BurmaNet News, March 9, 2005

[Editor]

March 9, 2005 Issue # 2671


ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: Seventy Burmese Refugees to be Moved to Camps
Reuters: A First from Rebel-Held Myanmar

DRUGS
Kyodo News Service: Cambodia serving as drug transit route: U.S. report

BUSINESS / MONEY
BBC Monitor: Burma, South Korean company discuss offshore gas
Financial Express: GAIL ups gas reserve estimate for Myanmar field
Xinhua: Myanmar to hold gems emporium

REGIONAL
AP: European, Southeast Asian ministers to meet in Indonesia
Narinjara: WLB holds International Women's Day in Dhaka

INTERNATIONAL
Reuters: Activist urges world to curb Myanmar army rapes

PRESS RELEASE
US Campaign for Burma: Activists Call for Global Day Of Action For 60th
Birthday of World's Only Imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize Recipient

US Campaign for Burma: Tiffany Says No to Burma's "Blood Gems"


______________________________________
ON THE BORDER

March 9, Irrawaddy
Seventy Burmese Refugees to be Moved to Camps – Khun Sam

Seventy Burmese refugees, currently based in Thailand, are to be moved to
refugee camps on the Thai-Burma border by the end of March, according to
an official from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR, in Mae
Sot.

UNHCR records show that more than 1,800 Burmese citizens registered for
refugee status in Thailand during the period leading up to July 2003,
having fled economic hardship or persecution due to their association with
Burmese political opposition groups. Most eventually moved on to other
countries, while about 70 remained in northern Thailand.

News of the move was announced during a meeting at the Mae Sot UNHCR
office, attended by representatives from pro-democracy organizations, some
of whom hold refugee cards themselves.

Tate Naing, secretary of the Assistance Association for Political
Prisoners, or AAPP, said splitting the group up and moving them around the
country would make things awkward for their organization but they could
not dispute Thai government policy.

The refugees will be sent to camps in Noh Poe, southern Thailand, Than Hin
in Ratchaburi Province and Ban Dong Yang, in Sangklaburi Province. The
UNHCR will supply the camps with food, shelter and medical facilities.

Those who registered after July 2003 will also be moved on to refugee
camps once their status has been decided by the Thai authorities.

According to a refugee committee report from January 2003, there are over
100,000 refugees living in camps along the Thai-Burma border.

______________________________________

March 8, Reuters
A First from Rebel-Held Myanmar

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Reuters news team shone a rare light on Asia's
longest running insurgency on Feb. 28 when they crossed a rickety pontoon
bridge over the Moei river on the Thai-Myanmar border to interview the
commander of the rebel ethnic Karen National Liberation Army.

General Mutu Saepoe's interview with a team of reporters, a photographer
and a TV camera operator at the Kaw Htoo Lae Camp in a jungle clearing was
his first in 56 years as a rebel fighter.

Mutu, 72, told Reuters in impeccable Queen's English learned at a
British-run primary school in colonial Burma that the conflict with
Myanmar's military junta could last another 50 years unless it got serious
about peace talks.

The Karen struggle for self-determination is as old as the Palestinian
conflict with Israel but is rarely covered. The Reuters report won wide
play in newspaper, online and on television.

______________________________________
DRUGS

March 9, Kyodo News Service
Cambodia serving as drug transit route: U.S. report

A U.S. report says Cambodia is serving as a transit route for heroin that
may involve the country's military.

'In-country sources estimate that 10 to 20 kilograms of heroin are
trafficked through Cambodia daily in the form of small-scale shipments,'
according to the report by the U.S. State Department, a copy of which was
seen by Kyodo News on Wednesday.

The report said that while Cambodia is not a producer of opiates or
coca-based drugs, it serves as a transit route for heroin from Myanmar and
Laos to international drug markets.

'There are indications of involvement by military personnel in these
activities,' it said.

Teng Savong, deputy secretary general of the National Authority for
Combating Drugs, acknowledged Cambodia's role in such drug trafficking.

'I have no comment on the figure, but we accept a status of the
trafficking route,' he said.

Marijuana is another alarming threat to Cambodia today, with some
estimates placing total production at more than 1,000 tons annually, the
report said.

Much of the production occurs in Cambodia's northwest provinces and is
reputed to be 'contract cultivation' with Cambodians operating with
financial help, and under the control or influence of foreign criminal
syndicates, it added.

Analysis of seizures in recent years indicates that Europe is the major
destination for Cambodian cannabis, with other destinations including the
United States, Australia and Africa.

The report also said Cambodia has experienced a significant increase in
recent years in the amount of amphetamine-type stimulants coming from the
Golden Triangle.

Marking the stepped up fight against drugs, 474 people were arrested in
the first 11 months of 2004 by Cambodian authorities, up from 305 over the
same period in 2003, according to the report.

Cambodian police also confiscated over 600,000 methamphetamine pills
trafficked from Laos during a single bust in early 2004. This cache was
more than 10 times larger than any previous seizure in Cambodia.

The report, meanwhile, blamed the surge in drug-related crimes on weak law
enforcement and insufficient resources being devoted to fighting drugs.

'Cambodian legal penalties for drug-related offenses are extremely weak,
allowing for maximum penalties of just $5,000 or a somewhat theoretical 10
years imprisonment,' it said. 'Cambodian law enforcement agencies suffer
from limited resources, lack of training and poor coordination.'

______________________________________
BUSINESS / MONEY

March 9, BBC Monitor
BBC Monitor: Burma, South Korean company discuss offshore gas

SOURCE: Radio Myanmar, Rangoon, in Burmese 1330 gmt 8 Mar 05

BODY:
Text of report by Burmese radio on 8 March

Lt-Gen Soe Win, prime minister of the Union of Myanmar Burma received Mr
Tae Young Lee, chairman of the Daewoo International Corporation, and
party, at 1445 local time in Zeyathiri Hall on Konemyinttha in Yangon
Rangoon on 8 March.

At the call, Lt-Gen Soe Win, prime minister, was accompanied by U Nyan
Win, minister of foreign affairs, Brig-Gen Lun Thi, minister of energy, U
Soe Tint, director-general of the Prime Minister's Office, Thura U Aung
Htet, director-general of the Protocol Department, and U Win Mra, director
general of the International Organizations and Economic Department of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

During the meeting they had frank and cordial discussions regarding
matters about offshore natural gas production.

_____________________________________

March 8, Financial Express
GAIL ups gas reserve estimate for Myanmar field

NEW DELHI, March 7: GAIL India Ltd. increased Monday the overall potential
of gas discovery at its Myanmar gas field after successfully drilling the
second appraisal well in Block A-1 in Offshore Myanmar, an internet report
said.

The initial estimates pegged the reserves in the range of around 20 tons
cubic feet (TCF). However, the recent appraisal drilling by a consortium
of GAIL, ONGC Videsh Ltd. (OVL), Kogas and Daewoo International has
revealed additional recoverable reserves of five to six TCF.

_____________________________________

March 9, Xinhua
Myanmar to hold gems emporium

Myanmar will hold its 42nd annual gems emporium at the end of this month
to sell domestically produced quality gems, jade, pearl and jewelry
through competitive bidding with fixed prices, the state-run New Light of
Myanmar reported Wednesday.

The gem show, which will take place on March 30, targets mainly at
merchants abroad in a bid to earn foreign exchange earning, said officials
of the state-run Myanma Gems Enterprise, which is the sponsor of the
emporium, adding that the proceeds from the sale will be regarded as
export earning.

In the last annual event in March 2004, 21.83 million US dollars were
gained through the sale. Of the more than 600 foreign traders of over 250
companies from 10 countries and regions who attended the event, most were
from China's Hong Kong, Thailand and Japan. Besides, over 400 local
merchants from 184 companies also joined in.

Myanmar started to hold gem shows annually in 1964, introducing mid-year
ones in addition since 1992 to boost the country's foreign exchange
earning. The annual gem sale usually takes place in March, while the
mid-year one in October. Since the first event, the country has earned a
total of over 453 million dollars from such events, according to official
statistics.

Myanmar, a well-known producer of gems in the world, possesses nine gems
-- ruby, diamond, cat's eye, emerald, topaz, pearl, sapphire, coral and a
variety of garnet tinged with yellow.

There are three famous gem lands in Myanmar -- Mogok in Mandalay division,
Mongshu in Shan state and Phakant in Kachin state.

To develop gem mining industry, Myanmar enacted the New Gemstone Law in
1995, allowing national entrepreneurs to mine, produce, transport and sell
finished gemstone and manufactured jewelry at home and abroad.

Since 2000, the government has started mining of gems and jade in joint
venture with 10 private companies under profit sharing basis.

_____________________________________
REGIONAL

March 9, Associated Press
European, Southeast Asian ministers to meet in Indonesia

Helping survivors of the Indian Ocean tsunami and improving cooperation in
the fight against terrorism will top the agenda when Southeast Asian and
European foreign ministers meet Thursday in Jakarta, officials said.

Delegates may also discuss moves to speed up reform in Myanmar, which has
caused tension in recent years between the two regions. The European Union
wants the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to put more pressure on
Myanmar's military junta to introduce democracy.

Indonesian government spokesman Marty Natelagawa said on Wednesday that
foreign ministers and senior officials from both regions would discuss
counter terrorism cooperation and the massive aid effort launched in the
wake of the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami.

European Union External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner will
attend the annual one-day ASEAN-EU Ministerial Meeting before visiting
Indonesia's Aceh province, which was hardest hit in the disaster.

The EU has donated [euro]350 million (US$460 million) in aid for the
tsunami effected countries, over [euro]200 million (US$260 million) of
which is due to go to Indonesia.

_____________________________________

March 9, Narinjara
WLB holds International Women's Day in Dhaka

The Women’s League of Burma (WLB)- Western Branch held an International
Women's Day in Dhaka yesterday.

Over 70 people attended the ceremony, including people from several
Arkanese exile political groups such as the Arakan League for Democracy (
ALD), the Arakan Liberation Party (ALP), All Arakan Students and Youths
Congress (AASYC), the Arakan Youth Network group (NYNG), the Rakhaing
Women Union (RWU), as well as other individuals.

The Arakan National Council, a leading umbrella organization for Arakan
people, sent a formal message to the ceremony urging Arakanese women to
cooperate with other women of the world by promoting women’s rights around
the world and to join hands with men in order to reach that goal.

Delegates from several organizations delivered speeches at the ceremony as
well as dance performances and the singing of revolutionary songs.

Saw Wun Wun Kyaw, in charge of WLB' western branch, was as the master of
ceremonies.

Ma Saw San Nyein Thu, General Secretary of RWU delivered the concluding
speech and said that the women of Burma had lost their rights under the
military government and that women still suffer there due to the
discriminatory policies practiced by Burma’s military.

In her speech, she spoke out against the present military government,
which recently proclaimed that women’s rights have existed in Burma since
the memorial time and that women need not ask for rights in Burma again.

The ceremony began at 10 a.m. and was concluded at 1:30 p.m.

_____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

March 9, Reuters
Activist urges world to curb Myanmar army rape

WASHINGTON: Despite years of international pressure to control its troops,
Myanmar's military uses systematic rape as a weapon to control restive
ethnic groups and soldiers sometimes take away young women to use as sex
slaves, said a 2005 Reebok Human Rights Award winner.

Refugee activist Charm Tong called on all countries and groups with
dealings with Myanmar
to pressure the military junta to stop the army rapes, an issue that was
first put on the UN human rights agenda in 1992.

"Rape is officially condoned and used as a weapon of war to terrorise and
demoralise the local community," she told Reuters in a weekend interview
in Washington prior to the announcement that she was one of four Reebok
rights award winners for 2005.

"Most of the time the rapes are committed at military bases by
high-ranking officers," said Charm Tong. "To younger troops, this shows
that no one can take action against the rapists."

Charm Tong was 17 when she helped found the Shan Women's Action Network to
highlight abuses suffered in Myanmar's scorched-earth war against local
ethnic resistance fighters
in the Shan State of northern Myanmar.

Now a veteran activist at 23, she is composed and articulate despite
having only a high school
education in Thai border camp schools. She says she retains hope for a
homeland she hasn't been permitted to visit in almost two decades.

Gang rapes: In 2002, the Shan network published a report called "License
to Rape",  which reported 173 cases in which 625 women and girls were
raped by Myanmar's armed forces in Shan State.

While Myanmar has consistently denied those allegations, Charm Tong and
her group have produced a new document called "Still Licensed to Rape"
which details the rape of 188 women
and girls in Shan State since the 2002 report.

"The human rights and political situation have been getting worse," said
Charm Tong.  Based on refugee testimony and accounts from members in Shan
state, her group has recorded rape victims as young as four and as old as
62.

Charm Tong's network says that of the 188 recorded military rapes in Shan
state since 2002,  65 percent were gang rapes. Victims were killed in 18
percent of the cases, and taken away by troops as sex slaves in 26 percent
of the attacks. Her group urges Myanmar's neighbours,  the West and UN
agencies to halt trade and investment until the Southeast Asian country
implements democratic reforms.

_____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER


PRESS RELEASE

March 9, US Campaign for Burma
Activists Call for Global Day Of Action For 60th Birthday of World's Only
Imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize Recipient

"Every Single Individual Who Cares About Human Rights" Called to Support
Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi

(Washington, DC) The US Campaign for Burma today issued a public call for
individuals and organizations interested in freedom, human rights, and
democracy to participate in global action around the upcoming 60th
birthday of Aung San Suu Kyi, the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace
Prize recipient. The call echoes a similar request made in 1988 around
then-imprisoned South African leader Nelson Mandela, called "Mandela at
70".

Aung Din, a human rights activist who served over four years as a
political prisoner in Burma and current Policy Director at US Campaign for
Burma said: "We need every single person who
cares about Aung San Suu Kyi, human rights, and freedom to take action for
our country on June 17th and 19th. We call for global demonstrations,
global protest, and civil disobedience at the
dictator's embassies around the world. We also call on every single global
leader-political, cultural, or otherwise, to demand that the UN Security
Council immediately address the situation in Burma. This is our moment."

Aung San Suu Kyi (pronounced Sue Chee) has been held in prison and under
house arrest for most of the last 15 years in the Southeast Asian country
of Burma, which is situated between China and India. Her captor-Burma's
ruling dictator Than Shwe—is among the world's most brutal leaders, often
compared to Kim Jong Il of North Korea.

Aung San Suu Kyi has won over 50 international awards for her efforts to
bring about a peaceful transition to democracy in Burma,  including the
1990 Sakharov Prize from the European Parliament, 1991 Nobel Peace Prize,
and 2000 Presidential Medal of Freedom from the United States. Suu Kyi
draws support from across the political spectrum including Nobel Laureates
Desmond Tutu, Corazon Aquino, Jody Williams; musicians Bono, Eric Clapton,
Bonnie Raitt, and Paul McCartney; and political leaders George W. Bush,
Bill Clinton, Vaclav Havel, Mitch McConnell, Dianne Feinstein, John
McCain, Colin Powell, Madeline Albright and others.

Organizers are calling on every single individual in the world who cares
about Aung San Suu Kyi and the Burmese people's hopes for democracy to
take action around her 60th birthday, which is June 19th. Specifically:

1) On June 17th, citizens around the world should rally and protest at
embassies of Than Shwe's dictatorship. Where possible,  individuals should
organize peaceful civil disobedience at the
embassies. These events should be organized at least 50 embassies around
the world.

2) By June 1st, people living in the United States should end birthday
cards to Aung San Suu Kyi at the US Campaign for Burma office in
Washington, DC. Participants in the June 17th
embassy protest will "deliver" at least 6,000 of these cards to the 
Burmese regime's embassy during the mega-protest on June 17th.

3) On June 19th, people living in the United States--every single
individual who cares about Aung San Suu Kyi--should "arrest" themselves
for 24 hours in their own home in solidarity with
Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest in her home in Burma. Those
participating in this "mass house arrest" will hold house parties and show
videos (provided by US Campaign for
Burma) to educate our fellow Americans about Burma. We strongly encourage
participants to invite members of the local media to their event.

To sign up to participate in the demonstrations at embassies (including
civil disobedience), the collection of birthday cards, or to host a "house
arrest", please contact the US Campaign for Burma at
info at uscampaignforburma.org as soon as possible. A complete set of action
tools is available at http://www.uscampaignforburma.org/action/alerts.html

USCB will send materials to all who choose to participate.

_____________________________________

March 8, US Campaign for Burma

Activists Hail "Principled Position" of World's Most Famous Jeweler, Call
for Americans to Boycott Companies Selling Burmese Gems

(Washington, DC) The US Campaign for Burma (USCB) today hailed a decision
by leading jeweler Tiffany's to refuse to sell jewels mined in the
Southeast Asian country of Burma.  The move comes just three months before
the 60th birthday of the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize
recipient Aung San Suu Kyi, who has called on companies around the world
to refuse business with Burma.

"Tiffany's deserves our praise and patronage for making this ethical
decision," said Aung Din, co-founder of USCB who spent over 4 years behind
bars as a political prisoner.  "Mining in Burma supports the ruling
dictators while bleeding the Burmese people, which is why no one should
buy these 'blood gems.'"

The decision comes just days after Tiffany's had indicated it might resume
buying goods from Burma.  In a statement sent to US Campaign for Burma on
March 5th, in which Tiffany's pledged to not sell rubies from Burma,
Tiffany's Chairman and CEO Michael Kowalski said, "We support democratic
reforms and an end to human rights abuses in that country.  We believe our
customers would agree with that position."  Tiffany's subsequently
confirmed that the ban extends to products mined in Burma, including
jadeite and spinel.

The export of jewels--specifically rubies and jade--is a major money-maker
for Than Shwe's ruling military dictatorship.  The brutal and unforgiving
conditions in Burma's mines have also created an HIV/AIDS epidemic in
Burma. Dr. Chris Beyrer, head of the prestigious Johns Hopkins University
Fogarty AIDS International Training & Research Program states that the
relationship between gem mining and HIV/AIDS in Burma couldn't be more
direct: "Gem mining, overseen by Burma's regime and its cronies, has
created a cauldron of HIV/AIDS in Burma.  The two are completely
intertwined, and that is why I would never buy a gem from Burma."

Additionally, many elements of the mining industry are controlled by known
drug traffickers.  On January 24th, the Department of Justice indicted
eight members of the United Wa State Army, which it called, one of the
"largest heroin producing and trafficking organizations in the world." 
The indictment included the identification of several businesses used to
launder narcotics money from Burma, including Hong Pang Gems and Jewelry
Ltd.

Burma's democracy movement, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, has called on
international businesses to shun Burma until there is a transition to
freedom and democracy in the country.  Since 2000, over 40 companies have
ended ties to the country, including Kenneth Cole, Jones New York, Tommy
Hilfiger, and Federated Department Stores.  When Macy's cut ties to Burma,
it cited rampant corruption, adding it "was unwilling to make payments
that could violate the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bars US
companies from making unofficial payments to foreign officials".

As Suu Kyi's 60th birthday nears, a growing chorus of international
luminaries are calling for her release.  In October of 2004, 27 musicians,
including Paul McCartney, R.E.M., U2, Coldplay, Bonnie Raitt, Damien Rice,
Ani DiFranco, Matchbox Twenty, and others donated songs to a two-CD set
dedicated to raising awareness of Aung San Suu Kyi's struggle.  Yesterday,
the United Nations added to a growing chorus of voices calling for Aung
San Suu Kyi's release by announcing it would give an award to Suu Kyi on
March 8th, International Women's Day. US Secretary of State Condeleeza
Rice has called Burma an "outpost of tyranny".

www.uscampaignforburma.org