BurmaNet News, July 12, 2005

[Editor]

July 12, 2005 Issue # 2758


INSIDE BURMA
SHAN: Rice shortage forcing more people to leave

ON THE BORDER
SHAN: Mongla under double heat

DRUGS
Xinhua: Industrialists in Myanmar to cooperate in curbing illicit drug
manufacture

BUSINESS / FINANCE
Mizzima: Meeting in Rangoon to discuss tri-nation gas pipeline project

REGIONAL
Bangkok Post: Recovery ‘needs migrant workers’
Bangkok Post: Tsunami’s untold story

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: Malaysia presses Rice to attend ASEAN security meeting in Laos
Irrawaddy: Proposed pipeline causes concern
The Washington Post: In Asia, Rice is criticized for plan to skip summit;
Deputy to attend regional meeting

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: Suu Kyi should not be undermined

PRESS RELEASE
USCB: US Campaign for Burma files torture case at United Nations


____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

July 11, Shan Herald Agency for News
Rice shortage forcing more people to leave

One of the main reasons for massive departures into Thailand has been
alluded by Shan relief workers in Chiangmai as the shortage of rice, the
staple food in most Asian countries.

In Kunhing township, some 320 km from the Chiangmai border, the price of
rice has shot up almost twice from 5,500 kyat ($ 5.5) per 60-liter bag to
more than 10,000 ($ 10) within the last few months.

This is in spite of the fact that the price in Kengtawng, its southern
neighbor, is 49,50 - 5,500 kyat. "However, the Army has not allowed people
to move even the paddy bran, let alone rice, out from the township," said
a refugee from Kunhing in Fang, 150 km north of Chiangmai.

A report from Kengtawng concurred with what he said. "We have surpluses
here," it reads, "but the Burmese army told us we would be punished if we
could not provide them (with rice) when they need it."

Almost 1,000 out of 5,230 arrivals in Fang from January to June are from
Kunhing.

Other reasons pointed out by the relief workers are the ongoing recruiting
campaign by the resistance and subsequent basic military trainings that
have prompted the Burma Army to crack down on the local populace.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

July 12, Shan Herald Agency for News
Mongla under double heat

Mongla, the ceasefire group-held city that stands between Burma’s Kengtung
and Yunnan’s Jinghong, has since December been reeling under pressures
imposed by the two sides, according to local sources coming to the border:

Since December, Mongla, 240 km from Thailand’s Maesai, has been undergoing
on-and-off power shutdowns and restrictions on visitors by the Yunnanese
authorities. Recently, those coming from China are no longer allowed to
have overnight stays and Chinese residents are being recalled.

“We were there for one day,” said a visitor from Japan, who was in Mongla
with his friend last month. “But as the two of us toured around the city,
we found that we were the only foreigners there. The whole place looked so
gloomy that we decided to return to Kengtung (80 km away) in the
afternoon.”

Locals were not shy taking about their situation either. “Had it not been
for visitors from Thailand, who come to gamble every week, the 3 casinos
there would have long gone out of business,” said one.

On the Chinese part, they say it is just part of Beijing’s campaign
against drugs, gambling and AIDS that began early this year.

On the other hand, the National Democratic Alliance Army – Eastern Shan
State or Special Region #4, according to the military government’s
terminology, has been receiving messages from Rangoon to consider its
“giving up arms for peace plus special privileges” offer.

“Moreover, the Burmese authorities are saying they are ready to deal with
individual units instead of the whole group,” said a former officer from
the NDAA-ESS that has there brigades: HQ security, 911th and 369th.

As a result, the group has recently concluded a military pact with the
United Wa State Army, its northern neighbor that is also facing same
pressures, to come to the aid of each other in the event of being attacked
by the Burma Army.

The NDAA-ESS is led by Sai Leun, 59, a former communist commander.

Some local Shans have commented that the recent pressures from Rangoon and
Beijing might be not just part of the campaign to force the NDAA-ESS to
surrender like two other groups, the Shan State National Army and the
Palaung State Liberation Army in April, but also part of the two
countries’ joint efforts to open up the Kengtung-Jinghong highway for
trade.

So far the main trade route between Burma’s Shan State and China’s Yunnan
is the Lashio-Manxi highway.

____________________________________
DRUGS

July 12, Xinhua News Agency
Industrialists in Myanmar to cooperate in curbing illicit drug manufacture

Chemical industrialists in Myanmar agreed with the government on Tuesday
to cooperate in curbing illicit manufacture of drugs of abuse.

The draft agreement was reached between the two parties at a two-day
workshop, sponsored by the Supervisory Committee for Controlled Chemicals
of Myanmar and the UN Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention
(UNODC), according to a statement issued at the end of the workshop.

Under the draft agreement, Myanmar is to establish a national cooperative
committee to supervise controlled precursor chemicals, to adopt the draft
on code of conduct of each chemical enterprise in prevention of chemical
abuse and to create awareness of the important role of the chemical
industrialists by launching DVD training programs.

Myanmar is a signatory to the 1988 Convention Against Illicit Traffic in
Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances and the country formed the
Supervisory Committee for Controlled Chemicals in 1998. Again in 2002, 25
kinds of precursor chemicals were prohibited and the rules for supervision
of controlled precursor chemicals was enacted in 2004.

Meanwhile, Myanmar and the UNODC has also been cooperating in the survey
of opium production in Myanmar since 2001. According to their latest joint
survey report, the opium poppy cultivation area in Myanmar stood 44,240
hectares in 2004, declining sharply by 29 percent from 2003 and 73 percent
from 1996, while opium production was 370 tons in 2004, dropping by 54
percent compared with 2003.

_____________________________________
BUSINESS / FINANCE

July 12, Mizzima
Meeting in Rangoon to discuss tri-nation gas pipeline project – Siddique
Islam

Energy officials from Burma, India and Bangladesh will meet later this
month to iron out differences between New Delhi and Dhaka over the
proposed tri-nation gas pipeline project.

A techno-commercial working committee made up of officials from the three
countries engaged in negotiations on the pipeline from Burma to India
through Bangladesh will sit across the table in the second meeting in
Rangoon this month, a Burmese newspaper reported on Monday.

The US $ one billion project, initiated by Bangladesh's Mohona Holdings
Limited, envisages a pipeline that will carry gas from a newly developed
gas field off the Burmese western Rakhine coast through Bangladesh to
Kolkata in West Bengal, India.

Ruling out other options for the tri-nation pipeline, the
techno-commercial working committee in the first meeting also decided that
a loop line will be set up from Bangladesh's Brahmanbaria to Tripura for
supplying gas to the Indian state from the main pipeline.

In providing the right of way for the pipeline, Dhaka has proposed
reduction of its huge trade imbalance with Delhi and sanction of an Indian
corridor for Bangladesh's bilateral trade with Bhutan and Nepal. It wants
to bring electricity from the two Himalayan kingdoms.

Some media reports said in view of Dhaka's demands, New Delhi was
considering alternate routes for the gas pipeline so that it would
directly enter Indian territory from Burma bypassing Bangladesh.

Speculation over India’s intention to bypass Bangladesh got a fillip when
the energy ministers of India and Burma held a meeting last week in New
Delhi. Dhaka refrained from attending the meeting as it was invited at the
eleventh hour.

However, the two energy ministers decided that India and Bangladesh should
try to work out an agreement for the trilateral pipeline. Dhaka also
thinks that the "abrupt" meeting would not hamper the project.

"The project had been initiated as a tri-partite project and it should
proceed on that basis. Bypassing Bangladesh would not only double the cost
of the project, but such an attitude would also jeopardize its future," a
senior government official said in Dhaka Monday.

He also said that they are yet to find out about the meeting scheduled to
be held in Rangoon later this month.

"We don't think that the techno-commercial committee should meet now. The
most important thing is how to proceed to sign the MOU (memorandum of
understanding) while finding ways for fulfilling conditions laid down by
Bangladesh," the official observed.

The energy ministers of the three countries agreed in principle in Rangoon
in January this year on the laying of the gas pipeline and formed the
techno-commercial committee. The committee had its first meeting in
February.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

July 12, Bangkok Post
Recovery ‘needs migrant workers’ – Anucha Charoenpo

The fishing industry in tsunami-struck Ban Nam Khem wants the Burmese
migrant workers who were rounded up and deported by Thai authorities after
the Dec 26 catastrophe to come back.

Fishing operators said the migrant workers do not pose a threat to
national security, nor do they cause trouble for the community. In fact,
they said the Burmese could play a vital role in bringing about economic
recovery in areas devastated by the giant waves.

''Without them [Burmese migrant workers], we have no workers to go out to
the deep sea to catch fish. As consumers, these workers also help generate
income for the community, spending money on food and necessities in the
market,'' said Manoch Theppithak, a fishing operator.

He said Burmese migrant workers fill a gap left by Thais who have no
interest in this kind of hard work.

There were about 1,000 Burmese workers living in the area before the
tsunami. A few hundred have returned while the rest are unaccounted for.

''We're glad to see them coming back to the community,'' he said.

Mr Manoch said he had about 100 workers before the tsunami, but now there
are just 30. Of those, only four have re-registered for work permits while
the rest are working illegally.

He said some used to work for him, but were deported after they lost their
ID documents in the waves, and the authorities then categorised them as
illegal migrants.

Mr Manoch said he had yet to register the rest of the workers because the
fee of almost 2,000 baht per person is expensive.

He called on the government to halve the fee so more employers would be
able to comply with the law.

Sompong Phumjan, a fishing operator, said the community has good feelings
towards the migrant workers.

Mr Sompong said the workers had never harmed Thai people in the community,
adding that any quarrels occurred mostly among migrants themselves.

Bew, 24, a Burmese migrant worker who returned after forced deportation,
expressed gratitude to the community and his employer for their warm
welcome and good attitude toward Burmese.

''I have lived here [Ban Nam Khem] for five years. I feel Thai people are
friendly, especially my employer. He is very generous, too,'' Bew said in
broken Thai.

A group of Burmese children in the community were happy that they were
allowed to return.

Nine-year-old May, who came to Thailand at age two, said he got along well
with Thai children in the community.

''However, I am still a little jealous of [Thai children] because I want
to wear a student uniform and go to school every morning like them,'' he
said.

_____________________________________

July 12, Bangkok Post
Tsunami’s untold story: Burmese workers paid a high price; got
second-class treatment – Anucha Charoenpo

Although it has been six months since the killer tsunami waves struck on
Dec 26, surviving Burmese migrant workers in a once-bustling fishing
village of Ban Nam Khem, one of the worst-hit areas, are still hopeful
they will find the dead bodies of their loved ones.

''I still want to see the body of my eight-month-old baby. She was swept
away by the tsunami waves while I was holding her in my arms,'' said Yao,
a 24-year-old Burmese migrant who has been working in Ban Nam Khem for
nine years.

''And I miss her all the time. My wife has cried everyday that she has
been gone. The loss of our daughter has ruined our lives,'' he said in
fluent Thai.

Yao spent many days walking around the village and area, hoping to locate
the body of his baby daughter but the efforts were in vain.

He did not dare to go and look for her body at Wat Yan Yao, where
thousands of corpses had been kept for post-mortems and identification,
because he had lost the ID card confirming his legal status in Thailand.

Critics say Burmese migrant workers who survived the tsunami have been
treated unfairly by the authorities. They did not dare to report the
disappearance of their loved ones following the disaster because they
feared they would be arrested and deported.

No one knows exactly how many Burmese migrants workers died in the Dec 26
disaster, but many believe that almost 1,000 Burmese migrants were killed
that day in the six tsunami-ravaged provinces on Thailand's Andaman coast.

Recently, 65 Burmese migrant workers in Phangnga went to the one-stop
Phuket disaster victim identification (DVI) centre to find out if their
110 missing relatives were among the thousands of bodies kept there.
Centre officials took DNA samples from them to check if they matched any
of the bodies still unidentified. The DNA testing is still in progress.

Wah, 24, who lost her mother and a four-year-old younger brother, was one
of the 65 who contacted the DVI centre. She spent three days looking for
them among the bodies kept at the centre but had no success. Then she was
deported along with her husband and daughter to Burma's Kauthaung
province.

After two months in Burma, Wah and her family are now back in Ban Nam
Khem. She said they could not find any jobs in their hometown.

_____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

July 12, Agence France Presse
Malaysia presses Rice to attend ASEAN security meeting in Laos

Malaysia on Tuesday urged US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to attend
a Southeast Asian security meeting in Laos later this month.

The United States has said Rice will skip the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF)
and the post-ministerial conference of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations annual meeting in Vientiane.

"I'm sure if she attends for one or two days, it will not divert her
agenda on trying to find a resolution to the various problems in the
Middle East because these are long-term problems," said Foreign Minister
Syed Hamid Albar.

"Just deciding not to attend, I don't think it sends a good signal," he
was quoted as saying by the Bernama news agency.

On Monday Syed Hamid said Rice's decision to skip the meeting was
"regrettable" and indicated Washington was losing interest in the region.

But he disagreed with speculation that the United States was attempting to
pressure ASEAN into making sure that military-ruled Myanmar did not take
up chairmanship of the group next year.

"They have given us the reason that they are very occupied with the Middle
East," he said. "It has sent a very uneasy signal. This is the first time
-- it is unusual."

Asked if Rice's decision not to attend could be viewed as a US snub to
ASEAN, Syed Hamid said: "You cannot help such perception to be considered
because it has never happened before".

Concerns over Myanmar, also known as Burma, have become a sticking point,
and Washington has warned that ASEAN's reputation would be tarnished if
Yangon took up the rotating leadership of the 10-member grouping.

Speaking in Thailand, Rice urged Southeast Asian nations to press the
junta to reform and said there could be a "possible case for
reconciliation" if it freed opposition leader and Nobel laureate Aung San
Suu Kyi from house arrest.

The meeting in the Lao capital includes a July 28-29 dialogue between
ASEAN and its key trading partners, notably the United States, the
European Union, China, Japan and Russia, as well as the ARF, the only
official security meeting in the Asia-Pacific region.

Analysts have warned that Rice's non-attendance could hurt US credentials
in the region and deepen doubts over Southeast Asia's importance to US
foreign policy-makers.

US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick will represent Washington at
the talks.

It will be the first time in about two decades that a US secretary of
state has not attended the annual ASEAN foreign ministers' summit and the
ARF.

_____________________________________

July 12, Irrawaddy
Proposed pipeline causes concern – Clive Parker

International rights group Amnesty International and the International
Confederation of Free Trade Unions have warned that the recently proposed
Burma-India gas pipeline could result in serious human rights violations.

The Yadana pipeline, a joint venture between Total of France and Unocal of
the US, resulted in substantial forced labor allegations which were
settled out of court earlier this year, a situation that ICFTU warns could
happen again. “We are very much concerned about that project [the
India-Burma pipeline] on the basis of what happened with Yadana,” a
representative of the organization told The Irrawaddy. “We cannot imagine
that there will not be forced labor involved at some point.”

The organization admitted it will be very difficult to monitor the
progress of every section of the proposed project, whose route is still to
be finalized and could also include Bangladesh.

Earth Rights International, a Washington-based group, has already warned
about the pipeline, which it describes as “another Yadana
in the making.”

Amnesty International said it was also “concerned” by the proposed US $1
billion project because of the already vulnerable groups based in the area
in which the pipeline will likely be built.

“We’re concerned about forced labor and obviously we’re also concerned
because this goes through Rakhine [Arakan] State
 it is likely that it
could go through the two to three predominantly Rohingya townships where
forced labor is particularly bad,” a representative of the organization in
London said today.

Amnesty International said “extremely reliable sources” had given
testimony concerning particularly serious cases of forced labor in Arakan
before the dismantling of Burma’s Military Intelligence last year.
According to Amnesty International, the situation had improved slightly
but is again serious.

“We are very concerned about this and we would ask that any company that
is considering constructing this pipeline takes this into consideration
very seriously,” it said.

“Amnesty International does not oppose the construction of pipelines. On
the other hand, that does not mean we support a pipeline venture where we
know there is a long, well-documented history of abuses.”

The International Labor Organization has refused to comment directly on
the project, instead referring to the measures it reactivated against
Burma only last month when it advised its members to reconsider their
relations with the regime in Rangoon.

A representative of the ILO said “What we have asked for is a report from
each of the member states [of the ILO] before November on the action that
they have taken to review their relations with Myanmar [Burma].”

Talks on the proposed pipeline were held just last week in Delhi between
India’s Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mani Shankar Aiyar, and his
Burmese counterpart, Bri-Gen Lun Thi. Both parties are planning to sign a
Memorandum of Understanding once India has come to a separate agreement
with Bangladesh, who boycotted last week’s talks after receiving its
invitation only the day beforehand.

The pipeline looks set to run from Sittwe in Arakan State and pass through
Bangladesh to Calcutta in India, pending an agreement between the three
parties, which could happen as soon as the end of July when talks resume
in Rangoon.

The Indian and Bangladesh embassies in Rangoon refused to comment on the
pipeline project for this article.

_____________________________________

July 12, The Washington Post
In Asia, Rice is criticized for plan to skip summit; Deputy to attend
regional meeting – Glenn Kessler

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, making a goodwill visit here Monday
to inspect reconstruction efforts after the Indian Ocean tsunami, was
dogged with questions about her decision to skip an annual gathering of
Southeast Asian nations this month that had been a regular diplomatic stop
for her predecessors.

For more than two decades, every secretary of state has attended important
meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and Rice's choice
-- which she officially confirmed Monday -- has been interpreted in the
region as a major diplomatic snub. Her deputy, Robert B. Zoellick, will go
instead, she said.

Before flying by helicopter to this tiny village to visit a school and
dormitories being built for tsunami orphans, Rice told reporters in
Thailand's Phuket resort area that she had "other essential travel
elsewhere that I have to do in roughly the same time frame" when the
10-member group holds a ministerial meeting July 24-29 in Vientiane, Laos.

"I am really sorry I am not able to go," Rice added, describing ASEAN as a
"vital organization that I want to engage more."

Rice is planning a trip to Africa later this month, aides said. She has
made no secret of her desire to cut down on the routine summitry that
clogs the calendar of top diplomats, having already passed up a
U.S.-European Union meeting that was considered de rigueur.

After touring the reconstruction site and joining about 50 fresh-scrubbed
students for a rendition of the "ABC" song in English, Rice again was
asked why she was passing up the ASEAN event. Her host, Deputy Prime
Minister Surakiart Sathirathai, curtly told the reporter to keep the
question limited to the tsunami before Rice answered: "I'm here to show
how much the United States cares about Southeast Asia."

The United States has pledged nearly $1 billion in aid -- and private
contributions have topped that -- to help rebuild areas devastated by the
earthquake-driven tsunami that struck 11 countries on Dec. 26, killing
more than 220,000 people. Many of the more than 5,000 dead in Thailand
were foreign tourists vacationing along the pristine beaches of Phuket.

U.S. secretaries of state have generally arrived at the tail end of ASEAN
ministerial meetings, attending discussions between ASEAN and its major
trading partners as well as an Asia-Pacific security meeting, which this
year will be held July 28-29. Rice's predecessor, Colin L. Powell, twice
used the venue to hold talks with his North Korean counterpart.

Foreign ministers attending the meeting are also expected to partake in
humorous song-and-dance performances poking fun at themselves and their
colleagues.

As word leaked out in recent weeks that Rice would not attend, many
commentators interpreted the move as a sign that the United States was
ceding the region to China, which is rapidly building trade and diplomatic
links with ASEAN's members. Later this month, for instance, China and
Indonesia will sign a strategic partnership between their defense
industries.

Kavi Chongkittavorn, the editor of the Nation, an English-language daily
in Thailand, wrote in a commentary Monday that Rice's absence "will be
criticized as a sign of disinterest in the region" and "will not resonate
well."

Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told reporters in Kuala
Lumpur, the Malaysian capital, that "the absence is sending an uneasy
signal" and he hoped it did not indicate the United States was downgrading
its interest in Southeast Asia.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore, on an official visit to
Washington to sign a strategic partnership agreement with the United
States, said that Rice's absence from the ASEAN summit might mean the
United States will miss an opportunity to strengthen its ties to the
region at a time when China is making inroads.

"We are disappointed, of course," Lee said in an interview at his
Georgetown hotel. "We understand that she's preoccupied with North Korea
and she's meeting some other important persons in China."

"The Chinese are working very hard to cultivate the ASEAN countries, very
intelligently and effectively," Lee said. "And I think the right response
for America is similarly intelligently and effectively to develop your
links with the ASEAN countries, because actually all of the countries want
to have good links in all directions."

U.S. officials dismissed the uproar over Rice's plans not to attend the
conference as silly and unproductive. They said Zoellick was a powerful
deputy with vast experience in the region who already knows many key
officials from his tenure as U.S. trade representative.

Complicating matters is that Burma -- earlier labeled by Rice as an
"outpost of tyranny" -- is due to take over the rotating chairmanship of
ASEAN next year. Some human rights activists said Rice might have been
able to make a better case for withholding the chairmanship from Burma by
attending this year's meeting and threatening not to show up if Burma
hosted next year's gathering.

_____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

July 12, Irrawaddy
Suu Kyi should not be undermined – Aung Lwin Oo

Rangoon’s women are busy these days. Since early July, a women’s group
headed by the junta’s first ladies has been railing against the ILO,
ICFTU, exiled opposition groups and, in particular, Aung San Suu Kyi.

The government-backed Myanmar Women’s Affairs Federation has held mass
rallies across the country since July 3 to mark “Myanmar Women’s Day”, and
the official New Light of Myanmar has provided coverage of the events. The
group has branded the charismatic pro-democracy leader Suu Kyi “a puppet
woman” who is under the influence of “neo-colonialist countries and
accomplices.” They also claim, with respect to the considerable sums of
award money earned by Suu Kyi, that “she spent the money for the good of
her husband and two sons but not for the country.”

Has Suu Kyi really neglected her country?

Scores of Burmese scholars around the world are benefiting from the
UK-based Prospect Burma, heavily supported by Suu Kyi. The project aims to
fund “scholarships for young Burmese, most of whom have been forced to
look for their education abroad,” and most of the money that Suu Kyi has
earned from her many international awards has been used “to invest in the
democratic future of Burma through its young people.”

“The future of my country lies in the hands of the younger generation,”
Suu Kyi stated in her appeal for support of Prospect Burma, which was not
her only mission on behalf of her country. She once planned to establish a
foundation named “Aung San,” to commemorate her late father and the chief
architect of Burma’s independence from Great Britain. Suu Kyi has always
had the welfare of her people in mind, and she has fought for educational
assistance for Burmese citizens at home. The organization Aung San was
ultimately aborted after the government began to place severe restrictions
on her activities.

The pro-government Myanmar Women’s Affairs Federation alleges that Suu Kyi
received so many awards from western countries, including the Nobel Peace
Prize, so that she might manipulate the country’s affairs. They have
further stated that she didn’t spend a dime of the millions of dollars
earned from her many awards to benefit her people or her country.

It is ironic, then, given all these millions of dollars earned, that Suu
Kyi was nearly forced to sell some of the furnishings of her lakeside home
to support herself while under house arrest.

The MWAF was formed on December 20, 2003, and though the group claims to
be a growing institution with over 1 million members, many of these
“members” become so without their consent or even their knowledge.

The group was previously headed by ousted prime minister Gen Khin Nyunt’s
wife Khin Win Shwe. That position has now been taken over by Than Than
Nwe, the wife of Prime Minister Gen Soe Win. Kyaing Kyaing, wife of junta
leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe, serves as an honorary patron of the
organization.

Because of the group’s link to the ruling junta—and since its strong
rhetoric would obviously require official approval—it is almost certain
that their opinions about Suu Kyi reflect the thinking of Burma’s military
rulers. This suggests that the regime wishes to undermine Suu Kyi’s role
as a political leader. As long as the regime and its female accomplices
fail to recognize the role of Suu Kyi and refuse to work with her, their
credibility will suffer and Burma’s reconciliation will remain a distant
and dwindling hope.

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

July 12, US Campaign for Burma
US Campaign for Burma files torture case at United Nations

Burmese Officials named in murder of youth democracy activist, case
referred to United Nations as evidence pours in

The US Campaign for Burma today filed a formal case with the United
Nations after military rulers of the Southeast Asian country of Burma
abducted a youth member of the country's democracy movement while he was
eating lunch at a restaurant and subsequently tortured him to death. The
case comes as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is traveling
throughout Asia and after the torture and murder was brought to
international attention by Fred Hiatt, the editorial page editor of the
Washington Post, who penned a commentary about the abduction and execution
on the newspaper's opinion page.

In a 38-page case submitted to Philip Alston, the United Nations Special
Rapporteur on Extra-Judicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, the US
Campaign for Burma provided detailed facts outlining the kidnapping and
murder of Burmese democracy activist Aung Hlaing Win by Burma's
intelligence services. Importantly, the case named three members of
Burma's military intelligence--Lieutenant Colonel Min Hlaing, Captain Sai
Aung Win, and Captain Zaw Min Kyaw--believed to be responsible for the
murder.

"We have submitted this report to the United Nations for further
investigation. We are also keeping files that identify those members of
the Tatmadaw [military regime] who are engaging in torture, killings, and
rape. We look forward to sharing this information so that justice can be
served. Murderers have names. They can not hide,"' stated Aung Din, policy
director at US Campaign for Burma.

Aung Hlaing Win was a member of the National League for Democracy, the
political party that leads Burma's democracy movement. The party's leader
and the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient--Aung San Suu
Kyi--is currently being held under house arrest by the ruling military
junta. They junta has also imprisoned over 1,000 other political
prisoners, while committing horrific human rights abuses throughout the
countryside, including the destruction of at least 2,500 villages in
eastern Burma.

Aung Hlaing Win was dragged from a restaurant in the capitol city of
Rangoon on May 1st by what appeared to be four plain-clothes intelligence
officers. Ten days later, his family was informed by Lieutenant Colonel
Min Hlaing, the commander of Military Intelligence Base #1, that Aung
Hlaing Win had died in custody after suffering a heart attack and that his
body had already been cremated. The Lt. Col. offered Aung Hlaing Win's
family $100 to pay for a memorial service, but the family refused the
money.

Since Aung Hlaing Win had no previous health problems, his family filed a
case at a local township court. In an extremely rare move that activists
believe was an accident, the township judge permitted a doctor who had
viewed Aung Hlaing Win's body to testify in a pre-trial hearing that his
death was the result of a extensive and severe injuries inflicted upon his
body. However, court officials, who serve only to do the bidding of the
ruling military junta, called the death "natural" and dismissed the case.

Unfortunately, Aung Hlaing Win's case is not isolated. Over 90 democracy
activists have died or been killed behind bars in Burma in recent years.
As the news media focuses on the anniversary of the slaughter in
Srebrenica, activists on Burma have begun to collect information aimed at
prosecuting Burma's military regime unless they agree to participate in a
national transformation under the auspices of the United Nations.

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights established the Working
Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance in 1980 and appointed a
Special Rapporteur in 1982 with the mandate to submit a comprehensive
report to the Commission on the occurrence and extent of the practice of
summary or arbitrary executions, together with his conclusions and
recommendations. The rapporteur also takes action on individual cases of
extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions.

For More Information Contact: Jeremy Woodrum or Cristina Moon, (202)
223-0300