BurmaNet News Jan 12, 2005

[Editor]

January 12, 2005, Issue # 2634

INSIDE BURMA
VOA: Burma's Military Rulers to Restart Constitutional Convention Next Month
AP: U.S. peace activist complains of manhandling by Myanmar police

ON THE BORDER
BBC Monitor: Burmese troops attack Karen National Union military camp
Irrawaddy: Hundreds Flee Burma Border Fighting
S.H.A.N.: Border war gets in the way of tourism

BUSINESS / MONEY
Asia Pulse: India eyes more oil business in Myanmar

REGIONAL
AFP: 1.8 million foreigners live in Thailand:
Mizzima: Burma Campaigners Protest Trilateral Gas Meet
Irrawaddy: Criticism of Thai Media Accusations

OPINION / OTHER
World Markets Analysis: India Reaches Out to Neighbours over Energy Projects
Globe and Mail: Migrants becoming hidden victims of tsunamis

______________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

January 12, Voice of America
Burma's Military Rulers to Restart Constitutional Convention Next Month –
Ron Corben

Burma's military government says it will reconvene the constitutional
convention in mid-February. Critics maintain the convention will do little
to produce true political reform in Burma as long as opposition leader,
Aung San Suu Kyi, remains under house arrest.

The chairman Burma's constitutional convention, Lieutenant General Thein
Sein, announced Wednesday the political gathering would reopen February 17
after a seven-month break.

State-controlled media says the general also disclosed that armed ethnic
groups observing ceasefire would be allowed to attend.

The convention opened last May as part of the military government's
so-called democracy road map. The goal is to draft a new constitution and
prepare for elections.

Burma last held elections in 1990, but the military invalidated the
results when the opposition National League for Democracy, the NLD, won by
a landslide.

The international community and United Nations have expressed serious
doubts about the convention's credibility after tight restrictions were
placed on the more than 1,000 handpicked delegates in 2004.

The main opposition party, the NLD boycotted the convention after the
military refused to release party leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, from her
latest episode of house arrest.

Aung Zaw, editor of the Thai-based independent newspaper, The Irrawaddy,
says 2005 may prove to be a crucial year for Burma as it readies to assume
the post of chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN, in
2006.

"A lot of political analysts believe that this year is a make or break for
Burma because in 2006 the government will host the ASEAN summit and it is
important to show that Burma has achieved the political stability and its
own plan with the elections," said Aung Zaw.

Despite unusual public pressure from ASEAN, last year, the military
government removed the man it appointed to create the road map for
political transition. Prime Minister Khin Nyunt, who also headed military
intelligence, was quickly arrested for corruption and replaced by a
hardliner.

In addition, Rangoon ignored loud international calls to release NLD
leader Aung San Suu Kyi and instead extended her arrest for another year -
until late 2005.

____________________________________

January 12, Associated Press
U.S. peace activist complains of manhandling by Myanmar police

An 81-year-old American said Tuesday he was roughed up by police in
Myanmar and questioned for hours after staging a one-man protest against
the government.

Joseph Moynahan, a self-described veteran peace activist, spoke to the
Associated Press in Bangkok, Thailand, after being expelled by Myanmar
authorities following his short demonstration Friday in Yangon.

The Boston, Massachusetts native said he had a sign next to him which
read: "Buddha says, 'Quality of sidewalk and quality of government is same
thing.'" The capital's sidewalks, like much of its infrastructure, are
crumbling.

Moynahan said police attacked him, knocking him to the ground, injuring
his legs, before dragging him half a block to a police truck. He was taken
to a police station where he was questioned for three hours. Authorities
then locked him in his hotel room for a night before taking him to the
airport and putting him on a flight to Bangkok.

Witnesses in Yangon confirmed the protest occurred. Myanmar authorities do
not comment on such incidents and a U.S. diplomat declined to comment.

Moynahan is a supporter of Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
In Bangkok, he carried books about her and wore a T-shirt emblazoned with
her likeness, as well as a sign saying "No fear," which he said was
inspired by a collection of Suu Kyi's writings called "Freedom from Fear."

Suu Kyi's image is an icon of the pro-democracy movement, which is under
constant harassment by the government. Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi, under
house arrest at her Yangon home, has been detained without trial since May
2003.

Moynahan said he protested to help the children of Myanmar.

"I go into war zones and help children," he said. "It's important that
people know it's a dictatorship."

Public protests in Myanmar are rare, and those by foreigners even more so,
though not unprecedented.

Rachel Goldwyn of Britain was given a seven-year prison sentence for
shouting anti-government slogans in downtown Yangon in 1999, and
British-Australian national James Mawdsley was given a 17-year sentence
the same year for entering the country illegally and distributing
anti-government leaflets. Both were released early.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

January 12, BBC Monitor
Burmese troops attack Karen National Union military camp

Source: Irrawaddy web site, Bangkok, in English 11 Jan 05

Text of report by Aung Su Shin, carried in English by Thailand-based
Burmese exile publication Irrawaddy web site on 11 January

Mea Sot: Burma Army forces launched an assault Tuesday 11 January on a
Karen National Union (KNU) military camp in a border area opposite the
Umphang district of Thailand's Tak Province.

KNU Secretary-General Padoh Mahn Sha said the government forces approached
the Kalaw Waw camp of the KNU's Battalion 201 during Karen New Year
celebrations. Villagers fled, fearing an artillery attack.

"Hostilities are continuing," said Mahn Sha. The number of casualties was
not yet clear, he added.

Last year the Burma Army shelled a Karen New Year ceremony in Kaw Ka Reik
township, killing and injuring an unknown number of people leaving death
and injuries. An attack on the Battalion 17 area had preceded today's
action, said Mahn Sha - "but we haven't yet got a detailed report."

The Kalaw Waw camp attacked today is commanded by Saw Nerdah, a son of KNU
leader Gen Bo Mya, who negotiated a verbal cease-fire agreement with
former Prime Minister Gen Khin Nyunt during a visit to Rangoon one year
ago.

Burmese troops attacked Battalion 202 of Saw Nay Khaw, Gen Bo Mya's eldest
son, three months ago, and Battalion 203 of Saw Tu Lu, Gen Bo Mya's
youngest son, two months ago.

"I don't know why the SPDC State Peace and Development Council attacked
them," said Mahn Sha. "I think the SPDC aren't thinking of what they are
doing."

Since cease-fire talks between KNU and SPDC began one year ago there have
been many skirmishes between the forces of both sides in Karen State, each
side accusing the other of sparking the trouble.

The cease-fire talks that started in January 2004 came to a halt after Gen
Khin Nyunt was sacked last October. Government mediators contacted the
KNU's liaison office last month, but the KNU says no date for a resumption
of the talks was fixed.

____________________________________

January 12, Irrawaddy
Hundreds Flee Burma Border Fighting

Hundreds of Karen villagers in Burma have fled to Thailand to escape
fighting between Burma Army forces and Karen rebels, Thai officials
reported Wednesday.

Karen ethnic villager at the Thai-Burma border flee their homes after
Burmese troops raided a stronghold of its largest rebel group, the Karen
National Union, January 11, 2005.

Tuesday’s fighting broke out when Burmese Army forces attacked a military
camp of Karen National Union, or KNU, in a border area opposite Umphang
district in Thailand’s Tak province.

Three hundred and seventy Karen villagers fled to Thailand, and the
Umphang district administration office said they were now being cared for
by NGOs in the compound of a temple in Wah Khie Kho village.

Ten Burmese soldiers died in the clashes, a Thai security official said.
He added that six KNU soldiers were injured, and two are listed missing.

Seven Burma Army soldiers and a quantity of arms had been captured,
according to Padoh Mahn Sha, KNU Secretary-General.

Fighting between the Burma Army and the KNU forces had died down, and no
firing was heard Wednesday.

Thai security forces reportedly expect the Burma Army forces to regroup
and launch further attacks on the KNU within a few days.

Thai authorities had stepped up border security to safeguard Thai
territorial sovereignty, said an official who spoke on condition of
anonymity.

_____________________________________

January 12, Shan
Border war gets in the way of tourism

Some local authorities had tried to prevent reports of the ongoing
conflict right on the border in Maehongson from getting out fearing the
news would stop the holiday makers from visiting the province, according
to local sources.

"They were mad when some TV channels covered the engagement between the
Karenni and the Burma Army (on Doi Yamoo, 15 km west of Maehongson) and
villagers fleeing from the shellings," said a reporter who asked not be
named.  "They were afraid tourists who are coming to see the Padaung
long-necks would turn back instead."

Maehongson is known for the Padaung a.k.a Kayan tribe, whose chief
characteristic is the extraordinary neckband of brass coils worn by their
women.

"Thousands visit the Padaung each day," said another local reporter. "Most
of them, however, are Thais who, because of the Tsunami catastrophe, had
redirected their holiday destinations from the south to the north."

The 800-strong Burma Army and its allies that arrived on the border areas
opposite Maehongson since 24 December began shelling Karenni positions on
Doi Yamoo (Nyan Moo in Karenni) on 6 January. More than 10 mortar shells
fell inside Thai territory on the evening of 10 January when 168 villagers
of Mae Suay Oo of Phabong tract under HM Queen Sirikit's project were
forced to abandon their homes to seek refuge in neighboring villages.

_____________________________________
BUSINESS / MONEY

January 12, Asia Pulse
India eyes more oil business in Myanmar

India today sought more oil and gas blocks in Myanmar for exploration and
production. The country also expressed interest in upgrading a refinery
there, offering a US$20 million line of credit.

At a meeting with Myanmar Prime Minister Soe Win in Yangoon today,
Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar expressed "deep interest in
expanding (India's) participation in Myanmar's energy sector."

"He pointed out that this participation would encompass a full range of
energy interests, including onshore and offshore exploration, refining and
expansion of downstream capabilities," an official press release said
here.

Aiyar, who is in Yangon to hold trilateral meetings with Bangladesh and
Myanmar on the possibility of laying a natural gas pipeline from Myanmar
to India via Bangladesh, offered a US$20 million Line of Credit to upgrade
the Thanlyn refinery.

India's ONGC Videsh Ltd and GAIL (India) Ltd (BSE:GAIL) together hold 30
per cent interest in offshore A-1 and A-3 gas blocks.

"The Prime Minister welcomed India's participation in the development of
the energy sector in Myanmar and urged an active Indian role in the
development of the various petroleum and gas blocks onshore, offshore and
deepsea, that were on offer," it said.

Earlier, Aiyar discussed energy cooperation with Myanmar Energy Minister
Lun Thi.

The trilateral meeting on Myanmar-India gas pipeline, transporting the gas
reserves in blocks A-1 and A-3, would be held tomorrow.

_____________________________________
REGIONAL

January 12, Agence France Presse
1.8 million foreigners live in Thailand:

Some 1.8 million foreigners live in Thailand, nearly half of them migrant
workers from neighboring Myanmar, government officials said Wednesday in
the country's first accounting of the foreign-born population.

While all of those people have at least some rights in Thailand, they will
not necessarily be granted citizenship, General Winai Phattiyakul told
reporters after a meeting of the National Security Council on the subject.

"There are 1.8 million foreigners assigned status and rights in Thailand,
including migrant workers," said Winai, who is the council's secretary
general.

"This process is not about granting citizenship but identifying
foreigners' status," he said.

The National Security Council compiled existing data about foreigners
living in Thailand to create the first national accounting.

Some 1.28 million of the foreigners living here are migrant workers mainly
from Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia who are registered with authorities and
granted renewable one-year stays.

More than 850,000 of the migrant workers are from Myanmar.

Another 100,000 foreigners are political exiles or asylum-seekers who fear
persecution in their home countries. Some 120,000 of the foreigners are
displaced people living in camps on the Thai-Myanmar border.

Some 100,000 are people who have been granted refugee status and have
spent years in Thailand.

A group of 10,000 are so-called "hill people" from tribes who migrated
from China to the northern mountains of Thailand, but who have never been
granted citizenship.

_____________________________________

January 12, Mizzima
Burma Campaigners Protest Trilateral Gas Meet

In protest against the tri-state gas pipeline meeting to be held in
Burma's capital, Rangoon, an exiled Burmese campaign group has sent a
memorandum to the Indian embassy in Rangoon urging India to postpone the
extraction of Shwe natural gas from Burma until a democratically elected
government is installed.

The memorandum, dated January 9, urged the Indian Government to "postpone
the extraction of Shwe natural gas deposit until a time when the affected
people... can participate in the decisions about the use of their local
resources without fearing persecution".

Speaking to Mizzima News, Mr Kim, coordinator of the Shwe Gas Campaign
Committee (India), said that given past experience, the military regime in
Burma will implement the projects using force labour, forced relocation
and large military deployment to protect the gas pipeline. This will
result in rape and other human rights violations. Therefore, as a free and
democratic country, India should postpone this project.

Kim further said, "We want India to see the suffering that the project
will cause to the people of Burma. It's not that we do not want India to
have a relationship with Burma but we are simply asking India to wait
until Burma gains democracy".

Despite the protest, India, Burma and Bangladesh will hold a trilateral
meeting on January 12-13 in Rangoon to explore the possibilities of laying
natural gas pipelines from Burma to India via Bangladesh.

India last week has struck a 25-year deal to import 7.5 million tonnes of
liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Iran starting in 2009 but is still
looking for more fuel as demand is expected to rise to 400 million
standard cubic meters per day by 2025, from 90 million standard cubic
meters per day available now. Domestic production of fuel meets only half
of the demand.

Reportedly, Burma has agreed to supply gas to India. However, a bottleneck
in negotiations currently lies with Bangladesh as the proposed pipeline
would pass through Bangladesh.

Determined as it is, India is ready to import gas through the proposed
pipeline either by crossing Bangladesh or by-passing the country
altogether.

In 1990s, the Burmese military junta, in contract with transnational oil
companies, Unocal (US) and Total (France), constructed gas pipelines in
southern Burma.

The companies had also contracted the military junta to provide security
for the projects. Thus, the Burmese army engaged in a pattern of
systematic human rights abuses and environmental degradation to fulfil its
contractual responsibilities to Unocal and Total.

There have been reports of extra judicial killings, torture, rape, force
relocations, force labour and extortion by pipeline security forces.

According to analysts, gas reserves in the Shwe field are estimated to be
as much as 14 trillion cubic feet. Gas from Shwe field in block A-1 is
expected to be imported to India by 2009.

_____________________________________

January 12, Irrawaddy
Criticism of Thai Media Accusations - Punnisa Nimmanahaeminda

The coordinator of a Thai NGO on Wednesday spoke out against
sensationalist Thai media reports that Burmese gangs were looting areas of
southern Thailand affected by the tsunami.

“The media is presenting the alleged crimes of a small group which is
causing damage to them [the Burmese in Thailand] as a whole,” said Nassir
Achwarin, coordinator of the Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma,
who claimed that the reports were xenophobic in nature.

“Compared to looting by Thais, the number of the Burmese committing crimes
is insignificant,” said a Thai journalist who requested anonymity. “But
the Burmese are blamed because of their nationality. Prejudice towards
them has increased.”

On January 8 the mass circulation Thai newspaper Khao Sot carried a story
headlined Maung Thieves (maung is a Thai pejorative term for Burmese)
which claimed that at least a thousand Burmese looters on pickups were
stripping Khao Lak bare. Strangely, the paper claimed that the “Burmese”
looters had tricked local people into thinking they were southern Thais by
learning to speak fluent Southern Thai dialect (apparently in anticipation
of the tsunami).

The Khao Sot report was repeated on at least two television stations and
remarked on by at least one high profile TV pundit. NGOs fear that the
media reports may lead to more discrimination against Burmese tsunami
survivors in Thailand.

An assessment of the six southern provinces carried out by the TACDB
before the January 8 Khao Sot article found that Burmese tsunami survivors
in Thailand were often treated unfairly by officialdom.

Many legally registered Burmese workers lost their identification cards
and work registration papers in the tsunami. “The Burmese have no chance
to verify themselves because they have no identification with them
anymore, so they end up being deported to Burma,” said Nassir.

_____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

January 12, World Markets Analysis
India Reaches Out to Neighbours over Energy Projects - Mike Hurle

India is making overtures to its eastern neighbours in an effort to open
up oil and gas resources that could be crucial to its future energy
security.
WMRC Perspective: Significance

India is holding three-way talks with its eastern neighbours, Myanmar and
Bangladesh, in an attempt to extend oil and gas co-operation.

Implications
Myanmar has significant oil and gas potential but domestic production
capacity has dwindled to negligible levels, leaving it dependent on fuels
imported from either India, China or Thailand.
Outlook

Relations between India, Bangladesh and Myanmar are generally amicable but
have been hampered by occasional economic disputes, as well as by Indian
concerns over the expanding influence of China.

Regional Future Energy Security Focus of Three-Way Talks

Myanmar is hosting a three-way meeting with officials from India and
Bangladesh today to discuss oil and gas pipeline links between the
countries. India is seeking to open up its access to oil and gas fields
off Myanmar's Rahkine coast, following recent investments there by
national oil companies (NOCs) ONGC Videsh and the Gas Authority of India
Ltd (GAIL) (see Myanmar: 8 October 2004: Daewoo Sells Myanmar Stake to
Indian Oil Companies). In return, it is offering Myanmar deliveries of
fuel from its Numaligarh Refinery in the north-eastern Assam state.

During the first half of the 20th century, Myanmar (formerly Burma) was
one of the leading oil-producing nations in Asia, but after decades of
under-investment it is now heavily dependent on imports to meet its energy
needs. The government's pariah status among much of the international
community has created the space for regional NOCs, including Petronas of
Malaysia, PTTEP of Thailand, China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC),
ONGC and GAIL to all establish a presence in the country. All these
companies have seen in Myanmar opportunities to add to faltering domestic
reserves. Although Myanmar's oldest oilfields are located onshore in the
centre of the country, the main area of investor interest has been in
offshore gas fields. Nevertheless, these areas remain remote and will
require major investments and political co-operation before they can be
brought to market.

Political relations between the three countries are not in themselves
likely to be a hindrance. India has maintained generally sound relations
with both countries over the past two decades, even if they have been
undermined by sporadic issues, such as illegal immigration, the movements
of outlawed separatist groups and comments made by India's more militant
Hindu nationalist political parties. India's push to further relations
with Myanmar has taken off in the past three years, motivated by its wish
to keep Chinese interests in check, and also to open up land access to the
lucrative market of the Associatoin of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN),
which is set to become an increasingly integrated economic force in the
years ahead.

Today's meeting has already been preceded by the signing of a bilateral
memorandum of understanding (MOU) between India and Myanmar, to co-operate
on development of their petroleum sector. This has served to underline the
predicament of Bangladesh, which  itself, both literally and figuratively,
is stuck in the middle. While Bangladesh offers the most obvious route for
a pipeline to bring gas from the west of Myanmar to the Indian market, the
government has long resisted the idea of selling on its own gas resources
to India, on the basis that such resources should be preserved for the
country's own future economic development. Nevertheless it is sure to be
interested by the prospect of transit revenues and the possibility that
pipeline infrastructure could one day be used to export its own gas
production.

Outlook and Implications
Myanmar is one of the most obvious arenas for resource competition between
India and China, a fact that is, if anything, exacerbated by the
reluctance of Western (US and European) energy companies to invest there.
Today's meeting has also shown the important role held by Bangladesh, in
allowing India more direct access to gas resources in Myanmar. India has
already started improving infrastructure links to Myanmar through its
north-eastern states, but this would be too lengthy a route for oil or gas
pipelines. The clearer choice to be made is between an overland pipeline
running through Bangladesh, or a subsea pipeline, that may still breach
Bangadeshi territorial waters.

_____________________________________

January 12, The Globe and Mail
Migrants becoming hidden victims of tsunamis – Geoffrey York

BANGKOK -- In secret hideouts in the mountains of Thailand, hundreds of
fugitive migrants are holding religious ceremonies for the tsunami victims
who have been largely forgotten.

At least 700 migrant workers from Myanmar were killed when the tsunamis
hit Thailand, according to new estimates by human-rights workers who have
conducted the first detailed survey of the migrants since the disaster.

In death, as in life, the migrants are being treated with disdain by
officials of both countries. Most of the dead migrants lacked registration
papers and are not included in the official death toll of about 5,300 in
Thailand and 59 in Myanmar. The surviving migrants, who often lost
everything they owned, are unable to get relief assistance and have been
subjected to intensified harassment and arrest by the police.

About 60,000 migrant workers from Myanmar, previously known as Burma, live
in the Thai disaster zone. Having left their homeland because of desperate
poverty and the repression of a military dictatorship, many found jobs as
fishing-boat crew members or restaurant workers, but the largest number
were low-paid construction workers, providing manual labour to build new
luxury beachfront hotels.

When the giant waves hit, the migrants were particularly vulnerable. Many
sought shelter in the half-built shells of the new hotels.

"The walls collapsed and they died," said Aung Myo Min, director of the
Human Rights Education Institute of Burma, who is trying to help the
survivors.

Many of the surviving migrants have been arrested by Thai police. They are
accused of looting the homes and shops of Thai tsunami victims. To escape
the police, an estimated 1,000 migrants have fled in small groups to
secret locations in the mountains, in rubber plantations or abandoned
construction sites. They cannot even claim the bodies of their dead
relatives because of their fear of the authorities.

"They live in fear of arrest," Aung Myo Min said. "They're in a very
traumatized situation. . . .They are already traumatized by the tsunami,
and we cannot offer them any counselling."

Just yesterday afternoon, the police raided one mountain hideout and
arrested 20 migrants, he said.

Despite official promises that all victims would be given the same rights
and the same assistance, most of the migrants have not been registered as
legal residents of Thailand, and are therefore barred from getting
official relief, he said.

"The Burmese migrants are always treated as second-class citizens, always
looked down upon by the Thai people. They are ignored, neglected and
marginalized. This is the discrimination that they face. It's a violation
of their international rights."

>From talking to witnesses or surviving family, rights activists have
compiled a detailed list of 163 migrants who were killed by the tsunamis.
Based on this list and other research, the activists estimate that at
least 700 were killed. They say the migrants have secretly held four
Buddhist ceremonies in the mountains in memory of those who died.

About 600 survivors are now getting food and medical aid from the
activists. Many are increasingly vulnerable because they lost their legal
documents in the tsunamis. Some have tried to return to Myanmar, but in
many cases they are forced to seek shelter in a refugee camp near the
border, under armed guard, before they can eventually be allowed to cross
the border.

"We're extremely concerned by reports that their lack of legal status is
making it difficult or impossible for them to get the disaster relief they
desperately need," said a statement this week by the U.S. Committee for
Refugees and Immigrants.

Another group, the Canadian Friends of Burma, is trying to raise funds for
the migrants. "These people had a pretty tough time even before the
tsunami," said Shareef Korah, the group's executive director. "They don't
have any legal status, which could really hurt their access to medical
care and relief aid. It's a devastating blow to an already vulnerable
group."