BurmaNet News, September 27, 2005

[Editor]

September 27, 2005 Issue # 2811


INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Aung San Suu Kyi's party urges Myanmar's junta to heed UN
DVB: Burma NLD mark its 17th anniversary in Rangoon
Irrawaddy: Deposed Kachin leader’s troops recapture headquarters
Khonumthung News: Move to enlist Chin women in MWAF

HEALTH / AIDS
Mizzima: Eleven die in prison cholera outbreak in Burma

BUSINESS / TRADE
DVB: Illegal gambling centres thrive in Burma with authorities’ blessing

ASEAN
Xinhua: ASEAN's next challenge: reducing demand, supply of synthetic drugs

REGIONAL
Mizzima: Indian insurgents bases located in Burma

INTERNATIONAL
Mizzima: Burma eligible for international debt relief under agreement

PRESS RELEASE
Chin National Front: Statement on UNSC report

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

September 27, Agence France Presse
Aung San Suu Kyi's party urges Myanmar's junta to heed UN

The party of Myanmar's detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi marked its
anniversary Tuesday with a call to the nation's military rulers to heed
the recommendations of the United Nations.

The statement came one week after former Czech president Vaclav Havel and
retired South African archbishop Desmond Tutu submitted a report to the
world body calling for new UN efforts to bring reforms to Myanmar.

"Since Burma (Myanmar) is a member of the United Nations, it has the
obligations to follow the recommendations of the General Assembly, the
independent agencies and the secretary general," the National League for
Democracy said in a statement.

Havel and Tutu recommended that the UN Security Council adopt a resolution
compelling Myanmar to work with Secretary General Kofi Annan in
implementing a national reconciliation plan that would bring a
democratically elected government.

About 500 people, including American, British and French diplomats,
attended a sedate ceremony at the NLD's humble headquarters in Yangon to
mark the party's 17th anniversary.

Among the guests of honour were former student leaders such as Min Ko
Naing and Ko Ko Gyi, who helped lead 1988 pro-democracy demonstrations
that were brutally suppressed by the military.

Security forces including police watched over the ceremony from across the
street.

The student leaders had been jailed for more than a decade, but were
released along with hundreds of other dissidents in a process which began
in November 2004. The junta still holds more than 1,100 political
prisoners, according to Amnesty International.
Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and her deputy Tin Oo remain under house
arrest and the party's regional offices have all been shuttered.

The NLD won 1990 elections but was never allowed to govern. Many of its
officers have been detained over the years.

In its statement, the NLD also called for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi
and all the other political prisoners, as well as for the junta to
recognize the results of the elections.

____________________________________

September 27, Democratic Voice of Burma
Burma NLD mark its 17th anniversary in Rangoon

Burma’s main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD),
reiterated its call for political reforms, substantive talks and the
release of all political prisoners including its leader and Nobel Laureate
Aung San Suu Kyi.

The call was made in a statement issued during a ceremony marking the 17th
anniversary of the formation of the party on 27 September, at its Rangoon
HQs.

The ceremony was attended by party members, leaders, veteran politicians,
renowned student leaders, ethnic national leaders and foreign diplomats.
The statement also says it is time the ruling military junta, State Peace
and Development Council (SPDC) follows the United Nations’ suggestions on
political reforms in Burma.

Party members and leaders also expressed their sorrow at not having their
leader Aung San Suu Kyi and vice-chairman Tin Oo who are under house
arrest, at the celebration and not even have the chance to make contact
with them.

The NLD won a landslide victory in the 1990 general election, but the
generals never allowed it to take power and the junta is systematically
undermining and destroying it with all available means.

____________________________________

September 27, Irrawaddy
Deposed Kachin leader’s troops recapture headquarters - Khun Sam

Soldiers loyal to the recently deposed chairman of the Burmese ethnic
ceasefire group New Democratic Army-Kachin recaptured the group’s Pang Wah
headquarters on the Chinese border on Monday night, a source in the town
reported.

The source, who requested anonymity, said chairman Zahkung Ting Ying’s
supporters recaptured the NDA-K headquarters after arresting some of those
who led the coup against him. There was no shooting, and no one was hurt.

Three coup leaders were arrested, including Lauwa Zawng Hkawng. But NDA-K
general secretary Layawk Zelum, who led the coup, was traveling elsewhere
with an associate and evaded capture. Fighters of a splinter group of the
Kachin Independence Organization supported the attack.

Zahkung Ting Ying was removed from office on September 14 on charges
relating to an alleged stranglehold on local businesses in Kachin State,
as well as his use of predominantly Chinese soldiers for his personal
security team.

There have been gun battles between coup and loyalist groups since five
days after the coup, with unconfirmed deaths and injuries. Troops loyal to
the chairman have steadily regained NDA-K territory since September 21.

According to the source, loyalists have said arrested coup leaders will be
taken to a court by NDA-K members. They would be punished according to
NDA-K law.

Chairman of the KIO, Manam Tu Ja, told The Irrawaddy by phone conflicts
within the KDA-K involved business and personal disputes. Samlut Naw,
former dean of Myitkyina Degree College, in the Kachin State capital, and
chairman of the Kachin Consultative Committee, told The Irrawaddy he was
concerned about the NDA-K conflicts, and condemned any violence among the
various armed Kachin groups.

____________________________________

September 27, Khonumthung News
Move to enlist Chin women in MWAF

The Burmese military junta adopts different ploys at different times to
maintain their stranglehold on the country. In its latest move, the regime
wants to enlist all Chin women as members of the Myanmar Women's Affair
Federation (MWAF), the largest women’s social organization in Burma.

Colonel San Aung, Tactical II commander of Chin state, on August 9 issued
an order assigning members of the Village Council (VC) of Matupi Township
to distribute membership forms for the MWAF in their respective regions.
"When I went to Matupi town to draw my monthly salary at the Township
Peace and Development Council (TPDC) office, Colonel San Aung asked me to
pass on 400 MWAF membership forms to each member of our village council
for sale," reported a clerk of the Village Council in Matupi, who did not
want to be named.

"As soon as I reached my village on August 11, I handed over the
membership forms to the head of the VC; but so far not even a single copy
has been sold as most women in the village cannot afford it." All women
over 18 years have to buy the forms and become members of the MWAF. The
cost per form is 320 kyats.

MWAF was formed on July 3 1996, and earlier called Myanmar National
Committee for Women's Affairs, which was reconstituted as the MWAF on
December 20, 2003. The Federation reportedly has about 1.5 million
members.

Daw Than Than Nwe is head of MWAF. The other top positions of the
organization at the township and village level are occupied by the wives
of military officials.

A similar drive for enlisting members for MWAF is reportedly being
conducted through out Chin state.

Meanwhile, most of the village heads are nervous about the possible action
that may be taken against them for their failure to sell the membership
forms.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

September 27, Mizzima News
Eleven die in prison cholera outbreak in Burma - Han Pai

Eleven Burmese prison inmates have died and at least eighty have been
hospitalised within days of a cholera outbreak in Tharyawadi prison, an
exiled rights group has said.

Prisoners had been fed worm-infested rice, beans and unclean water and
suffered the effects of poor waste disposal systems in the infamous
prison, about 200 kilometers north of Rangoon. The Thai-based Association
of Assistance Political Prisoners (AAPP) said in a statement today the
shocking conditions had caused the disease outbreak.

But prison Superintendent Myint Swe told a Prison Department investigation
team that beef given to inmates was the cause. Some Burmese traditionally
believe that eating beef is bad for a person's health.

Prison authorities are not allowing any visitors to bring food into the
prison.

AAPP has called for International Committee for Red Cross to provide
health care and food to the inmates.

_____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

September 26, Democratic Voice of Burma
Illegal gambling centres thrive in Burma with authorities’ blessing

Some corrupt Burmese local authorities have been openly taking millions of
kyat from illegal gambling syndicates and let them control the destructive
gambling world causing untold miseries to local people.

At Sagaing Division Tamu Township in northwest Burma, the authorities, the
police and special investigation police forces are openly charging 3.6m
kyat from each gambling centre each month instead of arresting them as it
is demanded by the existing laws.

The so-called gambling taxes procured from gambling bosses are divided
among the authorities including the police and the army. Some bosses are
even threatening to reveal all the corrupt practices of the authorities if
they are taken to court making it more difficult for the authorities to
take action on the syndicates. At the same time, the authorities have been
wasting their time by arresting and prosecuting small gambling centres,
vendors and players.

At Kawthaung, in the southern tip of Burma near Thailand’s Ranong, the
local authorities are openly vending illegal lottery tickets at gambling
centres.

The lives of many people including school children, teachers, civil
servants and Buddhist monks have been destroyed by their addiction to
gambling and serious crimes have been increasing steadily, local residents
told DVB.

____________________________________
ASEAN

September 27, Xinhua News Agency
ASEAN's next challenge: reducing demand, supply of synthetic drugs

The next challenge facing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) is to reduce the demand and supply of synthetic drugs like ecstasy
and "ice" ( methamphetamines), a Singapore official said on Tuesday.

According to Channel NewsAsia report, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for
Home Affairs Mohamad Maidin was speaking at the 26th Meeting of ASEAN
Senior Officials on Drug Matters held here on September 26 through 30.

Hailing the achievements made by ASEAN members in reducing illicit crop
cultivation of the opium poppy plant, Maidin quoted the World Drug Report
2005 as estimating that about two-thirds of the 34 million abusers of
synthetic drugs worldwide are in Asia.

He urged ASEAN member countries, which include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia
Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam,
to cooperate with one another in tackling the problem.

To curb the abuse of synthetic drugs, which have become more popular than
heroin in Singapore, the Singapore government carried out several raids
across the island in recent months and launched a compulsory treatment and
rehabilitation program for synthetic drug abusers in July.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

September 27, Mizzima News
Indian insurgents bases located in Burma - Hrishikesh Saikia

The United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) have shifted several major
bases to Burma following Bhutan's offensive against the outfit in December
2003 according to confidential sources.

The tactical moves were revealed following ongoing Indian Army operations
against the militants in the jungles of the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park
along the easternmost part of Assam bordering Arunachal Pradesh.

The Indian Army launched another operation at Dehing-Patkai on Monday to
flush out the rebels and a 350-member group of the United Liberation Front
of Assam's (ULFA) 28th battalion who had entered Assam from Burma three
months prior, an army source said.
While 250 stayed in Dibru-Saikhowa, the remainder are likely to have taken
shelter at the Dehing-Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary, which also falls in
Tinsukia district, not far from the Arunachal border.

ULFA is an outlawed rebel group who has fought for an independent Assamese
homeland since 1979.

According to intelligence sources, the 250-strong ULFA group inside the
Dibru-Saikhowa National Park came from Burma via Arunachal. Since being
driven out of Bhutan, the ULFA have regrouped in Burma, as it allowed the
rebels easy access to Arunachal and Assam through dense forests.

ULFA has used the territories of neighboring countries like Bangladesh,
Bhutan and Burma as bases for their activities for some time.

While Bhutan's government took a tough stance against the militants
following pressure from India, Bangladesh has always denied the presence
of any north-east militant camps in the country despite India finding a
number of camps in Bangladesh with the help of satellite imagery.

But cooperation on anti-insurgency programs has grown between India and
Burma. A few months ago, the Burmese Army seized a north-east insurgent
outfit's camp in Burmese territory bordering Mizoram. Just days ago, the
Indian Defense Minister, Pranab Mukherjee refused to rule out the
possibility of a joint offensive between the two countries against the
ULFA.

An Indian Army siege against the ULFA of Dibru-Saikhowa is into its fourth
week.
There have been serious allegations of human rights violations since the
siege, as Dibru-Saikhowa citizens are suffering from food and medical
shortages. The district administration has not been allowed to visit the
affected area, compounding the growing humanitarian crisis.

Participants in a citizens' meeting at Guwahati on September 25 sought the
intervention of the Indian President and the Prime Minister, the
withdrawal of the army and dialogue with ULFA.

The Indian Army has confirmed the deaths of five ULFA militants, while
places its death toll at 16.

_____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

September 27, Mizzima News
Burma eligible for international debt relief under agreement - Alison Hunter

Burma is among 38 of the world's poorest countries that may eligible to
have up to 100 percent of their international debt wiped through a World
Bank (WB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) initiative.

The plan, which would be enacted from next year and was originally put
forward by countries at the G8 Summit in July, has now been supported by
184 countries, as well as IMF and WB share holders.

Burma is classed by the organisations as a Heavily Indebted Poor Country
(HIPC) and is US $6 billion in debt to international lenders. Under the
proposed plan a first round of relief would be given to 18 of the poorest
countries, mainly from Africa, while a second round could see Burma's
international debts cancelled.

World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz told a press conference in Washington
D.C. following the annual meeting of the joint WB and IMF Development
Committee the path to debt relief had been cleared.

". . . leaders in 38 countries will no longer have to choose between
spending to benefit their people and repaying impossible debts, often the
legacy of governments past," Wolfowitz said.

But it is unclear how, or if, the plan will affect Burma since both
organisations cut funding ties with the military government in 1987 - the
result of the Burmese government's inability to pay back their loans.

Further worsening the relationship between organisations and Burma, the
junta's representative to the bank General Hla Tun heavily criticised the
two organisations in a speech at the Joint Annual Discussion on Sunday.

"[Burma] has been a long-standing and legitimate member of the Fund and
the World Bank, but both institutions have suspended their financial
assistance to Myanmar since 1987," he said.

"[Burma] has been deprived of its legally entitled assistance for more
than a decade. I would like to reiterate that the multilateral
institutions should consider resuming their assistance to [Burma] without
any political interference."

He also took the opportunity to further berate Global Fund for their
withdrawal of HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis aid last month.

While the debt relief initiative has not yet been fully approved it is
likely to be in the next few months following wide-spread support.

_____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

September 25, Chin National Front
Endorsement of UNSC report

Chin National Front’s Statement on
 “Threat To The Peace: A Call For The UN Security Council To Act In Burma”

The CNF is grateful to the honorable former President of Czechoslovakia
Vaclav Havel and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Bishop Desmond Tutu for their
submission of “Threat to the Peace: A call for the United Nations Security
Council to Act in Burma,” a comprehensive report that calls on the august
body to intervene in the deteriorating situations in Burma. The CNF would
like to announce its total support for the call of the two international
figures in urging the UNSC to act upon Burma.

The CNF has always been ready for a reconciliation in order to solve the
political crisis in Burma. However, it is the solemn view of the CNF that
the State Peace and Development Council’s unilateral and exclusionary
approach to national reconciliation through ‘Political Road Map’ has
proven miserably ineffective. It did not meet the basic prerequisites
necessary to bring about national reconciliation, democracy and federalism
in Burma. The process only strengthens the military regime’s grips on
power and there is no room for solutions to the ethno-political conflicts
and constitutional crisis in the Union.
The continued reign of the SPDC only serves to augment problems of human
rights violations, illegal immigrations, internal displacement, refugee
exodus, illicit drugs trafficking, prostitutions and spread of HIV/Aids in
the country— problems that now transcend to the regions of South East
Asia. The contagious effects caused by Burma’s ‘internal affairs’ now
become not only a regional problem but a matter of serious international
concern.
The CNF strongly appeals to all civilized members of the world community
to recognize the urgent need for international intervention in Burma. We
especially urge the United Nations Security Council to act promptly and
decisively on Burma as recommended by former Czech President Vaclav Havel
and the South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu,

Central Executive Committee
Chin National Front
Dated - 25th September 2005