BurmaNet News Jan 11, 2005

[Editor]

January 11, 2005, Issue # 2633

INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Deputy Chief of UWSA Dies of a Heart Attack

ON THE BORDER
Reuters: Myanmar troops clash with rebels despite ceasefire
Irrawaddy: Thai security alert after border shelling

BUSINESS
Financial Times: India to open talks with Burma and Bangladesh on gas
pipeline
Xinhua: South Korean company readjusts business involvement in Myanmar
Mizzima: Burmese Food Popular in North East India

REGIONAL
Bangkok Post: Burmese receiving no help
Irrawaddy: Thai police net hundreds of Burmese migrants
Bangkok Post: Burmese toll could be higher
AFP: More than 220 foreign prisoners demand to be set free on India's
Andamans

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: Healing Hands to Burmese are Urgently Needed


______________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

January 11, Irrawaddy
Irrawaddy: Deputy Chief of UWSA Dies of a Heart Attack

Li Ziru, vice president of Burma’s largest armed ceasefire group, the
United Wa State Army, or UWSA, died of a heart attack at his Panghsang
headquarters on January 9. He is believed to have been 58 years old.

Li Ziru was born in Baoshan, Yunnan and joined the Communist Party of
Burma, or CPB, as a volunteer in 1968 where he was assigned to the party’s
special forces, which captured Panghsai in March 1970 from the Burma Army.
In 1975 he became political commissar of the 4045 Battalion. In 1980 Li
Ziru was named vice chief of staff of the Central Bureau forces. He became
an alternate member of the central committee during the third congress of
1985.

In April 1989 Li Ziru joined the mutiny that overthrew the geriatric
leadership of the CPB; the organization then fragmented along ethnic
lines. Li Ziru became one of the leaders of the biggest component of the
defunct rebel group, initially called the Burma National United Party,
later renamed the United Wa State Party. The group agreed a ceasefire with
Rangoon in 1989.

The UWSA, which might have as many as 20,000 troops under arms, is heavily
involved in heroin and amphetamines production. In addition to its base
area on the Chinese border, the group has since the late 1990s taken
control of another zone abutting the Thai border and moved settlers there.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

January 11, Reuters
Myanmar troops clash with rebels despite ceasefire

Mae Sot: Myanmar's largest rebel group, the Karen National Union, said on
Tuesday that 300 Myanmar troops raided its stronghold along the
Thai-Myanmar border, sparking the first clashes since their ceasefire 13
months ago.
KNU officials said Myanmar soldiers started bombarding their base about 20
km from the Thai border town of Umpang, on Tuesday.

The bodies of five Myanmar soldier were found after the fighting subsided
and seven surrendered to the Karen troops, rebel officials said without
giving details of their own casualties.

The KNU, which has been fighting for autonomy for the Karen people since
1949, a year after what was then called Burma became independent of
Britain, agreed to stop fighting in December 2003 but never signed a
ceasefire deal.

The deal was brokered by then Myanmar Prime Minister Khin Nyunt, who was
purged last October, prompting several of Myanmar's rebel groups to fear
for the ceasefires agreed with him.

"We are sorry the ceasefire has been broken by Burmese soldiers who never
keep their promises," KNU Colonel Nerda Mya, a son of KNU leader Bo Mya,
told Reuters by telephone.

"It was a pity that Khin Nyunt was sacked and his replacement, Soe Win, is
the destroyer of peace," he said.

____________________________________

January 11, Irrawaddy
Thai security alert after border shelling - Nandar Chann

Thai authorities have issued security alerts in Mae Hong Son province
following attacks Monday by forces commanded by the Burma Army on a border
military base of the Karenni National Progressive Party, or KNPP, local
and NGO sources reported Tuesday.

The KNNP claimed 50 artillery shells had been fired at its camp on the
Burmese side of the border. A further 10 shells landed on Thai territory,
it added.

The action was described as a “major battle” by Khu Oo Reh, joint
secretary of the KNPP. Thai authorities had never before issued a security
alert in this area, he said.

An NGO worker in Mae Hong Son said she and other NGOS had been warned
against visiting two Karenni refugee camps in the border region. “If we do
(visit) they said they can’t guarantee our safety.”

About 20,000 Karenni refugees are accommodated in the camps. They were
living “in terror” because of the attacks, said Alexander Pauk Pauk,
secretary of the Karenni Refugee Committee in Mae Hong Son.

The Burma Army troops were supported by forces of the Karenni
Nationalities People’s Liberation Front, or KNPLF, which signed a
ceasefire with the Rangoon regime in 1994.

In 1996, two refugee camps in Mae Hong Son province were attacked by
Burmese Army forces.

_____________________________________
BUSINESS / MONEY

January 11, Financial Times
India to open talks with Burma and Bangladesh on gas pipeline - Edward
Luce and Kevin Morrison

New Delhi and London: India will tomorrow open high-level talks with both
Burma and Bangladesh aimed at approving a multi-billion-dollar gas
pipeline to feed India's surging energy demand.

Agreeing to the talks amounts to a significant change of attitude by
Bangladesh, which has prevaricated for years over whether it would be
prepared to link its still untapped gas reserves to India by pipeline.

There has long been political resistance in Dhaka to exporting its most
valuable natural resource to its bigger neighbour.

But Mani Shankar Aiyar, India's minister for petroleum, told the Financial
Times that the three countries had reached the stage where practical
negotiations could proceed. Indian officials say Bangladesh's new interest
in the pipeline has partly been stimulated by India's improving ties with
Burma. If routed through Bangladesh, the pipeline would earn transit fees
for Dhaka while also offering it the option to sell its own gas to India
using the same infrastructure.

The Indian minister will hold talks with both countries in the Burmese
capital tomorrow. On Thursday, he will visit the country's offshore gas
field, which was partly discovered by Gas India Limited, India's
state-owned gas company.

The proposed pipeline could either cross Bangladesh or bypass the country
altogether. India, whose demand for gas is projected to surge to 400m
cubic metres a day by 2025, is also evaluating a submarine pipeline across
the Bay of Bengal, in case Bangladesh does not agree to the project.
Another costlier option would be to route the pipeline from Burma's
northern border through India's north-eastern state of Mizoram.

A pipeline could go a long way towards meeting India's growing energy
needs, though it remains unclear how large Burma's gas reserves will prove
to be.

Gas discoveries in the Shwe field in the Andaman Sea off Burma's coast
last year opened the possibility of exports to India.

But further drilling tests were needed in Burma's biggest offshore gas
field to assess its commercial potential, analysts said.

"More drilling will be done before any decision can be made on how the gas
can be transported to India," said Susan Mance, south-east Asia energy
analyst for Wood Mackenzie.

Analysts estimate gas reserves in the Shwe field of up to 14 trillion
cubic feet. Estimates for Bangladesh are also hazy, with net proven gas
reserves of 15 trillion cu ft, but the US Geological Survey estimated that
Bangladesh contains 32.1 trillion cu ft in additional "undiscovered
reserves".

India is also keen on the pipeline project for diplomatic reasons.

"This gas pipeline would greatly strengthen relations with a much
neglected country to the east of India (Burma)," said Mr Aiyar. "We are
expanding our domestic supplies of gas and our overseas sources of gas -
there is more than enough demand in India for both to expand greatly."

India's increasingly close ties to Burma's military junta are widely seen
as a belated attempt to emulate China's influence in Rangoon, which is
extensive, and includes a strong military element.

Although India and China enjoy more cordial relations than in the past,
many liken their competition for energy and influence in the region to the
19th century "Great Game" between Britain and Russia.

However, India believes it can strengthen relations with Burma without
antagonising China.

Mr Aiyar said: "I hope and believe India can have an economic presence in
Burma in the hydrocarbon sector (without jeopardising relations with
China)."

_____________________________________

January 11, Xinhua General News Service
South Korean company readjusts business involvement in Myanmar

Yangon: The Daewoo International of South Korea has readjusted its
business involvement in Myanmar by stopping its investment in electronic
equipment production in the country and concentrating on the new
investment in oil and gas sector, according to the local Flower News
journal Tuesday.

Quoting the Myanmar Federation of Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the
journal said the liquidation of the Myanmar-Daewoo Electronics Co Ltd
would not affect its other undertakings in the country such as oil and gas
exploration and development in collaboration with the Myanmar energy
authorities.

The Daewoo electronics stepped in Myanmar not long after the latter opened
to foreign investment in late 1988, working in cooperation with the
Ministry of Industry-2 under the basis of mutual benefit and undertaking
some production of TV, washing machine, refrigerator in the country.

In recent years, the Daewoo International has switched its engagement
mainly to the oil and gas sector having planned under a multi-national
production sharing contract involving another one S. Korean and two Indian
companies to build a liquified natural gas plant at a cost of 3 billion US
dollars to process gas from the Shwe area of block A-1 off Myanmar's
western Rakhine coast which holds a gas reserve of 4 to 6 trillion
cubic-feet (TCF) or 113.2 to 170 billion cubic-meters (BCM).

Meanwhile, starting later this year , the Daewoo will also conduct gas
exploration in another block known as block A-3 off the same Rakhine coast
which lies near Block A-1 under an agreement signed with Myanmar in
February last year.

According to official statistics, South Korea has so far poured an
investment of about 156 million US dollars since 1988 mainly in the sector
of manufacturing, garment industry, value- added wood products.

South Korea remains one of the top 10 trading partners of Myanmar with
over 150 million dollars of bilateral trade with the country in the fiscal
year 2003-04.

_____________________________________

January 11, Mizzima
Burmese Food Popular in North East India – Surajit Khaund

Three states of northeast India - Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland -
bordering Burma, are now more dependent on Burmese products, from
essential commodities to various Burmese food items now sold in markets in
these states.

Burmese potatoes, cabbage and herbs are available in the border markets.
The Burmese sell their products on the Indian side to get some money with
which they support their small families. Moreover, with the growing demand
for their products, Burmese farmers come to bordering areas of India so
they can earn something.

Pitha, which are made of rice, are widely used in the Indian amilies. "Not
only the food items, even vegetables, are sold in the markets as per
demand of the people," Laila Singh, a Manipuri trader, told this
correspondent today.

Laila said the quality of Burmese vegetables and other food products are
good, so the Indian people prefer them. "Burmese rice and vegetables have
a good demand in northeast India and we have a substantial amount of trade
with the Burmese people," he added.

Moreh, said to be one of the major trade points of northeast India with
Burma, has a special Burmese vegetable market in which traders come from
farflung areas to buy their goods. In the vegetable market Burmese
traditional foods are also sold by the women, who come from Tamu and
nearby villages to sell their products.

The trade is also more apparent in Longwa and Champha, in Nagaland and
Mizoram respectively. Burmese people come to the areas early in the
morning to sell their products. But in Longwa vegetables and rice are
exchanged for salt and medicines under the barter system. According to
local people, salt and medicines are very scarce in bordering areas of
Burma, hence people prefer the barter system. Commenting on the growing
market in northeast India, SN Singh, a leading social scientist, observed
that the new market has further strengthened bilateral relations among
Burmese and Indian people.

"There is no reason for panic as the poor Burmese villagers sell their
little produce," Singh said by telephone. According to him, India has a
long cultural and traditional relationship with Burma and, since the trade
agreement, has further cemented it as a healthy sign for any country. "I
think that now new trend of trade would benefit both Indian and Burmese
poor people to a large extent," he added.

_____________________________________
REGIONAL

January 11, Bangkok Post
Burmese receiving no help - Kultida Samabuddhi

They are being seen as ‘not worthy' of aid

Phangnga: While foreign tourists and Thais who survived the monster waves
have been provided with shelter, basic facilities and financial
assistance, hundreds of Burmese workers that are still alive and kicking
are being treated as if they don't even exist.

Forget about the 20,000-baht compensation for a Burmese death, 2,000-baht
in aid money for an unemployed Burmese, or receiving DNA checks to find
their missing relatives. Burmese workers can only think of finding food
and drinking water without being arrested and deported by the immigration
police who have stepped up their crackdown against them.

Thai villagers and police have accused many of the illegal Burmese workers
of theft and break-ins at tsunami-damaged hotels. Only Burmese with work
permits and those who were brought back for work by their employers are
not being branded as criminals. Auig, 25, a Burmese worker at the Ban Nam
Khem fishing village, said Burmese workers who had taken refuge in front
of the Takua Pa district office along with some Thai villagers to escape
the wrath of the tsunami, had mostly been rounded up by immigrantion
police for deportation. The ones who escaped arrest had fled the province
and taken refuge at a detention camp in Ranong. Auig and some 20 other
Burmese workers arrived from Koh Song in Burma by boat in Ban Nam Khem
five years ago in search of employment. Auig was employed as a helper by a
Thai fish vendor and received a monthly salary of 3,000 baht before the
tsunami devastation.

According to Auig, more than half of about the 2,000 Burmese workers in
Ban Nam Khem were missing.

He lost two elder brothers in the disaster and found the body of one and
handed it to a rescue party because he had no money to arrange a
cremation.

“We haven't received any help from the Thai Government, but it's fine. We
have no right to complain,'' Auig said, adding he could not go back to Ban
Nam Khem because his employer had also been killed by the waves along with
five of his family members. Thouse, 25, a Burmese worker from Ban Nam
Khem, said Burmese workers dared not go to Wat Yanyao to search for the
dead bodies of their relatives as they were afraid of being arrested.

The Burmese survivors fled in all directions after the tsunami
catastrophe, he said, adding some had even set up a camp in a deep jungle
on the high mountains. Others were arrested and deported to Burma, and the
rest presumed dead.

Meanwhile, a Burmese immigrant advocate called on the government to
provide humanitarian aid to alien labourers on par with Thais and foreign
tourists.

“Alien workers should not be a subject of discrimination under the
disaster relief scheme. These people are severely affected in the same way
as Thais and foreign tourists,'' said the activist, who asked for
anonymity. Jakkaphan Sareung, head of the Labour Ministry's illegal alien
workers suppression unit, said there were about 20,000 Burmese workers in
Phangnga. Of this, about 1,000 were deported after the disaster. “The
remaining are hiding in a deep jungle or have returned to their
employers,'' he said, adding the officers had deported only the permitless
workers and those who wanted to return home.

The ministry and the immigration police yesterday launched joint patrols
in Takua Pa District in response to Thai villagers' claim that Burmese
workers had been stealing food and valuables from the tsunami-hit hotels,
he said.

He urged employers to look after their Burmese workers well if they wanted
them to stop committing crimes.

“Many employers abandoned their workers after the disaster. However, the
authorities do not want to aggravate the situation further, so we will
just send the unemployed back without punishing the employers,'' he said.

_____________________________________

January 11, Irrawaddy
Thai police net hundreds of Burmese migrants - Kyaw Zwa Moe

Dozens of Burmese migrants are being arrested daily in southern Thailand
by police who say they are looking for looters, said NGO workers.

More than 600 Burmese migrants have so far been reportedly rounded up in
daily police sweeps through Thailand’s tsunami-ravaged southern Phang Nga
province, Htoo Chit, a Burmese NGO worker, said Tuesday.

Htoo Chit is co-ordinating relief work among Burmese migrants undertaken
by the Human Rights Education Institute of Burma, or HREIB.

He said 30 Burmese were arrested Monday alone in Khao Lak while hiding on
a construction site.

The HREIB recently reported that migrants had gone into hiding because
they feared arrest for failing to have papers allowing them to work and
stay in Thailand. Many migrants lost their papers in the tsunami.

Htoo Chit said among those arrested Monday was a mother of an 15-month-old
child. The woman, identified as Wai Zin, had suffered an abortion during
the tsunami.

“They are not thieves,” Htoo Chit said after interviewing the arrested
Burmese. “Look at Wai Zin. She is actually a victim, who was discharged
from hospital two days ago.”

Thai media recently quoted police officials saying seven of 27 suspected
looters arrested in the province were Burmese migrants.

Htoo Chit maintained some Burmese had been cheated by Thais who hired them
to carry looted goods for them.

There are an estimated 30,000 Burmese migrants are in Phang Nga.
Officially registered migrants in six southern Thai provinces, including
Ranong and Phuket, number 60,000.

Many of the arrested migrants are being taken to Ranong and repatriated to
Kawthaung in Burma, Htoo Chit said.

As of Jan 8, the HREIB office in Khao Lak, has documented 156 dead Burmese
and established contact with 560 migrant workers affected by the Tsunami
in Phuket and Phang Nga districts.

The HREIB estimated that the total number of Burmese killed by the tsunami
is between 700 and 1,000.

Thai official estimates put the number of casualties in Thailand at 5,291
dead and 3,616 missing. Most of the casualties were in Phang Nga, where
more than 4,000 people died and 2,100 are still missing.

The HREIB said an exact Burmese death toll could not be established
because of the lack of dental records, DNA material or other means of
identification. Migrants were also reluctant to identify dead relatives
for fear of being arrested by Thai police, the HREIB said.

_____________________________________

January 9, Bangkok Post
Burmese toll could be higher - Tul Pinkaew

While Burma's reported death toll from the Asian tsunami might be less
than 100, it may have lost many more people off the beaches of Thailand
who have not been identified by relatives for fear of being deported, said
the Law Society of Thailand.

"There are 60,000 registered Burmese workers plying their trade in the six
southern provinces hit by the destructive tidal wave," said Surapong
Kongchantuk, vice-chairman of the society's Subcommittee on Human Rights,
Ethnic Minorities, Stateless People, Migrant Workers and Displaced
Persons.

"Many have died in the natural disaster, but are still left lying in
Yanyao temple, a makeshift morgue, waiting for a relative or a friend to
take them home," he said.

But that will not happen anytime soon because most of those still alive
are on the run from the authorities and have taken refuge in the mountains
behind the once picturesque Khao Lak beach, Phangnga, said Mr Surapong.

Khao Lak beach, in Takua Pa district, was a thriving, new holiday town
before the tsunami devastation and is believed to have had many Burmese
migrant workers in the hotels and restaurants.

With migrants on the run, said Mr Surapong, it is more difficult for Thais
to identify their loved ones because both peoples look similar.

So far, 1,500 workers have been sent back to Burma. On Friday, another 500
were moved from Phangnga to Ranong, ready to be shipped off. The police
say the workers are the cause of thefts and break-ins at tsunami-damaged
hotels.

Immigration police commissioner Pol Lt-Gen Ammarin Niamsakul, however,
said registered workers whose employers were killed in the catastrophe
would be helped.

"It is hard to tell who is legal or illegal as these people have lost
their belongings in the traumatic incident or their work permits were
taken to the grave with their employers," he said.

Mr Surapong said the crimes are mostly committed by Thais. Out of 27
recent arrests for theft and break and entry, 20 were reportedly Thai
nationals.

The government, said Mr Surapong, has a legal duty to provide care,
comfort and medical assistance to everyone, and not pick and choose for
marketing purposes or to cut costs.

"Saving the life of a Burmese will not bring in more tourists or earn
worldwide admiration. You only get a sense of pride and pleasure," he
said.

By sending these people back, said Mr Surapong, employers will not have to
pay them compensation or take care of other social issues involving legal
migrants.

By applying this policy, the state is actually forcing migrant workers to
become criminals as another means of survival.

_____________________________________

January 11, Agence France Presse
More than 220 foreign prisoners demand to be set free on India's Andamans

Port Blair, India: India is holding prisoners from Bangladesh, Myanmar and
Sri Lanka in the tsunami-hit Andamans who have already served their
sentences because no one is claiming them, an island official said
Tuesday.

The prisoners, mainly fishermen caught in Indian territorial waters, have
spent the 12 days since tsunamis hit the archipelago in a primitive camp
with little water to drink.

Andaman's Judicial Secretary Anand Kumar Raha told AFP the confined
foreigners were being kept in "safe custody."

"It is a shelter for these men because they are foreigners and they may
come in harm's way if they are allowed to roam free. It is safe custody in
temporary shelter and we take a roll call everyday to ensure none are
lost," he said.

The bare-backed men with matted hair squatted on the ground behind a
barbed-wire fence looking desolately at a locked gate as soldiers with
fixed bayonets guarded them under a blazing sun.

"They are kept inside a barbed wire enclosure? Really? I must check," Raha
said, but admitted a group has filed a case in India's Supreme Court
questioning the administration's right to hold people who have served
their full sentence.

The prison-house lies secluded in lush hills outside Port Blair and
currently holds 227 Myanmarese, one Sri Lankan and one Bangladeshi.

Five Indonesians who were pushed into Indian waters by the tsunamis were
held in the facility for two days but released when their plight was
highlighted by international media.

"They have finished their full term in the main prison but because they
are foreigners they cannot leave unless their embassies take them away,"
prison guard Jagdish Srivastav said.

"But now that the countries of their origin are themselves grappling with
post-tsunami work we don't know when these poor sods can leave," said
Srivastav, swinging a stout baton.

Inmates of the controversial jail had their own questions.

"What about us?" asked Guruswamy, detained since 1997 when he boarded a
cargo ship in Colombo as stowaway to escape Sri Lanka's ethnic war.

He says he was set adrift in mid-sea on a wooden plank and three days
later washed ashore on Andaman's Campbell Bay island.

Guruswamy, from Kilinochchi district, says he completed his sentence five
years ago and wants to be set free.

"Am I to waste my youth here? Officials say I can leave only in a
bodybag," said the 25-year-old, labelled by guards as a "spy" sent to
India by Sri Lanka's rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

Mohammad Salim from Myanmar strayed into Indian waters with an illegal
catch on January 14, 2004 and was sentenced to six months in prison by a
Indian court in Andamans.

"Earlier our embassy used to send planes once a month to pick up some of
us but now my country is battling to clean up the mess left behind by the
tsunamis so we don't know what will happen to us," said 22-year-old Salim.

Compatriot Tanshi too strayed into Indian waters from nearby Myanmar and
completed his sentence in July 2003.

"My wife has died and I don't know what happened to my four kids. Oh, I
miss them so much," the 45-year-old man said.

_____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

January 11, Irrawaddy
Healing Hands to Burmese are Urgently Needed

In the wake of tsunami, Thailand was praised for the assistance it has
offered to tsunami victims—both foreign and local. The kingdom earned
kudos for its Nam Jai (generosity). But recently, disturbing news has
emerged from Thailand’s western seaboard disaster zone that Burmese
migrant workers there are being treated as criminals.

Both Thai and Burmese human rights groups monitoring the situation in
southern Thailand claim that Burmese migrant workers to the country that
were left destitute by the tsunami are receiving little help. Instead they
are in some cases harassed by the authorities.

Thai police and immigration officials claim that Burmese nationals have
been looting areas hit by the disaster, thus a crackdown on Burmese
migrants is justified. A Burmese human rights group, Human Rights
Education Institute of Burma, or HREIB, recently released a report on
situation: “The Thai authorities have on a number of occasions used this
issue to justify the arrest of Burmese migrant workers.”

The 60,000-odd Burmese legally registered to work in Thailand’s six
western seaboard provinces were employed on fishing boats, as agricultural
and building site labor and in the hospitality industry (an unknown number
of Burmese also worked in the six provinces illegally). Many Burmese
legally registered in the area hit by the tsunami have lost their papers
so have no proof of their status, so are routinely denied assistance and
are often treated as illegal aliens by the authorities.

The official crackdown has been compounded by some irresponsible media
reports from Bangkok. On January 8, Khao Sod a daily Thai language mass
circulation newspaper ran a hysterical article on Burmese looters. The
headline of the story included the word Maung, a pejorative term for
Burmese in the Thai language.

Khao Sod reported that the police had set up a special taskforce to arrest
Burmese thieves that were roaming the Khao Lak area and that 500 Burmese
had been sent to a detention center in Ranong. Alarmingly, prominent Thai
political commentator Sorrayuth Suthasanajinda made comments along the
same lines about Burmese looters on his Channel 9 TV show.

It is possible that a few Burmese might have committed petty crimes, but
there are also reports of Thais looting areas hit by the tsunami. Sadly,
there is little media coverage on the plight of the Burmese victims of the
disaster in Thailand. In the aftermath of the tsunami, Thailand will again
need these Burmese migrant workers as cheap labor in the clean up and
rebuilding effort.

Without faulting the manner in which Thais have treated foreigners from
other countries in the wake of this disaster, in the case of Burmese
migrant workers, Nam Jai has been sorely lacking—particularly on the part
of the authorities and some sections of the media.