BurmaNet News, October 19, 2005

[Editor]

October 19 2005 Issue # 2826


INSIDE BURMA
The Guardian: China 'strips forests in Burma'
Irrawaddy: Junta keeps tight hold on local NGOs
Mizzima: Burmese Unicode system contains defects: BIT
Narinjara: Increasing number of desertion of Burmese Army in Arakan State

DRUGS
South China Morning Post: Four-nation operation smashes drug ring
Irrawaddy: A downward spiral

BUSINESS / TRADE
AFP: Myanmar hikes fuel prices eight-fold
Mizzima: Burma's Kyat value rises after record low

REGIONAL
Irrawaddy: Burmese PM and Chinese VP talk business
Mizzima: Burma 's deputy FM visits India

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

October 18, The Guardian
China 'strips forests in Burma' - John Vidal

Chinese logging companies are colluding with the Burmese military
commanders and ethnic leaders to illegally strip and export large tracts
of some of the world's most ecologically important forests, according to a
two-year investigation by London-based watchdog group Global Witness.

The illegal cross-border timber trade between Kachin state in northern
Burma and Yunnan province in China is said to be worth up to $ 400m
(£230m) a year and conducted with the knowledge of both central
governments, says the group, which has investigated illegal logging
throughout Africa and Asia and helped manage Cambodia's forests.

According to the report, published yesterday in Bangkok, the trade is
centred on the Chinese border town of Pian Ma where 100 logging companies
are based. Last year more than a million cubic metres of timber - about
95% of Burma's total timber exports to China - are said to have been
illegally exported from Kachin state to Yunnan province. "Kachin state has
been turned into a natural resource storehouse for development in China .
. . large tracts of forest have been almost entirely logged out," the
report says.

"The trade is completely out of control and it keeps on rising," Susanne
Kempel of Global Witness said yesterday. "There are no forests left along
the border."

Much of the logging takes place in what is known as the Indo-Burma
biological hotspot, an area described by biologists as one of the most
biodiverse areas on earth, with 91 mammal species including the tiger, and
365 bird species.

The report argues that money generated from the illegal trade has funded
conflict in Burma and led to human rights abuses and increased poverty.

The group says that unless China takes action the logging will undermine
long-term economic development on both sides of the border and destabilise
the region. "Burma's forests are viewed as an opportunity to find
employment for thousands of unemployed people. There is mounting concern
(in China) that the growing ranks of the unemployed represent a pool of
discontent and a potential source of social instability. Tens, if not
hundreds, of thousands of Chinese workers employed in logging,
transportation and road building in Kachin state, and in the timber
processing industries of Yunnan province and further afield, could soon
lose their jobs unless the industry is put on a sustainable footing."

China is dependent on imported timber since it banned the felling of its
old-growth forests in 1998. Malaysia, Russia, Indonesia and Gabon now
export large quantities to China. According to official figures, exports
of logs and sawn timber from Burma to China have more than doubled in the
past six years.

China's foreign ministry yesterday told AP that it had taken "strong
measures to crack down on all kinds of crimes including illegal
deforesting across the border".

____________________________________

October 19, Irrawaddy
Junta keeps tight hold on local NGOs

Burmese authorities recently raided the local branch of a Thailand-based
NGO in Rangoon and placed severe restrictions on several other
humanitarian and religious organizations in the capital.

The Rangoon office of Spirit in Education Movement, which aims to provide
alternative education programs for Burmese students, was raided and at
least one member was reportedly detained last week, according to local
sources. Although the reason for the crackdown was unclear, the NGO’s
alternative curriculum is thought by some to have prompted the government
to act.

SEM was founded by prominent Thai social critic Sulak Sivaraksa in 1995 as
an alternative college that aims “to promote interaction between the
alternative thinkers of the West and the best minds of Asia.” The Rangoon
branch—with less than twenty members—provides grassroots training in areas
such as community leadership and sustainable development for local
populations, including members of Burma’s monastic community. The SEM head
office in Bangkok told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that they were unaware
of the incident. The Rangoon office was unavailable for comment.

Several other local NGOs have faced operational restrictions imposed by
the junta in recent months—particularly with travel bans to urban
areas—while some religious organizations have been forced to suspend their
activities.

“A scheduled meeting up country was forced to cancel recently,” a pastor
from a Rangoon-based Christian group told The Irrawaddy. A popular church
in Rangoon, The Full Gospel Assembly, was recently ordered to cease its
activities and some other smaller Christian churches have been required to
report about their daily activities to local authorities.

Foreign NGO workers face more stringent restrictions on their operations
than most local NGO offices. However, the junta has increased their
control of all NGO activity in Burma since the former prime minister Gen
Khin Nyunt was ousted last October.

James Morris, the executive director of the UN World Food Programme, made
a four-day visit to Burma in early August, aiming to curb the government’s
increasing control of humanitarian NGOs operating in the country. Morris
urged the government to lift restrictions on aid agencies during his
one-hour meeting with Prime Minister Soe Win.

____________________________________

October 19, Mizzima News
Burmese Unicode system contains defects: BIT - Andrew Shin

An exiled Burmese computer expert has said the recently developed Burmese
Unicode, or language character system, contains defects and is not ready
for use.

The Myanmar Computer Federation developed the Unicode system which cannot
be used for Pali language symbols used in Burmese script and is difficult
to install, New Delhi-based Burma Information Technology (BIT) manager
Aung Kyaw Myo said.

News of the successful production of the software and its user-friendly
characters was released in the state-run New Light of Myanmar on October
13.

Though the Germany-based Code 2000 organisation, which validates newly
developed software, has already officially recognised the Unicode system,
it is not ready for use as the alphabet is incomplete.

"We heard that the government put pressure on system and software
engineers to develop the Myanmar Unicode system for public use. Because of
this pressure, we heard that Burmese engineers released the system despite
being incomplete," Aung Kyaw Myo said.

"The government put pressure on them saying 'why couldn't you develop the
Unicode system when this system has been already used in exile?'"

Unicode is a computer program entirely formatted using Burmese script. In
previous systems, computer's used the Roman alphabet as a reference point
for the corresponding characters in the Burmese alphabet.

This caused problems when information written using the programs was
placed on the internet and accessed by users who did not have the
necessary software.

___________________________________

October 19, Narinjara News
Increasing number of desertion of Burmese Army in Arakan State

Battalions of the Burmese Army in Arakan State are facing increasing
numbers of desertion of soldiers due to inadequate salary, the grave gap
in wealth between ranks and the unequal treatment of officers by soldiers,
says an army sergeant.  From the Military Operation Command, MOC (Sa Ka
Kha) 9, which is based at Kyauk Taw, ten battalions and 101 soldiers
deserted during the four month period between May to August 2005, says a
Sa Ka Kha 9 internal report.

Out of 101 deserters, 37 were arrested, indicates the report.  From Sa Ka
Kha 9, about 25 soldiers deserted every month. Under Sa Ka Kha 9 command,
there are 224 officers with 2064 lower rank soldiers, says the report. 
The report also mentions that 90 soldiers were punished for
breaking army rules. According to local sources, some were dispelled from
their position and some were sending to jail after the soldiers were found
in guilty.

There are also reports of desertion on a daily basis from Sa Ka Kha (15)
in Buthidaung. On the 7th of October, 17 year old private Pho That Aung
from Kamma Township under Magwe division deserted with another soldier
from Sa Ka Kha (15), Buthidaung, said another report.  A few months ago, a
Captain and another private from Light Infantry Battalion 356 fled into
Bangladesh. They were arrested and handed back to the Burmese by the
Bangladeshi authorities. There has been unconfirmed news in the border
area that these two deserters were executed without any trial, said a
local trader from Maungdaw.

_____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

October 19, Agence France Presse
Myanmar hikes fuel prices eight-fold

Myanmar's energy ministry Wednesday announced an eight-fold increase in
the official price of petrol and diesel, a move likely to worsen soaring
inflation in this impoverished military-ruled nation.

Official prices for petrol and diesel will jump from 180 kyat (14 cents)
to 1,500 kyats (1.20 dollars) a gallon from Thursday, according to an
official notice posted at the ministry's pumps.

"Petrol and diesel oils will be sold at the new revised prices effective
October 20," the tiny notice read, without giving any other details.

"We have no right to say why the price was increased," one official at a
downtown petrol pump told AFP.

The ministry rations fuel, with private cars including taxis each allowed
two gallons a day.

Many people buy their daily ration and then siphon it out to resell on the
black market at a hefty profit. Because of the rationing, most motorists
rely on the black market for their fuel needs.

Before the announced increase in the official price, petrol was selling on
the black market for about 2,500 kyats (two dollars) a gallon, while
diesel went for around 3,800 kyats (3.04 dollars).

"I think the price was increased because of rising oil prices on the
international market," Ko Oo, a 35-year-old taxi driver told AFP.

"We have to ask more from the passengers. But most passengers now rely on
buses because of increasing taxi fares," he said.

Myanmar authorities plan to convert public buses to use cheaper condensed
natural gas (CNG), and most buses around the capital are already testing
the new engines.

"If we had enough experienced mechanics for cars using CNG, we could get
some relief from high fuel prices. But then we'd worry how to use our CNG
cars," one bus driver told AFP.

Prices in Myanmar have risen dramatically since August, with diesel prices
jumping more than 50 percent and petrol prices rising by nearly one-third.

Myanmar's economy has been reeling under decades of mismanagement by the
military. European Union and US sanctions that have been tightened since
the detention of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in May 2003 are also
biting hard.

____________________________________

October 18, Mizzima News
Burma's Kyat value rises after record low

The value of Burma's kyat has risen to 1200 to the US dollar on the black
market after hitting an all-time low at the end of September.

At its lowest rate, 1360 kyat equaled one dollar. The official exchange
rate places the dollar equal with six kyat. The exchange rate with Indian
Rupees also rose today to 26.20 today from 28.62 a week ago.

Dr Sein Maung, a Rangoon-based economist said it was hard to identify the
reasons behind recent fluctuations in the currency's value.

"It is hard to tell the reasons. The prices are up and down. We don't have
facts and figure and don't know the various issues. Nobody will know. Even
Trade (Ministry of Trade) calculated wrongly and got trouble," he said

Many people have speculated on why the currency has been performing so
poorly with some blaming governmental interference and others attributing
the drops in value to market manipulators.

The price for a tical of 24 carat gold was 298,000 kyats today after
shooting up to 355,000 about ten days ago. One tical is equal to 0.525
troy ounces.

Recently, plain clothes police officers have been cracking down on illegal
money changers in Burma arresting many but releasing those who can afford
to bribe them.

____________________________________
DRUGS

October 19, South China Morning Post
Four-nation operation smashes drug ring - Irene Wang

A joint operation by mainland, Thai, Myanmarese and Laotian police has
broken up an international drug-trafficking ring, resulting in the arrest
of 70 suspected syndicate members and seizure of more than 700kg of
illicit drugs.

A senior narcotics official announced yesterday in Beijing that the
network was headed by a 35-year-old Yunnan native, but stretched across
the borders of four countries.

Zhang Chongde , deputy secretary-general of the National Narcotics Control
Commission, told the China-Asean drugs summit that last November Yunnan
police seized 220kg of heroin from two teak-laden trucks originating in
Myanmar.

The discovery prompted the immediate arrest of two suspects and the later
detention of another 11 people in Guangdong, Ningxia and Gansu connected
to two drug syndicates.

An investigation determined that Han Yongwan , 35, a dealer from Yunnan,
planned and organised the trafficking and had long been involved in drug
smuggling along the borders separating China, Myanmar, Laos and Thailand.

Han and a mainland associate were two of seven people arrested on
September 22 in Laos during a raid organised by authorities in the four
countries.

Yunnan police also teamed up with their Myanmarese counterparts last month
to confiscate about 500kg of heroin to be distributed by Han's network.

Mr. Zhang said that as a result, "Han Yongwan's transnational
drug-trafficking syndicate and networks covering several regions in China,
Myanmar and Laos were destroyed".

The China-Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) co-operation
conference ends tomorrow and will produce a joint declaration to improve
co -operation in the fight against drugs in Southeast Asia.

_____________________________________

October 15, Irrawaddy
A downward spiral - Tom Kramer

Proposed opium bans could spark a humanitarian crisis in Burma’s drug-rich
north

United Wa State Army chairman Bao Yuxiang said on June 24, after
proclaiming Special Region 2 a ‘drugs source free zone’: “How are the
farmers going to survive after the poppy ban? This is the big question
that every level of local authorities encounters.”     He added: “The
lives of the people will become more difficult, and we do expect the
international community will give us more assistance to let the people be
able to overcome the difficulties and achieve the historical commitment.”

The Wa and Kokang regions in northern Shan State have traditionally been
the major opium-producing areas in Burma, but this could change. The UWSA
has declared the areas under their control opium free as of June 26, 2005.
In the Kokang region an opium ban has been in effect since 2003, while the
Mong La region in eastern Shan State has had a similar ban since 1997.

The implementation of these opium bans in one of the world’s largest
opium-producing areas may sound promising to international anti-narcotics
officials, but for the opium farmers living there it could spell disaster.
The Wa and Kokang regions are an isolated and impoverished mountainous
area near the Chinese border, and residents rely on opium cultivation as a
cash crop. Most farmers can only grow enough rice to feed their families
for six to eight months each year. The rest of the food, as well as
medicines, clothing and access to education, are bought with the opium
they grow.

The impact of the opium bans would probably be grave. According to a 2003
survey by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, an estimated 350,000
households in Shan State—or about 2 million people—stand to lose their
primary source of income as a direct result of bans on opium, which
constitutes 70 percent of their cash income. Alarming reports are already
coming out of the Kokang region.

International agencies warn that the region will enter “a downward spiral
of poverty, malnutrition and disease.” The most immediate concern is food
security. “This area is not very suitable to growing crops other than
opium,” says the UWSA township leader in Long Tan. “So after the ban the
people will be very poor here. The main problem that I can foresee here is
the stomach problem.”

In the Wa region the effect of the June 2005 opium ban may not really be
felt until early 2006, after the next harvest season, as farmers still
have opium from the previous season. However, some farmers have not been
able to pay back the advances of the opium traders because of the poor
2004 drought-affected opium harvest. These loans are paid back by selling
opium at a previously agreed price, usually lower than the market price.
The rest of their opium is sold in the market in small portions whenever
farmers need to buy something.

Bans on growing opium have been implemented primarily to appease the
international community—particularly China, Thailand, and the US—who
continue to exert significant drug-control pressure. UWSA leaders hope
that in return for their anti-drug policy they will receive political
recognition, humanitarian aid and support to develop their remote and
impoverished region.

Wa officials claim that the ban will be strictly enforced. “Whether the
villagers are happy or not, they have to obey the order,” said Wei Ai
Jung, UWSA chairman of Nam Kham Oo Township in the Northern Wa region. “It
is the same as the buffalo pulled by the string in its nose. It has to
follow.”

There are serious questions about the sustainability of the opium ban.
International agencies warn that “the significant gains that Myanmar
[Burma] has made in reducing poppy growing [a more than 50 percent
reduction in area over the past five years] might be compromised if
alternative development assistance and access to food is not ensured for
these populations.” Furthermore, it is unclear what the UWSA will do if
the humanitarian aid and political capital it hopes to gain from the ban
does not materialize. The ban is reportedly opposed by the population and
has already caused resentment against the Wa leadership.

The UWSA has called for international support to prevent a humanitarian
crisis following the 2005 opium ban. It has also ordered the relocation of
tens of thousands of Wa villagers from their mountainous homelands in the
northern Wa region to lower-lying areas. Many of them have been moved to
the fertile valleys of southern Shan State, which is controlled by the
UWSA’s Southern Command. UWSA leaders say the objective is to move poppy
farmers and impoverished villagers to areas where they can grow other
crops. This is a controversial project, as in many cases the original
Shan, Lahu and Akha inhabitants were forced out, and most of them have
fled to Thailand.

Since 1998, UNODC has implemented an alternative development project in
Mong Pawk District in Wa Special Region 2 to improve food security and
create alternative livelihoods for poppy farmers. According to UNODC, by
early 2004 its coverage was limited to Mong Pawk District, targeting some
45,000 people—or less than 10 percent of the total population in the
Kokang and Wa regions combined. In light of the humanitarian needs created
by the opium ban, the UNODC/Wa project has now been expanded to cover the
entire Wa region and has been extended through 2007. In order to address a
potential crisis, the World Food Programme in August 2003 had already
started to provide food assistance to ex-poppy farmers in Kokang and the
northern Wa region.

Beyond its own activities, UNODC has worked since 2003 to expand
assistance to the region by facilitating the access of other organizations
to the Wa through the Kokang and Wa Initiative. The KOWI is an umbrella
partnership that brings together international NGOs and UN agencies to
help poppy farmers and their families meet basic human needs without the
income derived from opium. In 2003 two international NGOs, Aide Medicale
Internationale and Malteser Hilfsdienst, became the first KOWI partners to
begin operations among the Wa, taking over the primary healthcare
component of the UNODC/Wa project. By 2005, 18 partners were operating
under the KOWI umbrella, each of them providing assistance in their field
of expertise, while coordinating interventions to ensure coverage of
priority areas and establish a more efficient method of delivering
services.

The reversed sequencing of policy interventions, whereby the opium economy
is eliminated before alternatives are in place, has created additional
difficulties in the region. Conversely, the project, rather than gradually
reducing opium dependence through alternative development efforts, in
effect provides humanitarian assistance to communities affected by the
opium ban. It is also clear that the assistance at present is insufficient
to offset the impact of the opium bans and to cover basic needs of
ex-opium farmers. One observer estimated in mid 2004 that food and
economic security had been provided to no more than 10 percent of the
population in the northern Wa region. Many of them already had serious
difficulties in meeting their basic needs before the ban.

The latest harvest before the ban saw a substantial increase in opium
cultivation in the northern Wa region, especially in places that were
opium free during the last few years. Opium was grown, for instance, on
the best available land and on terraces in full view of the town of Mong
Mao. Some observers speculate that because this is the last chance to
produce poppy crops before the ban, individuals among the Wa leadership
may be involved in the recent increase in cultivation.

As the price of raw opium increases, next season’s production is likely to
go up in other areas, creating a “balloon effect,” for example, in Kachin
State, although in absolute terms the impact on the total opium production
of Burma may be relatively small. Other places that could see an increase
in cultivation include the area west of the Salween River—in Tangyan—as
well as all conflict areas in Shan State. Furthermore, any heroin
factories based in the Wa region could move to other areas capable of
opium production. Some farmers in the Wa region may still try to cultivate
small plots of opium for their own use after the ban—mostly for elderly
addicts—as often occurs in Laos and Thailand.

The opium bans in Burma are the product of international pressure, caused
by the deadline-oriented thinking and repressive anti-narcotics strategies
of the international community. The US has blamed the drug problem in
Burma on narco-armies and has indicted drug kingpins. However, after
decades of civil war, the reality of the drug trade in Burma is that few
of the conflict parties can claim to have clean hands. Decisions over whom
to blame for the drug trade and whom to indict seem arbitrary and
politicized. Experience from Burma over the last 35 years has also shown
that trying to arrest suspected kingpins does not help. Those who stand to
suffer the most from these measures are at the bottom of the trade—the
opium farmers in Shan State.

Communities in opium-growing areas have not been able to meet their basic
needs before the opium bans. Such restrictions could dramatically increase
the already ongoing process of erosion of upland rural livelihood bases
and produce a humanitarian crisis. Under such circumstances, the
sustainability of the ban over the years to come is uncertain.

The only viable and humane approach to reduce opium production may require
easing the opium ban deadlines, while creating alternative livelihoods for
opium farmers. This would necessitate greater international assistance for
a sustainable community-based approach in order to enable opium farmers to
participate in decision-making processes about their future.

_____________________________________
REGIONAL

October 19, Irrawaddy
Burmese PM and Chinese VP talk business - Clive Parker

Burmese prime minister Gen Soe Win and China’s vice president Zeng
Qinghong discussed trade and investment during talks in Nanning,
southwestern China yesterday.

The meeting—which is thought to have replaced a cancelled trip by Gen Soe
Win to Beijing in September—comes ahead of the China-Asean Expo, also in
Nanning, from October 19 to 22.

Zeng yesterday took the opportunity to reiterate China’s support for the
junta’s efforts towards political stability and national reconciliation,
the official Xinhua news agency reported. It was, however, trade and
business ties that dominated discussions, with Beijing agreeing further
loan concessions in return for contracts in Burma.

“China and Myanmar [Burma] enjoy great potential for further cooperation,”
Zeng is quoted as saying by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “The
Chinese government supports Chinese companies to invest in Myanmar.

After the meeting, Zeng and Gen Soe Win attended the signing of an
agreement that will see China loan the Burmese government money for the
construction of a urea fertilizer plant at “below China’s commercial
interest rate” of about five percent, a Chinese official confirmed.

As part of the deal, Huanqiu Contracting and Engineering Corporation will
construct the factory, the official added. The Chinese company has
previously sealed a number of oil and gas deals with the Burmese
government and is considered very close to the junta—company chairman Wang
Shihong visited Rangoon in January this year and October 2004 to discuss a
number of deals with Burmese government officials.

Soe Win is part of a Burmese delegation visiting Nanning this week, which
also includes 81 businessmen representing the Union of Myanmar Federation
of Chambers of Commerce—an umbrella group for private enterprise in Burma.

_____________________________________

October 19, Mizzima News
Burma 's deputy FM visits India

Burmese deputy Foreign Minister Kyaw Thu is in New Delhi for four days and is
meeting Indian officials to discuss bi-lateral relations.

"Entirety of all bi-lateral relations will be discussed, as well as
regional and
international cooperation issues", said a spokesperson from the India
Ministry of
Foreign Affairs.

Kyaw Thu is heading a five-member delegation from the Burmese Foreign
Ministry and
will meet his Indian counterpart External Affairs Ministry Secretary Shyam
Saran.

The meetings started today and will end on October 21.

Kyaw Thu served Burmese military government as its ambassador to India
from 2001 to
2003.