BurmaNet News, March 15, 2005

[Editor]

March 15, 2005 Issue # 2675


INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Ten Shan activists arrested in Myanmar for conspiracy: minister
Irrawaddy: Ceasefire groups still wait for reply to NC demands

ON THE BORDER
Bangkok Post: Thai troops put on alert after clashes across Burmese border
Irrawaddy: Immigrants told to register, or else

REGIONAL
Malaysiakini: Malaysian MP submits motion for parliamentary debate on Burma
Malaysiakini: UN refugee cards confiscated, claim Rohingya detainees

INTERNATIONAL
News & Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina): Triangle gives haven to Myanmar
refugees

______________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

March 15, Agence France Presse
Ten Shan activists arrested in Myanmar for conspiracy: minister

Yangon: Ten ethnic Shan activists including the leader of the Shan
Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) have been arrested in Myanmar
and charged with conspiracy against the state, a top junta official said
Tuesday.

The activists, led by SNLD chairman Khun Tun Oo, were arrested February 7
and 9 and are presently standing trial in Yangon's notorious Insein
prison, Information Minister Brigadier General Kyaw San told reporters.

"They are charged with conspiracy against the state," Kyaw San said at a
briefing in Yangon.

The charge, equivalent to high treason, carries the death penalty in the
military-ruled nation.

Khun Tun Oo is Myanmar's most senior opposition leader after detained
democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD)
party to face such serious charges in recent years.

The NLD won a landslide election victory in 1990 that was never recognised
by the junta, while the SNLD earned the second highest number of seats.

Kyaw San said the 10 arrested included activists from the SNLD, the Shan
State Army (SSA) which is the armed wing of the Shan, and the armed
breakaway wing known as the Shan United Revolutionary Army (SURA).

They had gathered February 7 to commemorate Shan state day, and created
"illegal" organisations without government permission, including an
umbrella group called the Shan State Joint Action Committee.

"Under the guise of advocating a genuine federal state, these people have
been trying to disrupt peace and stability of the country by attempting to
create unrest, and this is a very dangerous move because it is heading
towards the disintegration of national unity," the minister said.

Those arrested -- identified as Khun Tun Oo, his secretary Sai Nyunt Lwin,
Say Thin, Ba Thin, Myint Than, Nyi Moe, Myo Win Tun, Tun Nyo, Sai Hla Aung
and Tha Oo -- have appeared in closed-door tribunals at Insein four times
since their detention.

The defendants are also on trial for illegal establishment of an
organisation and violating the publishing act.

The minister did not say when the trials would end, but he countered
earlier foreign news and rights group reports that the detainees were
barred from using lawyers.

"It is not correct that they have been denied defense council," police
chief Brigadier General Khin Yee told the briefing. "The trials are being
conducted according to prevailing laws."

An eleventh person, veteran Shan activist Shwe Ohn, was detained and
placed under house arrest but is not facing charges.

The Shan are the largest of seven major ethnic groups after the Burman
majority and have long featured in the country's political spectrum.

The SNLD, along with the NLD, remains one of nine legal political parties.

Several Shan groups have signed peace agreements with the junta and are
attending the current national convention to help draft a constitution,
but the SNLD has boycotted the gathering and SURA has been declared a
terrorist organisation by Yangon.

______________________________________

March 15, Irrawaddy
Ceasefire groups still wait for reply to NC demands - Nandar Chann

The National Convention has been working on the drafting of a new national
constitution for a month now, and hopes of more ethnic ceasefire groups
joining the assembly are running out.

The New Mon State Party, or NMSP, one of the ethnic ceasefire groups
attending the Convention, said that the important matters being discussed
include legislative and judicial questions and presidential powers and
functions, in accordance with the 104 basic principles which ensure the
military’s participation in the role of State leadership.

“The military should have a major role in the country’s future,” said
Mukyin Dau Hawng, spokesman of the New Democratic Army-Kachin, or NDA-K.
“Leading indefinitely is neither good for the tatmadaw nor the country.”

Six primary constitutional objectives were laid down in early October
1992, and on September 16 the following year 104 further principles were
issued with the aim of clarifying the military’s position. The conditions
leave no room for participants to limit the role of the military in
Burma’s political future. “Under current circumstances, those 104
principles can not be changed,” said an NMSP officer.

During a similar session last year, 13 ethnic ceasefire groups attended
and submitted a joint proposal regarding legislative and judicial
questions to the regime’s National Conventional Convention Commission, or
NCCC. The paper included a recommendation that in addition to legislative
authority in the Union Parliament, there should be legislative authority
in the state assemblies, which would entail some power-sharing and the
right to form assembly-controlled armed forces.

But the National Convention Committee dismissed the joint proposal on the
grounds that such a move would contravene the six objectives and 104
principles and urged the ethnic groups to make amendments to the proposal.

On February 13, a group of six ceasefire groups tabled a list of seven
demands, including the discussion of the Convention’s “sixth objective,”
which guarantees “military participation in the future state.”

The regime has not yet responded to the demands, according to ceasefire
groups.

______________________________________
ON THE BORDER

March 15, Bangkok Post
Wa troops attack SSA position, driven back - Subin Kheunkaew

Wa troops attacked a Shan State Army (SSA) position across the border in
Burma, opposite Mae Hong Son province, on Sunday evening 13 March .

An estimated 200 Wa soldiers armed with M79 and AK47 assault rifles
attacked the SSA forces on Kor Kha hill in Khang Pla village about 5pm.

The clash lasted about 10 hours, but the attackers failed to breakthrough
and advance on the SSA's stronghold at Doi Tailaeng.

The overnight attack on the Shan base prompted the Third Army Region to
order an alert along the northern border to prevent possible intrusions.

Third Army chief Lt-Gen Picharnmet Muangmanee said a conflict over the
drug trade might be behind the attack. Other motives were the SSA's role
in helping the anti-Rangoon Karen Nation Army fight Burmese junta troops
and the Wa's promise to help Rangoon suppress Shan rebels.

On 5 March, a close ally of SSA leader Col Yawd Serk was arrested in Mae
Hong Son, allegedly in possession of 174 bars of heroin weighing 80kg and
worth about 27m baht.

Tun Wiwatrung-arun was said to be a captain in the SSA and was once a
trusted bodyguard to Col Yawd Serk.

Anti-drugs officials believed the suspect's gang might have stolen the
heroin from the Wa before selling it to police posing as buyers.

Mr Tun told police the SSA was not involved in the drug trade, and Col
Yawd Serk has repeatedly denied Rangoon's claims that the SSA has links to
drugs.

Col Yawd Serk yesterday ordered Shan troops to be prepared for joint
attacks by Wa and Burmese forces. He was confident his troops would hold
their positions.

He said Burma had pressured the Wa to cooperate against ethnic rebels,
threatening to drive them out of the areas they control if they did not
cooperate.

He denied Shan troops had raided illicit drug plants run by the Wa. The
SSA was willing to be investigated by the United Nations or a neutral
country to clear its name of involvement with drugs, he said.

______________________________________

March 15, Irrawaddy
Immigrants told to register, or else - Yeni

A Thai government order means Burmese immigrants in Thailand with
documents issued by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR,  will
quickly have to register to go to border refugee camps, the agency’s
Bangkok office announced today.

The UNHCR statement said the deadline for registration was March 31.
Douglas di Salvo, eligibility officer at the UNHCR’s Bangkok office, told
The Irrawaddy it was estimated that the order would apply to fewer than
3,000 Burmese immigrants in Thailand.

The Thai government’s deadline order comes after its statement in July
2003 that it would no longer allow Burmese refugees granted “persons of
concern,” or POC, status to live in urban areas.  Since then the
government has been holding talks with the UNHCR on where they should
stay. Di Salvo said: “The Thai government has been very clear that this is
the only way that the immigrants will be allowed to stay, and for the
resettlement process to be continued.”

Registration will take place at the government’s Special Detention Centre,
in Bangkok, and at the Tak Immigration Office in Mae Sot. From there the
refugees will be sent to camps at Ratchaburi and near Mae Sot.

The UNHCR statement said failure to register might lead to arrest,
detention and deportation. The immigrants would not be allowed to resettle
in a third country; and would no longer receive assistance in any form,
such as medical support.

“We appeal to the government to extend the deadline,” said Nay Zaw Naing,
a Burmese immigrant staying in Mae Sot, which sits next to the Burmese
border in Thailand’s Tak Province. “We need more time to organize our
belongings."

The POCs will not return home after registration, the statement said,  and
they should bring all personal belongings, such as clothing, family
keepsakes, photographs and documents. But mobile phones and other electric
appliances will not be allowed in the camps.

A Bangkok-based immigrant estimated there were at least 3,000 Burmese POCs
in the capital and 900 in Mae Sot. Some of those in Mae Sot ran offices
helping immigrants. “Most refugees who want to resettle in other countries
will register,” said the immigrant. “But I still feel it’s a crackdown in
disguise.”

Observers believe the Thai government is increasingly concerned that
dissidents among the Burmese refugees pose a national security problem. It
is already careful not to allow refugees to stage any kind of political
protest outside refugee camps.

______________________________________
BUSINESS / MONEY

March 15, Bernama
Malaysian minister urges businesses to explore opportunities in Burma -
Nurzila Abdul Rahman

Yangon: Malaysian companies are well placed in terms of expertise and
capability to work together with companies in Myanmar Burma to identify
new opportunities and develop the untapped resources in the country,
Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz said
Monday 14 March .

Blessed with natural resources such as teak and hardwoods as well as
precious and semi-precious stones, tin, copper, lead and silver, Myanmar's
potential as a trading nation particularly within ASEAN looks promising,
she said.

Speaking to a packed hall, comprising businessmen from both Malaysia and
Myanmar at the Malaysia-Myanmar Business Opportunities Seminar here,
Rafidah said Malaysia had always placed importance to maintaining a close
relationship with Myanmar over the years.

"With further commitment from both countries, the growth of two-way trade
can be further accelerated," she said, adding that bilateral economic
relations between Malaysia and Myanmar were positive, with regular
exchange of visits over the years at all levels.

Most notable was the working visit of the Prime Minister Datuk Seri
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to Myanmar on 13 February, 2004 and the reciprocal
visit of the then Prime Minister of Myanmar, Gen Khin Nyunt, to Malaysia
in June 2004.

Nevertheless, the potential for trade and investment between the two
countries have yet to be fully realised, she said.

Rafidah was leading the 82-member trade and investment mission, comprising
representatives from the private sector as well as officials from the
Ministry, Malaysia Industrial Development Authority (MIDA) and Malaysia
External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE).

Yangon was the first stop for the mission, to be followed by Laos,
Thailand and Indonesia from 13 to 22 March, 2005.

>From 1998 to 2004, Malaysia ranked the fourth largest foreign investor in
Myanmar, with total cumulative approved investments valued at 660.7m US
dollars, involving 26 projects, mostly on exploration and production of
offshore oil and gas, hotels as well as engineering services.

"Many Malaysian companies have successfully completed joint development
projects overseas and proven their capacity to undertake major projects in
sectors such as highways, airports, power generation, oil and gas,
building construction, resorts and hotels as well as plantations," she
said.

Many others are also expanding investments in the manufacturing sector in
other ASEAN countries.

Rafidah also pointed out the possibilities of forging partnership in the
food sector since Malaysia is a large net importer of food whilst Myanmar
is blessed with abundant natural resources and rich agricultural land.

"Myanmar also offers prospects in aquaculture especially in the breeding
of tiger prawns and marine capture fisheries, which can be promoted by
Malaysian companies," she added.

Other possible areas include furniture and components, agriculture
projects such as oil palm, corn and paddy cultivation, labour intensive
industries such as textiles and apparels, rubber gloves, electrical and
electronic (E and E) assemblies and timber processing, power generation
and mining as well as information and communication technology (ICT).

Total bilateral trade between Malaysia and Myanmar in 2004 amounted to
256.2m US dollars, up by 16.4 per cent from 220.1m US dollars in 2003.

Malaysia's total exports to Myanmar in 2004 were valued at 149.3m US
dollars, with main exports comprising palm oil, refined petroleum
products, chemical and chemical products, iron and steel products,
processed food, E and E products and textiles and clothings.

Malaysia's imports from Myanmar have been on the rise every year with
total imports in 2004 amounting to 106.9m US dollars, up by 33.8 per cent
from 2003. Main products imported include saw logs and sawn timber, crude
rubber, seafood, vegetables, cereal, processed food, textiles and
clothing, E and E products and metal ores and metal scrap.

Also present at the business seminar were the vice president of Union of
Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry U Zaw Min Win,
Minister of Commerce Brig. Gen Tin Naing Thein and Malaysian Ambassador to
Myanmar Datuk Cheah Sam Kip.

_____________________________________
REGIONAL

March 15, Malaysiakini
Malaysian MP submits motion for parliamentary debate on Burma - Roshan Jason

The issues confronting Burma - democracy and human rights - will be tabled
for debate in the Malaysian parliament when it reconvenes on 21 March.

Senior MP Zaid Ibrahim (BN National Front - Kota Baru) said he has
submitted a motion on the Burmese issue in Parliament and hoped that it
would be debated.

"The support for issues relating to Burma has grown, not only in Malaysia,
but among other ASEAN parliamentarians," Zaid who is also chairs the ASEAN
Inter-Parliamentarian Caucus on Democracy in Burma (AIPMC) told
malaysiakini today.

The motion on Burma is the second to be brought up in the Malaysian
parliament, the first was during last December's sitting.

The previous motion was shunned. But support from Barisan Nasional BN MPs
for the issue has grown since.

The contents of the motion is based around the fact that Burma is geared
to chair the regional bloc in 2006 which would mean ASEAN and related
meetings will be held in the country under a military junta.

Many in ASEAN and around the world have shown much discomfort with this
prospect. It mirrors heavy international criticism of eight years ago when
Burma joined ASEAN.

"We want them (Burma) to fully implement all its principles in the
'seven-point road map to democracy'. They must, as they have said they
will do, release Aung San Suu Kyi and include her party in its national
reconciliation programme," said Zaid.

Tangible changes

Democracy icon Suu Kyi is currently serving her third stint in detention
after being arrested for continuously advocating democracy in Burma. She
is the secretary-general of the National League for Democracy (NLD), a
party which won a majority vote in Burma's 1990 general elections but was
not allowed to form the government

The party and eight others which make up 91 per cent of the elected
representatives have also not been included in the national reconciliation
process to draft a constitution.

The national convention was first convened in 1993 and critics have
branded it as a ploy by the military, also known as the State Peace and
Development Council (SPDC), to avoid convening Parliament after the
elections.

"In the absence of these changes in Burma and true democracy practices, I
believe it should not be allowed to chair ASEAN," added Zaid who is a
backbencher in Parliament.

Malaysia - ASEAN'S 2005 chair - is among six countries represented in the
AIPMC including Cambodia, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and the
Philippines. Burmese MPs in-exile are also involved in the ASEAN caucus.

"It is not just us in Malaysia who are calling for this but other ASEAN
parliaments. The support is certainly growing," he said suggesting that
Burma has to take heed to its neighbours' calls.

He however said there was no time frame for these changes to take effect
in Burma nor a deadline for Burma to comply with the caucus' calls.

Asked if the prime minister and deputy prime minister supported their
calls, he said he believed so.

_____________________________________

March 14, Malaysiakini
UN refugee cards confiscated, claim Rohingya detainees - Roshan Jason

The Burmese Rohingyas detained for staging a protest outside the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Kuala Lumpur last
week claim that their refugee cards issued by the agency were confiscated
by immigration officers.

Their spokesperson, Hafiz Mohd Motul, when contacted today at the Semenyih
immigration camp, expressed concern over the situation.

“Last Friday, immigration officers questioned us, took a statement from us
and took away our UNHCR cards which recognises us as refugees. I’m really
unsure of what is going to happen to us now,” he said.

The document - the only legal identification paper they possess - is
issued by UNHCR for persons of concern to the international refugee agency
and indicates that those in its possession are on a waiting list to be
resettled to third countries.

The 24 Rohingyas, including women and children, staged the protest last
Monday to express their anger over the protracted delay in being
resettled. One of them claimed to have waited for 14 years.

Following the eight-hour protest, during which the adults also launched a
hunger strike, the group was detained by immigration personnel.

Out of desperation

The Rohingyas said they resorted to protesting out of desperation. They
cannot find work or send their children to school here and also have to
live under the constant fear of being arrested and deported back to their
homeland, where persecution awaits.

At the time of their arrest, the Rohingyas had the UNHCR documents in
their possession.

Human rights groups have condemned their detention especially given the
fact that they possess protection letters recognising them as people
fleeing human rights abuses in their homeland.

UNHCR had also denied that it is delaying the resettlement and blamed
resettlement countries for being reluctant to take in Rohingyas.

The common resettlement countries for UNHCR protected refugees are Canada,
United States of America, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

The Malaysian government had also announced in October last year that the
Rohingyas would be granted temporary residency permits. However, it has
not been implemented till today.

Three missing

Meanwhile Hafiz said that three among those who were detained in the
protest were not brought to the Semenyih detention camp and their
whereabouts are unknown.

“We have asked but we don’t know where they are or where they’ve been
taken to. A woman and her two children are missing while her husband is
here with us with his two other sons,” he added.

Among those detained were two pregnant women who are in their first
trimester of pregnancy.

Contacted later, UNHCR chief representative in Malaysia Volker Turk said
if these allegations were true, it is a “serious matter”.

He said these claims would be investigated, adding that the agency kept
records of all those in possession of its protection papers.

“We have also informed the authorities on the names of those in our
protection who were detained. We have been informed that the authorities
will take two weeks for the investigations,” said Turk

He added that UNHCR will wait for the results of the investigations and
what charges are brought against the detainees (if any) before being able
to act appropriately on the situation.

In protest situations, demonstrators - including refugees - are normally
charged with either breaching the law for illegal assembly or with
immigration offences such as illegal entry.

The Rohingya do not posses passports or citizenship documents and are
deemed stateless by the Burmese miliary junta which rules its country.

Malaysia is a non-signatory to the United Nations 1951 Refugee Convention
which protects asylum seekers and refugees.

The immigration department could not be reached for comment.

_____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

March 13, The News & Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina)
Triangle gives haven to Myanmar refugees; 1 woman's journey spanned a
decade - Michael Easterbrook

The furniture in Grace Htoo's Carrboro apartment is second-hand and
mismatched. The paint on the front door is peeling. She doesn't have a job
or a car.

But Htoo (pronounced TOO) doesn't see the flaws. She sees space -- lots of
it -- and a future. Best of all, she knows she can walk out the front door
whenever she likes without fear of being arrested.

"No one can catch us," said Htoo, 37, a refugee of Myanmar who arrived in
the United States about six weeks ago. "Here, we are free."

Htoo is one of a growing number of Myanmarese who are being resettled in
North Carolina and throughout the country after years of enduring some of
the world's most wretched conditions.

Fifty-six Myanmarese refugees have come to the Triangle since 2004 --
making them the fastest-growing group of refugees in the area in recent
months, according to Lutheran Family Services in the Carolinas, which
resettles refugees.

The growth in Myanmarese refugees coincides with a rise in refugee
admissions to the United States from all parts of the world.

Before the 2001 terrorist attacks, the U.S. State Department was admitting
more than 70,000 refugees annually. Then security concerns prompted
authorities to slash admissions to fewer than 29,000 annually.

In 2004, admissions rose to 53,000, including 1,056 Myanmarese -- five
times the number in 2003. The United States could accept more than 2,000
Myanmarese refugees this year, said Veronika Martin, a policy analyst with
the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, a Washington-based group
that advocates for refugees and migrants worldwide.

Many Myanmarese refugees are Christians who speak English and are
considered hard workers.

"It's the profile of a people who might integrate more easily," Martin said.

A family's fight

The youngest of six children, Htoo was born and raised in the jungle in
eastern Myanmar (pronounced me-ON-mar), also called Burma. She's part of
an ethnic minority, the Karens, who make up 7 percent of the country's 49
million people. The Karens have been fighting for independence from
Myanmar for decades.

Htoo's mother, Tha Hser, 78, was a nurse with the rebel Karen National
Liberation Army. Htoo's father was a general in the rebel army who spoke
English and made sure his children learned it, too. Htoo speaks some
English and is fluent in Thai, Burmese and Karen.

In January 1995, 15,000 soldiers of the military junta that has ruled the
country for decades attacked the rebel army's stronghold in eastern
Myanmar. Htoo's family, and thousands of others, took refuge in
neighboring Thailand.

For Htoo, it was the start of a 10-year ordeal.

After the offensive, Htoo and her parents went to Mae Sot, a village in
western Thailand on the border with Myanmar. There, they lived in a house
owned by a friend of Htoo's father. They shared the house with another
Karen family. Fighters from the rebel army also slept there.

Htoo and her family eventually realized they'd never be able to return
home. Between 1996 and 2002, Myanmar soldiers destroyed 2,500 villages
thought to be aiding the rebel army and dislocated an estimated 1 million
people, Martin said.

Human rights abuses by the military junta continue, according to a
September report from the State Department. The report said the most
severe violations from March to September 2004 occurred in ethnic minority
areas.

"The abuses included censorship, persecution, torture, disappearances,
extrajudicial executions, the curtailing of religious freedom, demolition
of places of worship, forced relocations, rapes and forced labor," the
report said.

Today, nine camps in the mountains of western Thailand hold 142,000
Myanmarese refugees, according to another State Department report.

At least 600,000 more Myanmarese refugees live outside the camps in
Thailand -- many of them in Bangkok, Martin said.

In 1998, Htoo and her mother went to Bangkok to seek refugee status from
the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees -- the first step toward
resettlement.

Her dad stayed to fight with the army and died in 2001 at age 78.

Dangers in Bangkok

The trip to Bangkok was long -- about an eight-hour drive -- and
dangerous. Thai authorities consider Myanmarese refugees illegal
immigrants and arrest tens of thousands a year, often at checkpoints set
up on roads.

Most detained refugees are deported to Myanmar or sent to the border
region. But Martin, who recently returned from a trip to Thailand, said
there are also reports of Thai police sexually abusing refugees and
turning others over to Myanmar's military junta.

When Htoo and her mother went to Bangkok, it was the only place where
victims of the violence could apply for official refugee status.

U.N. authorities put Htoo and her mother on a waiting list for an
interview to determine whether they qualified for refugee status. While
she waited, Htoo found a job in Bangkok as a live-in housekeeper for a
Malaysian family. They paid her $100 a month.

One morning in 1999, Htoo said, Thai police asked to see her
identification while she was buying meat and vegetables at an outdoor
market. When they discovered she was Myanmarese and in the country
illegally, they locked her in jail for the night.

The next morning, they put her on a bus with dozens of other refugees,
drove her hundreds of miles to a village on the border with Myanmar and
left her there. Htoo had no money to return to Bangkok and knew no one.

She spent most of her first day there going house to house begging for
work and was eventually taken in by a Karen family. They gave her a job
cleaning their house and helping out at their grocery stall.

Months passed before Htoo's mother, who didn't have a phone in her
apartment in Bangkok, learned what had happened to her daughter. "When we
didn't hear, we worried," Hser recalled. "Is she dead or alive?"

Htoo returned to Bangkok in 2002. By then, she had a husband and a baby
girl. The three moved into a cramped, one-room apartment with Htoo's
mother, brother, two sisters, two brothers-in-law and three nieces and
nephews.

The apartment had a concrete floor and one window with a view of a wall.
It was stiflingly hot. There was no kitchen. The families cooked inside on
a portable gas stove. At night, they lay side by side on plastic mats.

The U.N. refugee group granted Htoo and her family refugee status in 2002.
The family wasn't told when or whether they would be resettled. Refugee
status allowed the family to begin receiving $75 a month from the United
Nations.

They lived on rice, fish sauce and occasionally meat. For fear of being
caught by the police, they ventured out as little as possible.

The children weren't allowed to attend Thai schools and stayed inside most
of the time; their Thai neighbors didn't like hearing Myanmarese kids
playing outside.

Once in 2003, a neighbor called the police when a playmate of one of
Htoo's nephews was making noise. The police left after seeing the family's
U.N. paperwork.

"We had to talk very politely," Htoo said. "If we don't talk politely,
they take us to jail."

The anxiety didn't subside until the jet carrying her and her husband, two
children and mother lifted off the runway in Bangkok.

At home in Carrboro

They arrived in North Carolina on Jan. 26. The resettlement agency hired
to help them was Lutheran Family Services, which in turn sought help from
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Chapel Hill. Lutheran Family Services
resettles about 370 refugees a year in the Carolinas. In addition to
Myanmarese, the agency last year resettled refugees from Somalia, Liberia
and Iran, among other countries.

The Chapel Hill church rented the apartment for Htoo and her family,
furnished it and stocked the shelves and refrigerator with food.

The U.S. government gives refugees a one-time payment of $400. Htoo said
they've been treated like royalty. "When we ask for help, people help,"
she said.

Lutheran Family Services and the church helped resettle other members of
Htoo's extended family -- 16 people in all -- in 1999 and late last year.
Those family connections explain why Htoo was resettled in the Triangle,
too.

The latest family member to arrive was Htoo's older brother, Kaizer Htoo,
42, who came March 1. Wearing a brown wool hat, he appeared stunned and
exhausted as he walked toward relatives who had gathered at Raleigh-Durham
International Airport. Some hadn't seen him for years.

Most of the extended family live in the same Carrboro apartment complex.
Htoo has a view of pine trees from the windows of her new home, which has
three bedrooms. The family room alone is twice the size of her old
apartment.

Her husband works in a hotel laundry room in Chapel Hill. Htoo hopes to
find a job soon.

In the meantime, she spends her time cooking, cleaning and taking care of
her children and mother, who has heart problems.

In her apartment, Htoo taped a drawing to a wall near the kitchen showing
three smiling children. It was made by the 5-year-old daughter of a church
volunteer helping the family. It's the only decoration Htoo has for the
apartment.

It says, "Welcome home."