BurmaNet News, August 20-22, 2005

[Editor]

August 20-22, 2005 Issue # 2787


INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Myanmar to resume constitutional talks by December: UN envoy
AFP: Myanmar AIDS fighters regret withdrawal by Global Fund
Mizzima News : Peace broker contacts Burma's KNPP for "Arms for Peace" deal

ON THE BORDER
Kaladan News: UNHCR criticized Government for not helping UN protect
Refugee rights

DRUGS
SHAN: Opium prices increase 100 fold in Kayah

BUSINESS / FINANCE
Bangkok Post: Advisers urge teak imports be approved
Deutsche Presse-Agentur: Thai national oil firm seeks 15 per cent in
Myanmar field

REGIONAL
AFP: Thailand tsunami victim identification could take three years: police

OPINION / OTHER
Chinland Guardian: Has the world’s largest democracy turned its back on
the cause of democracy in Burma?

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

August 20, Agence France Presse
Myanmar to resume constitutional talks by December: UN envoy

Yangon: Constitutional talks suspended by Myanmar's military rulers and
designed as the first step on the junta's "road map" to democracy, are due
to resume by December, a visiting UN envoy said on Saturday.

Former Indonesian foreign minister Ali Alatas on Friday held a rare
meeting with the junta's top five leaders to discuss reforms at the United
Nations, and later met organisers of a national convention charged with
drafting a new constitution.

Alatas, who wrapped up the last of a three-day visit to impoverished
Myanmar, told reporters the meeting with constitutional talks organisers
and others with government-backed social groups were added to his agenda
by the junta.

"It was quite interesting but I didn't come for this," Alatas said,
stressing his mandate was the UN reform process.

He said national convention senior organiser Judge Aung Toe told him the
talks -- which the junta suspended in March -- would resume by December.

"All I did was listen to what they have to say," he said.

The European Union, the United States, the United Nations and human rights
groups consider the national convention a sham because it has been
boycotted by the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) of Aung
San Suu Kyi, who has been under her latest stint of house arrest since May
2003.

Alatas did not meet the NLD or any other opposition groups and said he did
not discuss domestic politics or the release of Aung San Suu Kyi during
Friday's talks with reclusive junta leader Senior General Than Shwe.

The NLD on Friday told AFP Alatas's visit would do little to ease
Myanmar's political impasse, adding only a visit by UN Secretary General
Kofi Annan would help improve the present political impasse.

Alatas said a visit by Annan was not directly discussed during his talks,
but remained a possibility. The junta has invited Annan to visit.

Alatas' visit came as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and
Malaria said on Friday it was pulling out of Myanmar because the junta had
slapped too many restrictions on relief efforts.

Alatas had a private meeting with UN staff before he left for Indonesia
via Singapore but it was not known if he discussed the Global Fund.

Myanmar state media carried no reports about the withdrawal.

The Thailand-based Forum for Democracy in Burma rights group said the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) should use the Global
Fund's decision to put more pressure on Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.

"We urge (ASEAN) to intervene on the regime for the freedom of activity
and movement by the international non-governmental organisations and
Burmese people for their efforts to handle social problems," forum
secretary general Naing Aung said in a statement.

The Global Fund allocated 35 million dollars for its Myanmar operations
over 2005-6.

Myanmar has southeast Asia's second highest number of HIV/AIDS cases after
Thailand, and one of the world's highest rates of new tuberculosis cases.

____________________________________

August 20, Agence France Presse
Myanmar AIDS fighters regret withdrawal by Global Fund

Yangon: The decision by an international anti-AIDS body to leave
military-ruled Myanmar will set back efforts to fight the disease, a local
doctor and campaigner said on Saturday.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria said on Friday it
was pulling out because the junta had imposed too many restrictions and
created "an impossibly difficult environment to work in."

Dr Min Thwe, deputy director of the government's National AIDS Programme,
told AFP he and his colleagues felt "very sorry for this abrupt
termination.

"It could mean many difficulties for our future extended plans for people
living with HIV, and our prevention plans," Min Thwe said.

Among the programme's projects are providing anti-retroviral drugs to some
of Myanmar's more than 330,000 people living with HIV/AIDS.

The Global Fund considers Myanmar, under military rule since 1962, the
worst HIV/AIDS-affected country in Southeast Asia after Thailand and had
allocated 35 million dollars for operations over 2005-6.

The country has 97,000 new cases of tuberculosis annually -- one of the
highest rates in the world -- and a drug-resistant strain of the disease
is on the increase.

Some 600,000 people, most of them poor, get malaria every year. The death
toll is 3,000.

"To get another donor like Global Fund will be impossible in the future,"
Min Thwe said, but vowed the programme would keep working.

An official whose international non-governmental organisation is working
against HIV/AIDS in Myanmar said she was saddened by the pullout.

"It was a very big loss for our country," she said on condition of
anonymity. "Some NGOs have many donors...some have to depend on only
Global Fund."

State media carried no reports on Saturday about the withdrawal.

The New York-based Council on Foreign Relations said in a report published
last month several strains of HIV found in an area from eastern India to
southern Vietnam could all be traced back to Myanmar.

"The genetic HIV evidence is a smoking gun, fingering Burma," report
author Laurie Garrett wrote, using Myanmar's former name.

"The Burmese HIV contribution to much of Asia poses a clear security
threat to the region."

The Thailand-based Forum for Democracy in Burma said the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations should use the Global Fund's decision to put more
pressure on Myanmar.

____________________________________

August 22, Mizzima News
Peace broker contacts Burma's KNPP for "Arms for Peace" deal - Han Pai

The middleman in the Kayah State Peace deal between Burmese military
government (State Peace and Development Council) and Karenni National
Progressive Party (KNPP), U Saw Thein has contacted KNPP leaders on August
21, 2005 afternoon from his Kayah State, Loikaw residence.

KNPP secretary, U Rimond Htoo told Mizzima, "U Saw Thein contacted us by
phone yesterday. He said that SPDC still welcomes KNPP for "arms for
peace" deal. If the deal is not satisfactory to the KNPP, it may go back
to armed struggle."

"He said that SPDC is renewing the peace deal it reached with the KNPP in
1995. It is still valid and there was no need to return to the beginning.
The 1995 agreement still holds good. If the KNPP agrees to come back, the
junta is ready to provide all necessary assistances in development,
business, food and shelter," U Rimond Htoo added.

U Saw Thein has acted as middleman between KNPP and SPDC since 1993. The
representatives of these middlemen groups will bring an official letter
from SPDC very soon. This is the first time such a contact between SPDC
and KNPP has been made since the ouster of Prime Minister Gen. Khin Nyunt
last year.

U Rimond Htoo said, "It is not a new proposal. "Arms for Peace" is the
same with the old slogan "Renounce armed struggle and return to legal
fold." There's no difference.

He added, "We still don't know what their attitude is about us and the
peace deal. It will be known only after meeting them. Even the 1995
agreement reached with them, it took two to three years to finalize it. It
broke when they failed to honour their obligations and promises."

He also said that the peace talk depends only on the message and proposal,
which will be brought by the middlemen from the SPDC.

At present, the guns are silent between SPDC and KNPP as it is the monsoon
season.

But sporadic artillery fire is still heard from the "Nyar Mu" outpost on
Thai-Burma border controlled by KNPP. This operation started this June.
But there is no final assault or a major offensive launched against this
outpost.

SPDC had reached the ceasefire agreement with KNPP in March 1995. But this
agreement lasted only three months.

____________________________________
ON THE  BORDER

August19, Kaladan News
UNHCR criticized Government for not helping UN protect Refugee rights

Chittagong: UNHCR representative to Bangladesh; Christoper BC Lee
yesterday criticized the Bangladesh Government for not signing the 1951 UN
Convention on the status of refugees to protect basic human rights of the
refugees in the country.

"The government does not allow us to make arrangements for minimum
standard houses for Rohingya refugees, education of their children,
plantation in their camps and teaching them Bangla language that they
speak," he said at a workshop on 'Refugees' Rights and Role of Medial' in
a city hotel, organized by the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees.

The refugee crisis often arises from political reasons, but humanity
should be considered above all limitations and obstacles. So it should not
take the issue politically. Bangladesh government should understand the
UNHCR is also working to change the situation in Burma and that Rohingyas
will not be here permanently, Lee insisted.

“The UN organization faces challenge in every country as it works with
those who are not nationals of that particular country, he more added.

If Dhaka signs the convention, there will be a legal framework to identify
if they are ‘economic migrants, criminals or refugees’. Signing the
convention would help reduce present problems in bilateral dealings in
this regard, also the international community will also come forward to
help solve the problems,  Advocate Naim Ahmed of the Supreme Court, point
out


Naim described in detail the ins and outs of the 1951 Convention with
special focus on Bangladesh perspective in his presentation, ‘The Refugee
Convention and Adoption of National Legislation on Refugees: Bangladesh
Perspective.’

Dr CR Abrar, executive director of Refugee and Migratory Movement Research
Unit, regretted that the civil society in the country is indifferent to
protection of refugees' rights.

He recalled that during the Liberation War, a large number of Bangladeshis
took shelter in a neighbouring country and called upon journalists to
write reports on refugee issues on humanitarian and legal grounds.

Uttam Kumar Das, National protection officer of UNHCR, also presented a
paper entitled, ‘Rights of the Refugees’.

At present, over 20,000 Rohingya refugees at two camps: Nayapare and
Kutupalong, in Cox's Bazar and many more unregistered ones are spread
across the southeast border districts of the country.

____________________________________
DRUGS

August 22, Shan Herald Agency for News
Opium prices increase 100 fold in Kayah

At least 3 of the 7 townships in Kayah, also known as Karenni, once
foreign to the poppy culture, have become dependent on it since Burma’s
present military leadership took power in 1988, according to a recent
report by an independent data collecting team.

“Ten years ago, I was paid 300 kyat ($3) per viss (1.6 kg),” Tu Reh, a
villager in Loikaw township, told border-based Karenni Anti-Drug Action
Committee. “But now they are offering 280,000 ($280)  300,000 kyat
($300).”

The exchange rate, 100 kyat to the dollar ten years ago, is hovering
around 1,000 kyat today.

The KADAC team that returned to the border after a 3-month tour to the
Shan-Karenni border found Loikaw, Demawso and Pruso townships becoming
major opium producers. “Our village output alone is at least 300 viss
(480kg),” boasts Tu Reh.

Official interference, sources claim, has been minimal. Only unproductive
fields are destroyed as evidence, not unlike townships in Shan State.
“They even advise us not to grow close to the roads,” said another
villager, Soe Reh.

Opium tax is paid to the local Burma Army units through the ceasefire
groups. “When there are buyers, we pay in kind,” said one. “But when there
are no buyers, we pay cash.”

The team also observed that all 4 Shan townships next to Kayah State,
namely, Pekhon (Faikhun) Hsihseng, Mawkmai and Homong also produce
poppies. Four refineries, operated by ethnic Chinese, are under the
protection of local ceasefire groups and Burma Army units.

The ceasefire groups that are operating in the Shan-Kayah border areas are
identified as Pa-O National Army (“White Pa-O”), Shan Nationalities People
Liberation Organization (“Red Pa-O”) and Karenni Nationalities People
Liberation Front.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / FINANCE

August 22, Bangkok Post
Advisers urge teak imports be approved - Cheewin Sattha

The advisory team of the natural resources and environment minister is
seeking permission for Polpana Co to import teak under its Burmese
concession into Thailand through Mae Hong Son province.

It believes the import route is unlikely to encourage illegal logging in
Salween forest.

If the permission is granted, Polpana will be the first Thai company to
import wood from Burma since the business was halted 11 years ago.

Minister Yongyuth Tiyapairat's advisers joined a delegation led by
Chartchai Kijcharoenwong, managing director of the company, to survey its
import route recently. The delegation included police, military and
administrative authorities of Mae Hong Son province.

The route reaches Mae Hong Son through the Ban Na Hua Laem border passage,
also known as BP 12, in Khun Yuam district.

According to a provincial source, the delegation agreed that the route
should not encourage illegal logging in Salween forest because it does not
pass through the forest but through several sites of state agencies.

Polpana Co is one of four Thai logging companies that won logging
concessions from Burma. It sealed a contract with Burma's Myanmar Timber
Enterprise to acquire 1,600 tonnes of teak. Most of the trees were already
felled and have waited for import consent about five kilometres from the
Ban Na Hua Laem border passage for 11 years.

The concessions expired during the long wait and Burma decided not to
extend them until import permission was obtained from the Thai government.

Polpana Co recently sent a petition to Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
In the meantime, Burma told the government that it still wanted to export
its teak amounting to 15,000 tonnes from Kayah state through the BP 12
passage and the BP 15 passage in Mae Sariang district, Mae Hong Son.

Chanatt Lauhawatana, managing director of the state-owned Forest Industry
Organisation, has asked Mae Hong Son governor Supoj Laowansiri to open
both border passages. Meanwhile, workers have taken log-drawing machines
into log yards in Burma to prepare to move the timber.

Mr Yongyuth's advisory team will seek import permission from the minister.
It also wants the Burmese government to extend Polpana's concession to
enable the imports to go ahead.

____________________________________

August 22, Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Thai national oil firm seeks 15 per cent in Myanmar field

Bangkok: PTT Public Listed Company - Thailand's national petroleum company
- is seeking a 15 per cent stake in a huge offshore natural gas field in
Myanmar's (Burma's) Bay of Bengal, news reports said on Monday.

The A 1 field, under an exploration and development concession belonging
to South Korea's Daewoo Group, is expected to sell its natural gas to
Thailand via a 1,000 kilometre long undersea pipeline that will connect it
with the Yadana and Yetagun fields - two other offshore fields in the
Andaman Sea, said the Bangkok Post.

PTT' senior executive vice president Chitraponge Kwangsukstith said the
company wants a 15 per cent stake in A 1 field in exchange for its
agreement to purchase the gas.

PTT already holds a 25.5 per cent stake in the Yadana field and a 19.3 per
cent stake in the Yetagun field, which export natural gas to Thailand via
undersea and overland pipelines.

_____________________________________
REGIONAL

August 22, Agence France Presse
Thailand tsunami victim identification could take three years: police

Bangkok: Identifying all those killed by last year's tsunami in Thailand
could take up to three years, because many victims were illegal migrants
whose families are afraid to come forward, police said Monday.

Police General Noppadol Somboonsub, head of the Thai Tsunami Victim
Identification Information Management Centre, said some 2,200 bodies had
been identified out of 3,777 its Phuket centre received over the past
eight months.

But the remainder, believed to include undocumented Cambodian and Myanmar
workers, would take longer to investigate because of delays in obtaining
information like fingerprints and DNA samples from relatives, he said.

"We have information that some families who are still staying in Thailand
might not have the legal documents, so they are afraid to come forward,"
he told a press conference.

Noppadol said last week that all the western victims of the December 26
tsunami should be identified by the end of 2005, and that the remainder
should be accounted for by the end of 2006.

But he said Monday that the process could drag on for two to three years
because of the difficulties with illegal migrants.

The Interior Ministry's Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department has
determined that 5,399 people died in six southern Thai provinces in the
disaster.

Among them were 2,248 foreign tourists, 1,972 Thais and 1,179 people whose
nationality could not yet be determined.

Noppadol said investigators had been liaising with the International
Organisation for Migration (IOM) to help in the identification process.

An IOM spokesman said that in March it expanded an anti-tuberculosis
migrant health project from the Thai-Myanmar border area to the
tsunami-affected provinces of Phuket, Phang Nga and Ranong.

IOM community health workers have interviewed 150 Myanmar migrants who
lost family members in the tsunami and provided information including
physical descriptions, photographs, fingerprints and DNA samples, he said.

Noppadol spoke at a ceremony where the Australian embassy and emergency
services firm Kenyon donated some 100,000 dollars worth of computers and
mortuary equipment to the Phuket identification centre and a local
hospital.

Australia's ambassador to Thailand William Paterson said the operation was
the biggest of its kind in history and that it had been done "to the
highest international standards".

He said Australia still had 10 police officers working at the
identification centre, compared to 80 immediately after the tsunami, and
that it would remain involved until the process was completed.

A foreign ministry official at the ceremony said that Thailand was
planning to hold three ceremonies to mark the one-year anniversary of the
disaster, in the worst-hit areas of Khao Lak, Krabi and Phuket provinces.

Details were still being finalised and would be announced later, he said.

_____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER


August 22, Chinland Guardian
Has the world’s largest democracy turned its back on the cause of
democracy in Burma? - Ram Uk Thang

A Cause Betrayed

(Editor’s Note: In the wake of India’s renewed offensive against Burma’s
pro-democracy opposition groups, notably the Chin National Front sine July
2005, many activists based in India are increasingly frustrated and are
helplessly feeling that their cause has been betrayed by the world’s
largest democracy, a country they have always looked to for support. The
uncertainty and disappointment brought about by the storming of Camp
Victoria, CNF’s headquarters by the Mizoram Armed Police on July 21, has
many Chins raised though questions. Mizos and Chins consider themselves
ethnically and culturally closely related. The following article takes on
a unique angle on Indo-Burma relations in the wake of India’s recent
military operations against the Chin National Front.)

India prides itself on being the world’s largest democracy, a country of
diverse cultures and civilization. With such a prestige, India stands on
the side of those supporting the promotion of democracy and human rights
around the world. As a regional and emerging world power, India has a
unique responsibility to support democracy and freedom movement in
countries across the regions of Asia.


>From the time of the first government of independent India under Prime

Minister Jawaharlal Nehru through the era of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi,
successive governments of the Congress Party of India has taken a
principled stand to support freedom movement in Asia and around the world.
It was through this noble foreign policy that India quickly threw its
support behind the movement for democracy in Burma in 1988 when thousands
of unarmed pro-democracy demonstrators were butchered and exiled by
Burmese Armed Forces. Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi of the Congress Party of
India wholeheartedly and unreservedly supported those working to restore
the respect for human rights, dignity and democracy in one of India’s most
important neighboring countries. India showed its continued support for
the cause of freedom and democracy in Burma by awarding the Jawaharlal
Nehru Award for International Understanding to Burma’s pro-democracy
leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi in 1995 and Rajiv
Shmirti Parashka award in 1996.

However, it is very unfortunate that the current administration of the
Congress party led by Sonia Gandhi has chosen to foster economic and
security engagement with Burma’s military junta at the expense of those
working to restore fundamental freedom, human rights and democratic
governance in Burma, a stance that has completely diverted from the legacy
of the predecessor Congress government. Concerned by China’s growing
economic and military influence in its neighbor and simmering insurgencies
in the North East, India has signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
with Burma, a bilateral agreement that would increase trade and security
cooperation between the two countries. What does this mean in practical
terms? India has essentially chosen to embrace a pariah state in pursuit
of short-term economic interests, thus effectively walking away from its
longstanding traditional policy of putting principle above all other
considerations.

In this context, it is inconceivable that the world’s largest democratic
country has turned its back on the movement for freedom and democracy in
Burma. The recent attack on the headquarters of Chin National Front, a
major opposition force in Burma’s democratic movement has brought deep
disappointment and frustration to those still struggling for the
reinstatement of a civilian democratic government in Rangoon. India should
be mindful of the fact that in choosing to side with the military junta,
it is dealing with an illegitimate regime that is responsible for
displacing nearly half a million of its citizens to Thailand, India and
Bangladesh and internally displacing more than a million people inside the
country. Burma’s military regime still imprisons more than 1300 political
prisoners including the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi and
leaders of opposition parties. For more than one decade, the United
Nations Commission on Human Rights and the International Labor
Organization have repeatedly condemned the regime’s systematic practice of
forced labor and violations of fundamental human rights. The UN General
Assembly, proposing a Tripartite Dialogue, has passed resolutions after
resolution urging the Burmese military regime to enter into a political
dialogue with pro-democracy oppositions led by the National League for
Democracy and representatives of Burma’s ethnic groups. To this end,
Secretary General Kofi Anan under the power mandated by the General
Assembly has been endeavoring to restore human rights and civilian
democratic rule in Burma through his Special Envoy Razali Ismail and
Special Human Rapportuer Mr. Paul Sergio Pinheiro. The growing friendly
relations with Burma’s military junta and India’s recent attacks on Chin
National Front, a major player in Burma’s democratic movement, is
seriously undermining the international effort to bring about democracy
and respect for human rights in Burma.

Where are the ideals of human rights and dignity that are affirmed in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights? Where is the principle and visions
of democracy? And where are the security and safety of the oppressed
people? Does might still determine right? These are the questions that
immediately come to mind in light of India’s unprincipled actions.

Mizos and Chins are blood brothers. It was only in 1947 that we became
separated into two different countries. The only difference that lies
between us is the fact that those integrated into India call themselves
Mizos while those concentrated in Burma call themselves Chins. We share
the same ancestry, history and culture. It is said that blood is thicker
than water. And because we are bound by our blood no one can set us apart.

On June 21 this year, amidst pressure from the Central Government, the
Mizoram Armed Police stormed and destroyed the Headquarters of Chin
National Front, a group that has been fighting against Burma’s military
dictatorship for the rights of Chin people and restoration of democracy in
Burma. This was very unfortunate! If only people would realize the sad
fate of the Chin people who have been victims of oppression and ethnic
cleansing at the hands of the Burma Army. The suffering of Chin people is
the suffering of Mizo people because we are one and the same people. The
movement of the Chin people today is a movement for democracy and human
rights. And it is in India’s long-term interest to have a democratic
country in its neighbor as well as in the regions of Asia. On the
contrary, it was very unfortunate that the government of Mizoram had
ordered that attacks on Chin National Front. It is troubling to think that
this incident might leave a black spot in our history.

For 20 years from 1966 to 1986 the Mizo National Front had led an armed
struggle for Mizoram statehood and liberation of the Mizo people. During
these years, it is common knowledge as to how staunchly and wholeheartedly
the movement was supported by Chin people living in Burma and Bawm people
living in Bangladesh. The mere fact that we are separated by artificially
created international boundaries did not deter us from standing together
in times of importance and hardship. Rather, we were reminded of how
intimately close people we were!

Many people were elated and encouraged when the MNF was elected to lead
the Mizoram Government. For those in hardship, the election of the MNF was
greeted with a deep sense of optimism. And it is a fact that in the minds
of our people the international boundaries do not exist between us. We’ve
always counted on the fact that as brothers we will stand by each other’s
side in times of joy and hardship. We are to feed each other when one is
hungry and provide shelter when another is in need of refuge. That is what
family is all about. Unless we take care of each other in times of need
and hardship, the only thing we can accomplish would be distrust,
frustration and disappointment.

It is high time we reevaluate how we treat each other as family members.
We have to take a hard look at ourselves and ask whether driving away
those in need of our help is really consistent with our tradition and
values that we dearly hold close to hearts. Are we to be satisfied that
people in need of our help are left to die? Blood brothers risk their
lives for each other and help one another in time of hardship. It is upon
us to be able to notice the kinds of divisive strategy employed against us
and be aware of how that would affect us negatively for our collective
interest. Let’s act together and help each other. For we are a people
characterized by our love for peace, a people who can show to the world we
are for peace.