Myanmar, to make the shortest possible flight to Port Blair in the
tsunami-devastated Indian archipelago, Air Marshal S.K. Malik, deputy
chief of the Indian Air Force (IAF), told reporters here Tuesday.

Malik, who returned here after a two-day visit to the islands, said the
IAF revived the Myanmar route to reach the Andamans as it did not want to
transport the helicopters on its Il-76 aircraft, which were being used to
fly relief materials to the islands.

"Using the Il-76 to carry the helicopters would have hindered the movement
of relief equipment," he said, explaining that six helicopters stopped at
Yangon for refueling before making about an hour's flight to Port Blair.

"We spoke to the Myanmar authorities, who allowed the journey in the
backdrop of the natural calamity that struck the islands," Malik said.

Bilateral relations between New Delhi and Yangon have been warming up in
the last few years.

In October last year, Myanmar pledged that Yangon would not let Indian
rebels operate from its soil. Two months later, the Myanmar 's military
launched an operation against anti-India insurgent groups, said the
Indo-Asian News Service.

The IAF, however, has had to defer a training exercise following the
tsunami with its frontline Su-30 and Jaguar aircraft from the airbase on
the Car Nicobar Island in the Indian archipelago.

The exercise scheduled for Monday was put off since the runway at the
vital airbase had developed cracks due to the earthquake and to the
movement of the Il-76 heavy transport aircraft.

"It will take about a week to repair the runway but to rebuild other
infrastructure, it might take anywhere between a year or two, " said
Malik.

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which spread over a vast area of about
1,100 square kilometers, are the worst-hit areas in India in the
unprecedented tsunami disaster.

It was reported that the islands have witnessed the largest ever relief
effort made by the Indian central government in the past week.

The Home Ministry Sunday said the total deaths of the Indians killed in
the tsunami waves stood at 9,451 and that 5,511 people were still missing.