BurmaNet News, February 26-28, 2005

[Editor]

February 26-28, 2005 Issue # 2664

INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Shan leader’s trial underway
AFP: Myanmar's constitutional talks break for weekend
Irrawaddy: New Light, New Location
Irrawaddy: Khin Nyunt’s crumbling legacy
AFP: Whale, dolphin count underway in Myanmar

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: Another parallel government rumored

REGIONAL
AFP: US concerned over "exclusive" nature of upcoming East Asian summit
AFP: Illegal immigrants seek UN protection ahead of crackdown in Malaysia
Kaladan: Tri-nations Gas Pipeline will be a Risk for National Security
Irrawaddy: Migrant workers given back permits

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: US slams China, Myanmar among others in Asia for rights violations
AFP: Myanmar's dissidents plot strategy as junta holds charter

______________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

February 27, Irrawaddy
Shan leader’s trial underway - Aung Lwin Oo

At least nine ethnic Shan politicians arrested in early February are to be
charged Tuesday, according to a senior ethnic leader. They are expected to
face charges of treason—with a maximum life sentence—and defamation of the
state.

Those arrested include Hkun Htun Oo and Sai Nyunt Lwin, chairman and
general-secretary of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, or SNLD,
and Maj-Gen Sao Hso Ten, president of the Shan State Peace Council. They 
are to be tried tomorrow in Insein Prison, on the outskirts Rangoon, said
Fu Cin Sian Thang, a member of the Shan Committee Representing the
People’s Parliament, which is closely allied to the SNLD.

“In my view, they didn’t commit any crime,” he added. “But I still think
they will definitely be imprisoned.”

Aung Thein, a legal expert from the leading opposition National League for
Democracy, or NLD, said Monday that family members of Hkun Htun Oo and Sai
Nyunt Lwin have sought legal assistance from him. A four-member NLD legal
team will provide legal aid.

Several ethnic Shan leaders were arrested on the eve of the reconvening of
the regime’s constitution-drafting National Convention on February 17.
Others arrested included 82-year-old Shan politician Shwe Ohn, as well as
Sao Hso Ten, Hkun Htun Oo, and Sai Nyunt Lwin.

Although the real reason for the arrests is unknown, it is thought to be
linked to a meeting between opposition and ethnic leaders held in Shan
State in early February. Shan delegates from the Shan State Army (North)
and the Shan State Nationalities Army who attended the previous session of
the National Convention boycotted this year’s assembly because of the
arrests of the Shan leaders.

______________________________________

February 26, Agence France Presse
Myanmar's constitutional talks break for weekend

Yangon: Delegates to Myanmar's latest round of constitutional talks have
been given a weekend break, with some allowed to return to Yangon to visit
their families, a source close to the secretive convention said Saturday.

The more than 1,000 delegates to the national convention organized by
Myanmar's military rulers are usually confined to the isolated compound
about an hour's drive outside the capital.

The convention, condemned internationally for failing to include the
leading pro-democracy party, aims at drafting a constitution to be put to
vote as part of the junta's "road map" to democracy.

Nine days after the talks resumed, delegates were given the weekend off.
Those who live in Yangon were bused into the city and picked up by their
families, according to witnesses.

Delegates from other parts of the country either remained on the compound,
which features resort-like amenities such as a golf course and theatre, or
were given bus tours of the capital, a source close to the talks said.

Although the talks have played unusually prominently in state media, no
one has revealed exactly what has been under discussion since the latest
session began on February 17.

The European Union, the United Nations and the United States have
condemned the convention, which has been boycotted by the leading
opposition party, Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's National League
for Democracy.

She and the party's vice chairman are under house arrest, and the party
has refused to join the talks until they are released.
____________________________________

February 27, Irrawaddy
New Light, New Location

The New Light of Myanmar, the Burmese regime’s mouthpiece, is moving north
from Rangoon to Pyinmana, a nondescript town in Mandalay Division,
according to a reporter from the newspaper, quoting her boss. The reporter
first heard the news in early February, but she wasn’t sure when the paper
would move. Staff from both English language and Burmese editions would be
affected, but she was unsure about other official publications.

The staff for both the English and Burmese language versions of the paper
are expected to relocate, said the reporter, adding that she was unsure if
other official papers would move as well.

The reporter thought the move reflected the generals’ concern about a
possible seaborne attack on the regime, perhaps by a “western power.” She
also expected other government agencies to move to Pyinmana.

____________________________________

February 27, Irrawaddy
Khin Nyunt’s crumbling legacy

The sacking in October of Burma’s prime minister and military intelligence
chief Gen Khin Nyunt has not only shaken Burma’s ruling military clique,
but it has also jeopardized plans to give Rangoon a major facelift before
November 2006, when the junta is scheduled to host an Association of
Southeast Asian Nations, or Asean, leaders summit. By then, Burma will be
Asean’s rotating chairman.

Khin Nyunt and his military intelligence network spearheaded the move to
build new condominiums and renovate old buildings in the capital,
especially along Pyay Road, which leads from Mingaladon airport to
downtown. After the general’s arrest, and his intelligence organization
disbanded, several new condo projects along the road were aborted in
mid-construction.

Diplomatic and business sources in Rangoon say that banks are no longer
lending money to the construction companies responsible for the
beautification drive, which was considered Khin Nyunt’s pet project.
Others say the remaining generals have lost interest in the project—which
is seen in the capital as a sign that junta chairman Snr-Gen Than Shwe
couldn’t care less about hosting the summit.

The former Yangon City View Hotel, at 8-Mile Junction, which had been
taken over by military intelligence, has also been abandoned and is in
disrepair. The once imposing multi-story building, located next to the War
Office on Pyay Road, now has boarded up windows, peeling paint and
crumbling concrete. Security officials apparently feared the building’s
top stories could have been used for attacks on the War Office or passing
military motorcades.

Several businesses once run by military intelligence have been closed or
changed hands. One, the Galaxy Club, a prostitute haunt, was said by a
customer to have been taken over by a member of the United Wa State Army,
based in Shan State, one of the world’s biggest drug producing and
trafficking groups.

____________________________________

February 26, Agence France Presse
Whale, dolphin count underway in Myanmar

Yangon: Myanmar and international scientists have begun a census of
whales, dolphins and porpoises in the Bay of Bengal as part of a
four-nation survey, the semi-official Myanmar Times reported Saturday.

"We will know how many species are living around the bay, especially in
the Myeik Archipelago, which is rich in marine biodiversity," scientist U
Mya Than Tun told the paper.

He is one of three Myanmar scientists on the team, and is working with the
US-based Wildlife Conservation Society on the project aimed at developing
a conservation plan to protect the animals.

The Dolphin Conservation Society based in Britain and the Convention on
Migratory Species based in Germany are also sponsoring the research, the
paper said.

Some 15 scientists from Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and the
United States are working on the two-week survey, which began February 21.

The team has already surveyed waters off Bangladesh, and studies in India
and Sri Lanka are planned for coming months, it said.

_____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

February 27, Irrawaddy
Another parallel government rumored

Speculation is rife that Burma’s various opposition groups will coalesce
into yet another parallel government. On February 12, Burma’s Union Day,
the main opposition group, the National League for Democracy or NLD,
announced, however, that forming a parallel government was not part of its
policies. In fact, since 1990 Burma has had two governments existing
simultaneously. The National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma,
or NCGUB, was formed in exile in October 1990 because the ruling military
government refused to recognize the NLD’s landslide victory in the May
1990 election. Elected members are led by Prime Minister Dr Sein Win,
cousin of NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi. However, rumors have begun to
spread about a third parallel government forming in exile. On February 1,
the military government said at a press conference that Maung Maung,
secretary of the exiled Federation of Trade Unions-Burma, or FTUB, was
attempting to form another parallel government to rival the NCGUB.


In fact, in 2004 Maung Maung was elected secretary of the National
Coalition of the Union of Burma, an umbrella organization composed of the
political opposition as well as ethnic-based and armed groups in exile.
Following the press conference, Burma’s state-run newspapers reported that
Maung Maung was “trying hard to get the Prime Minister post in his
parallel government.” The reports alleged that Maung Maung had accused
Sein Win of deterring the NCGUB from getting international contacts and
aid. Maung Maung couldn’t be reached for comment, but a source close to
the FTUB said the rumors were nonsense. Bo Hla Tint, a senior member of
the NCGUB, also denied the junta’s report. A senior opposition member
said, under condition of anonymity, that among the myriad opposition
members someone is probably pondering the creation of another government
in exile, but would be unlikely to make a move for the time being. He
added that Sein Win and his group seemed afraid of being removed from
their positions since their leadership had not been effective.

_____________________________________
REGIONAL

February 26, Agence France Presse
US concerned over "exclusive" nature of upcoming East Asian summit - P.
Parameswaran

Washington: The United States expressed concern Friday that an upcoming
inaugural leaders' meeting of East Asian countries could become an
"exclusive" and "inward looking" grouping.

Malaysia will host the summit among 10 Southeast Asian nations and China,
Japan and South Korea at the end of this year.

Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo said after talks with US Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice and other American officials that Washington
"has some concerns that the East Asian Summit will be inward looking and
exclusive.

"But I told them that countries like Singapore and other countries in the
region will also be against that," he told reporters.

The East Asian summit was an initiative of the 10-member Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which since 1997 has been holding summit
talks with China, Japan and South Korea at the sidelines of its own summit
under a loose "ASEAN plus three" framework.

At their last meeting in November, ASEAN leaders decided to formalize the
structure into an East Asian summit. But members were divided over the
possibility of expanding the 13-member setting.

The United States has been opposed since 1990 to an East Asian-only
grouping, saying such a format would rip apart the Pacific. Analysts said
United States was more concerned about China's key role in it and the
possibility of Washington's influence in the region waning as a result.

China and ASEAN -- comprising Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam -- have already
launched plans for a free trade area that would be the world's biggest
duty free zone in six years.

It could blossom into a mega East Asian FTA with participation from Japan
and South Korea.

Washington had muscled Japan for nearly a decade against participating in
an East Asian grouping mooted by former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir
Mohamad.

Yeo said that the issue over inclusion of any other countries into the
East Asian summit had not been resolved yet, indicating that a decision
could be made during an ASEAN foreign ministers "retreat" meeting in
April.

Singapore, he said, clearly wanted Australia, New Zealand and India
included in the East Asian summit.

Asked on what specific concerns the United States had over the East Asian
summit, Yeo said: "I see that the United States is not uncomfortable with
the position Singapore is taking.

"They do not want to be excluded in the region."

Malaysia and several ASEAN nations have already hinted they did not want
to expand the current East Asian grouping.

They were particularly unhappy over Australia's refusal to sign a
Southeast Asian non-aggression pact. Canberra had often echoed US policy
of possible pre-emptive strikes against terrorist bases overseas.

The ASEAN non-aggression pact commits signatory states to respect the
independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of all member
countries.

Australia's refusal to sign stemmed from fears that such a pact could curb
it from commenting on the domestic policies of ASEAN members with which it
might disagree, such as human rights abuses in Myanmar.

Yeo said that the United States should continue to play a key role in the
region, citing the enormous efforts by the American military in relief
efforts during the tsunami disaster that ravaged around a dozen countries
located along the Indian Ocean coast.

The United States had deployed 16,000 military personnel, 26 large ships,
58 helicopters and 43 fixed wing aircraft in the relief and recovery
effort following the December 26 tsunami that left at least 288,800 people
dead.

"There is opportunity now for the United States to strengthen its
relationship with Southeast Asia," Yeo said.

_____________________________________

February 28, Agence France Presse
Illegal immigrants seek UN protection ahead of crackdown in Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur: Hundreds of Southeast Asian migrants gathered outside the UN
office in Malaysia Monday hoping to win temporary refugee status while
thousands of others went into hiding ahead of a crackdown on illegal
immigrants, officials said.

Malaysia is set to launch a large-scale operation against hundreds of
thousands of illegal immigrants on Tuesday.

The operation to round up, whip and deport illegal immigrants, mainly
Indonesians, marks the end of an amnesty which has twice been extended at
Jakarta's request.

Some 300 people from Myanmar, Cambodia and Indonesia's Aceh province lined
up Monday at the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) hoping to
secure UN support to remain in Malaysia.

Zaw Aung from Myanmar said he had been in Malaysia for 10 years illegally
along with his wife and two children.

"With this crackdown, my friend who has been giving me shelter has told me
to leave his house because he fears he may also be arrested. I have no
home now. Please help me," he said.

Another Myanmar migrant, Morani, 32, had camped outside the UN agency for
the past week with her four-year-old daughter to obtain a letter to
prevent arrest or deportation.

"I am afraid of being arrested. We do not have any travel documents. We do
not want to go back," she said.

Morani, whose husband works in the plantation sector in northeastern
Kelantan state, said they had been in Malaysia for the past 12 years.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Monday urged officials involved in
the crackdown to work within the law to prevent any abuse of power.

But his assurance failed to dampen the concerns of rights groups which say
the operation is open to abuse.

"There is a high potential for human abuses to occur considering the
magnitude of the operation," National Human Rights Society secretary
general Elizabeth Wong said.

Amnesty International earlier this month urged Malaysia to halt the
planned deportation of illegals amid fears some could face execution or
torture in their home countries.

Migrants from Myanmar, Nepal and Aceh could be subjected to serious human
rights violations if they were sent home, it said.

Malaysia is deploying tens of thousands of volunteers and officials to
hunt down the illegal immigrants.

"We know many of the illegals have gone into hiding," Mahadi Arshad,
director general of the 300,000-strong civilian security force volunteers,
told AFP.

Mahadi said they would launch their blitz from late Monday. "We know where
they are hiding."

Some 35,000 volunteers who have received special training would be
involved in the operation along with hundreds of immigration and police
officials, he said.

The crackdown would be Malaysia's largest blitz to flush out illegal
immigrants in three years. A similar nationwide sweep was carried out in
2002 following the end of a four-month amnesty program.

Before the recent amnesty began on October 29 last year, Malaysia
estimated there were more than a million illegal workers in the country,
mostly from Indonesia but also from the Philippines, Myanmar, Bangladesh,
India and Sri Lanka.

Nearly 400,000, mostly Indonesians, left without facing any penalty during
the first three months of the amnesty, but others have remained, clinging
to jobs in the construction, plantation and service industries in the face
of unemployment at home.

Outside the Indonesian mission, hundreds of illegals were waiting for
buses to transport them to Port Klang to board an Indonesian navy ship.

"I came to Malaysia legally but my boss did not pay my salary for seven
months. So I decided to run away from the company and worked illegally as
a rubber tapper for the past three years," said Rahim, 21, from central
Java.

"I going back and I do not want to return," he said.

_____________________________________


February 28, Kaladan News
Tri-nations Gas Pipeline will be a Risk for National Security

Chittagong: Implementation of the Tri-nations gas pipeline project agreed
among Burma, Bangladesh and India would be a risk for Bangladesh, said
speakers at a roundtable held in Dhaka yesterday, said a report.

The roundtable was organized by Student and Youth Movement of Bangladesh
against plundering oil and gas.

The national security of Bangladesh as well as Burma, will be a threat for
Bangladesh as well as Burma said the speakers at a roundtable on
“Tri-nations gas pipeline: Energy and the national Security” held in
Dhaka.

Students of the all Arakan Student and Youth Congress (AASYC) and the Shwe
Gas Movement also attended the roundtable.

The speakers said at the roundtable that though Bangladesh have some
opportunities to bargain with India over gas pipeline project it would not
be benefited from it as the appeasement policy of the government. India
alone would gain from this gas pipeline project.

They further said that the tri-nations gas pipeline would become a
headache for Bangladesh in course of time due to security problems.

The speakers also opposing the gas pipeline project, said, if the treaty
was not approved by parliament it would be illegal. The speakers urged the
government not to implement the project as it was against the national
interest and security of Bangladesh.
The leaders of AASYC and the Shwe Gas Movement and people expressed their
dour concern about the exploitation of gas in Burma by the Military
rulers.

Awami League Lawmaker Col (Rtd) Faruk Khan, Brigadier General (Rtd) M
Shakhawat Hossain, Engg. Sheik Md Shahidullah, Raisuddin Arif, Nazrul
Islam, U Soe Ba Tun, U Kyaw Han, Ms Khin Khin Tun and  others spoke at the
roundtable.

_____________________________________

February 28, Irrawaddy
Migrant workers given back permits - Shah Paung

Thai authorities have reissued work permits to some 130 Burmese migrant
workers who survived the tsunami which hit southwestern Thailand. The
workers comprise only a fraction of an unofficially estimated 31,000
registered Burmese workers—mainly fishermen—said to have been in southern
Phang Nga Province before the December 26 tsunami.

Hundreds died when the tidal wave struck. Many survivors were subsequently
sent back to Burma by the Thais for not having permits, while others
returned voluntarily fearing arrest, according to aid workers.

An official from the Tsunami Action Group, or TAG, who withheld his full
name, said more than a thousand Burmese workers were waiting for new
permits, after losing them in the tsunami. Non-government and other
community-based organizations, working with the United Nations, grouped to
form TAG to help Burmese workers immediately after the tsunami.

Main area of operations for TAG is Takuapa District of Phang Nga, worst
hit by the tsunami. It helps the workers obtain their work permits, and
provides transport and food.

There is no official total for the number of migrant workers who died in
the tsunami, but another NGO, the Human Rights Education Institute of
Burma, reported on January 8 that between 700-1,000 workers died in the
whole of southern Thailand, and that 156 bodies had been identified.

Htoo Chit, a TAG official, said TAG’s work permit-reissuing efforts have
become easier since the Thai Labor Ministry is now cooperating with it.

_____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

February 28, Agence France Presse
US slams China, Myanmar among others in Asia for rights violations -
Laurent Thomet

Washington: The United States on Monday voiced disappointment at China's
human rights progress in 2004, and warned that the situation worsened in
Myanmar, in a sweeping global report that hit hard at several Asian
nations.

The State Department's annual report also deplored North Korea's
"extremely poor" record last year and noted continuing problems in
Indonesia, Nepal and Pakistan, an ally in Washington's war on terror.

"China's cooperation and progress on human rights during 2004 was
disappointing," the report said, adding that Beijing failed to fulfill
many commitments it made at the 2002 US-China Human Rights Dialogue.

"China's human rights conduct remains one of the top concerns of the US
government," the State Department's undersecretary for global affairs,
Paula Dobriansky, told reporters. "Throughout China and notably in Tibet,
affronts to the dignity of human rights abound."

The department's report said authorities "were quick to suppress
religious, political, and social groups that they perceived as threatening
to government authority or national stability, especially before sensitive
dates such as the 15th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre and
other significant political and religious occasions."

Though China's constitution was amended to mention human rights for the
first time, it was unclear to what extent Beijing planned to implement the
amendment, the report said.

The United States rebuked military-led Myanmar, saying its "extremely poor
human rights record worsened."

Although there were not reports of government-affiliated agents killing
pro-democracy activists as in previous years, security forces continued to
carry out extrajudicial killings and committed rapes and torture,
according to the report.

The government arrested at least 85 democracy supporters in 2004, mainly
members of the National League for Democracy (NLD). While 42 people were
later released, 43 were charged, tried and put in prison.

The department also noted the continuing detention of Nobel peace laureate
Aung San Suu Kyi of the NLD.

Despite improvements in Pakistan, "serious problems remained" as police
abused and raped citizens in addition to making arbitrary arrests, the
report charged.

The government of President Pervez Musharraf "imposed some limits on
freedom of association, religion, and movement."

North Korea's Stalinist government "continued to commit numerous serious
abuses," with reports of extrajudicial killings, disappearances and
arbitrary detentions, the State Department said.

"Prison conditions were harsh and life-threatening, and torture reportedly
was common," it said.

"Pregnant female prisoners reportedly underwent forced abortions, and in
other cases babies reportedly were killed upon birth in prisons."

In Nepal, where King Gyanendra seized power in early February, security
forces "used arbitrary and unlawful lethal force and continued to abuse
detainees, sometimes using torture as punishment or to extract
confessions."

The report also took aim at the Nepal's Maoist rebels, saying they led a
campaign of torture and bombing in its battle for a communist republic in
the impoverished Himalayan kingdom.

Indonesia, meanwhile, "made substantial progress in strengthening its
democracy," the report said, although abuses persisted as security forces
murdered, tortured and raped civilians and members of separatist movements
in Aceh province.

Media also were targeted, the report said.

"Members of the security forces and other groups sometimes limited freedom
of expression by intimidating or attacking journalists whose articles they
found objectionable," the report said.

_____________________________________

February 27, Agence France Presse
Myanmar's dissidents plot strategy as junta holds charter talks - P.
Parameswaran

Washington: As Myanmar's military junta held secretive talks at home to
frame a constitution as part of its so-called roadmap for democracy,
dissidents backed by the United States met in Washington during the
weekend pushing for the regime's ouster.

A stirring speech by a US State Department official set the tone for the
meeting at George Washington University, whose attendees included the
prime minister of Myanmar's government in exile set up after its landslide
victory in 1990 elections, which were rejected by the military.

"While the dictators in Yangon may project an image of control, those who
have fought tyranny around the world and those who fight this struggle
right from within Burma know just how ephemeral and weak their power
really is," said Paula Dobriansky, undersecretary of state for global
affairs, using the old name of Myanmar.

"It can never ever defeat the very universal desire of freedom," said
Dobriansky, who was a human rights crusader in the State Department when
Myanmar's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy
(NLD) scored a thumping victory in the country's last free elections but
was denied power.

Aung San Suu Kyi, the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient,
epitomizes the "indomitable spirit" of Myanmar's freedom campaigners,
Dobriansky said.

"When soldiers aimed rifles at her, Aung San Suu Kyi slowly and calmly
walked through their ranks, ignoring the very expressed threat on her own
life," she said, recalling an incident in 1989.

The Washington meeting was organized by the US Campaign for Burma, a
global group of activists fighting to restore democracy in Myanmar.

It was aimed at drawing up strategies to drum up support for the
democratic struggle in Myanmar from within and outside the country as well
as the United Nations.

Non-governmental groups related tales of victimization of ethnic minority
groups allegedly by military officers, including rape, extra-judicial
killings, confiscation of land and property, forced labour and poppy
cultivation and conscription of child soldiers.

Sein Win, the prime minister of the exiled National Coalition Government
of the Union of Burma, said he wanted to build a young leadership that
could take over from the junta if and when it collapses.

The first cousin of Aung San Suu Kyi and among those who won more than 80
percent of the parliamentary seats at stake in the elections said his
group "placed highest importance for the preparations towards
post-military transition in Burma."

He called on the United Nations, European Union and the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to exert greater pressure on the junta,
saying joint diplomatic, investment and trade sanctions on Myanmar were
vital.

The United States, which has branded Myanmar an "outpost of tyranny," has
imposed an investment and trade ban on the Southeast Asian state while the
European nations have limited sanctions, including denial of visas to
Myanmar's ruling elite.

Sein Win said that to legalize their authority, Myanmar's military rulers
were racing ahead with talks designed to frame a national constitution.

"The process of constitutional drafting has become an outright imposition
of military privileges and special powers in the future constitution," he
said.

The UN, EU and US have all condemned the convention as a sham as it was
attended mostly by representatives handpicked by the junta.

Steven Dun from World Aid group, told the meeting that some 600,000 to 1.5
million people in Myanmar, mostly from the Karen tribe, had been
"displaced" from their homes because of military brutality.

The Karens, the largest and most powerful of Myanmar's ethnic minorities,
has been fighting the government for decades.

"Girls have been taken away from their homes and gang raped by military
officers and kept as sex slaves for up to four months," said Charm Tong, a
member of a women's action group from Shan state where rights groups
accuse the military of systematically raping tribal women.

She said the military reportedly tortured villagers who spoke to
representatives of the Red Cross and human rights groups when they visited
the state.

The junta's days are numbered, Dobriansky said, assuring the oppressed in
Myanmar that President George W. Bush's administration would stand solidly
behind them.

"We do not know the exact day Burma's dictatorship will end but we know
that it will end one day.

"Until then, the pople of Burma should know that they have our unwavering
support in their very fight for liberty," she said.