BurmaNet News, March 21, 2006

[Editor]

March 21, 2006, 2006 Issue # 2923


INSIDE BURMA
DVB: Murder most foul: Thet Naing Oo’s murder is abuse of power – NLD lawyer
Mizzima: Junta use new strategy of assaulting oppositions, student activist
The Courier Mail: A funny thing is happening on a road in Mandalay
Irrawaddy: Pyinmana prepares for Armed Forces Day

ON THE BORDER
BosNewsLife: Thousands of Karens flee Burma offensive
Irrawaddy: Thai authorities close migrant schools in Phop Phra

BUSINESS / TRADE
Narinjara: Bamboo in Arakan attracts multiple taxation

HEALTH / AIDS
Irrawaddy: Mandalay struggles to contain bird flu
Mizzima: ADB willing to aid Burma to fight bird flu

DRUGS
AFP: Myanmar claims progress in narcotics crackdown

ASEAN
AFP: Malaysia FM preparing to visit Myanmar

INTERNATIONAL
AP: Exiled Myanmar politicians urge EU to engage in dialogue with military
regime

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

March 20, Democratic Voice of Burma
Murder most foul: Thet Naing Oo’s murder is abuse of power – NLD lawyer

The murder of ex-political prisoner Thet Naing Oo, perpetrated by fire
brigade and police members at Rangoon Kyimyintaing (Kemmendine) Township
on 17 March, is the abuse of power by the authorities, said a National
League for Democracy (NLD) lawyer Nyan Win.

“As they were beating him up until he died; the intention was to make him
dead, therefore, it fits in with intentional (premeditated) murder in
accordance with Act – 302. They do not have the rights to shout ‘thief’
and do this kind of thing,” said Nyan Win. “It is abuse of power. They
don’t need to beat him up or have the power to do so. It implies that it
is a premeditated murder. In our view, the rule of law is very weak. When
I heard about this kind of thing, I feel that there is no law (in Burma).
When people who uphold law (and order) use laws which are not given to
them, the rule of law becomes weak. Whether they are fire brigade
(members) or not, there is no law that empowers them to handle criminal
cases. They only have the power to put out fires. There is no power given
to them by the law to handle this k ind of case. It is abuse of power.
They are practising power not given to them.”

Meanwhile, the authorities are continuing to detain two friends of Thet
Naing Oo, Win Myint and Khin Maung Zaw at nearby Dagon police station and
reportedly being indicted under Act – 333 for allegedly interfering with
(the police?) while on duty. They were not allowed to attend the funeral
of their friend. At the same time, the police are trying cover up
evidences as usual.

DVB contacted Kyimyintaing Police Station, but the police officers on duty
reused to answer queries put them. Nevertheless, a member of Rangoon
Division Police Force, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the
police officers on duty when the incident occurred were Corporals Tin
Maung Oo and Myo Min Oo, and they were on patrol with some reserve members
of fire brigade from Sayyoedan and Nyeinchanyay (Peace) Wards.

No perpetrators of the crime are being taken action against yet, and the
police are pressurising some eyewitnesses and trishaw drivers to give
false statements for them, according to local residents.

____________________________________

March 21, Mizzima News
Junta use new strategy of assaulting oppositions, student activist - Mungpi

Authorities in Burma have lately escalated intimidation of opposition
groups, particularly student activists, by using local thugs and
government officers in disguise, according to the Assistance Association
of Political Prisoners (Burma).

A statement released today by the AAPP (B) said Ko Thet Naing Oo, a
student activist and former political prisoner, died last Saturday in
Rangoon Civil Hospital after sustaining severe head injuries following a
brutal beating by local authorities and thugs on Friday evening.

"The junta is using a new strategy to physically assault [student
activists and opposition]," said Ko Tate Naing, secretary of the AAPP (B).

According to the statement, Ko Thet Naing Oo, was severely beaten by 12
police and firemen at the Thiri Minglar Market in Kyih Myin Dine township,
in a confrontation with a man in municipal uniform.

The police and fire officials were joined in the assault by a group of
local thugs after police identified Ko Thet Naing Oo as a thief. The
former political prisoner was beaten continuously until he lost
consciousness. Ko Thet Naing Oo was later taken to Rangoon Civil
Hospital’s emergency ward, where he died the following morning.

The mother of the slain activist filed a police report at the Kyih Myin
Dine police station after learning of his death. According to Ko Tate
Naing, no action has yet been taken by authorities.

Ko Tate Naing told Mizzima that the junta is using local authorities in
disguise to level attacks on activists and opposition members and create
confusion among dissident groups.

Min Ko Naing, a prominent student leader and former political prisoner,
was punched in the face by a man claiming to be a member of the National
League for Democracy while attending the funeral service for Ko Thet Naing
Oo last Sunday, according to Ko Tate Naing.

On the same day, former political prisoner Ko Mya Aye was also attacked by
local authorities at the Rangoon railway station. However, Ko Mya Aye was
able to escape the attack, said Ko Tate Naing.

Following the military crackdown on student activists in 1988, Ko Thet
Naing Oo fled Burma and joined the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front
operating along the Thai-Burmese border. He returned to Rangoon in 1991.
He was arrested in 1998 for distributing pamphlets on the Burmese economy
and sentenced to 10 years. He was released from Tharawaddy prison in
November 2002.

____________________________________

March 21, The Courier Mail
A funny thing is happening on a road in Mandalay - Brothers may get last
joke - Matthew Khoury

Mandalay: Brave comedians are risking jail sentences to make people laugh
about life under Burma's corrupt and repressive military regime.

Lu Maw knows he is pressing his luck in a country where criticising the
Government carries a decade-long prison sentence.

But he has carried onto become an international megaphone for the Burmese
people.

For more than a decade, Lu Maw has performed nightly to budget travelers
in a small concrete den on the corner of 81st and 39th streets in
Mandalay.

Every night, he flicks around wads of worthless bills that the government
scrapped in 1987.

He wears police helmets and judge-hats and imitates those taking bribes.
All of this is tolerated by a military dictatorship that keeps over a
thousand prisoners of conscience and, he says, ''has no sense of humour''.

But freedom of speech doesn't come easily in Burma.

The other two thirds of the trio, the Moustache Brothers, spent five years
in hard labour prisons for their political satire.

''They had a good excuse for not performing,'' Lu Maw said.

They committed their ''crime'' in 1996 while performing outside the house
of the country's pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. They told such
jokes as: ''You used to call a thief a thief, now you call them a
government worker.''

This was enough for the Moustache Brothers to be arrested under the
Emergency Provisions Act on their re-arrival in Mandalay. Lu Maw was
released after two weeks of interrogation. His elder brother and cousin
were sentenced to seven years' hard labour.

Pi Pi Lay (the most famous of the trio within Burma) and Lu Zaw worked on
road gangs, their legs tied together by iron bars.

They slept on a bamboo floor and ate basic foods. During this time, Lu Maw
kept performing to a strictly foreign audience. Any Burmese attending the
blacklisted performance -- under constant Government surveillance -- risks
arrest.

''In 1996, before the arrest, we were already being noticed by
foreigners,'' Lu Maw said.

''The Lonely Planet told people to come so, even though Pi Pi Lay and Lu
Zaw were in jail, they kept coming.

''I told everybody the story, and soon some journalists were coming here
too. They gave the Moustache Brothers international attention.''

The comedians' plight became a favourite of activists, even getting a
mention in the Hollywood movie About a Boy.

The Burmese Government released the comedians two years early, with the
threat of arrest hanging over any political comment.

That night, the trio reunited and performed their a-nyient theatre -- a
mixture of traditional temple dancing, puppetry and peasant humour -- in
the back room of their house. Two weeks later they were in the front room,
where the trio -- with their wives who accompany the performance -- have
stayed.

Pi Pi Lay and Lu Zaw make cameo appearances but, these days, the
uncensored political comment is left up to Lu Maw.

His 79-year-old father sits outside the makeshift-theatre every night,
next to his blind wife and rickshaw-drivers acting as anti-Government
spies, ready to warn him of a Government raid.

''But now we are safe,'' Lu Maw said during his performance. ''We will run
out the back door and they would just arrest all the tourists.

''I'm joking. I'm a comedian.''

Not even his audience is immune to his humour.

''We perform for two hours every night for foreigners for 3000 kyats
($4),'' he said.

''For the Burmese we would perform all night for much less. Tourists are
easy money.''

He disagrees with Ms Suu Kyi who believes that travellers should stay away
from the country to prevent their tourist dollars going to the military.

Lu Maw refers to people such as himself as the ''83 per cent", referring
to the 1990 election results that were dissolved by the military junta.

''With help from other countries, this Government could break down.'' he
said.

For now, Lu Maw is the only person in Burma who is able to say that, on
the record, without being arrested.

____________________________________

March 21, Irrawaddy
Pyinmana prepares for Armed Forces Day - Aung Lwin Oo

As Burma’s Armed Forces Day draws near, the junta has been pushing forward
with the construction of facilities in its new administrative capital,
Pyinmana, and rehearsals for the annual military parade have been taking
place in the area, instead of in Rangoon.

“A huge field in Pyinmana’s Yezin area has been prepared for the parade,”
a private contractor told The Irrawaddy.  “One can even see its bright
lights from far away at night.” Road blocks often interfered with local
traffic, according to some residents.

In addition to preparations for Armed Forces Day on March 27, the
government is reportedly pushing government engineers and private
contractors to complete roads, hotels and guesthouses before the
anniversary.

“Sometimes we have to continue work such as plumbing and electric wiring
after the residents have already moved in because we couldn’t meet the
short deadline,” the contractor said.

The junta relocated its new administrative city last November, a surprise
move that has prompted widespread criticism, including from some Asean
members.

Pyinmana, a city of nearly 100,000 inhabitants some 320km north of
Rangoon, is the former stronghold of Burma’s communist insurgents in
Mandalay Division. As part of its plan to develop the city and surrounding
area, a 280-megawatt hydroelectric power plant, Paung Laung, went on
stream, Burma’s first underground power plant and the country’s biggest.

Earlier this month, the government appointed its Minister for Progress of
Border Areas and National Races and Development Affairs, Col Thein Nyunt,
mayor of Pyinmana.  Sources say government departments have now opened
offices in Pyinmana and several high-ranking military officials are said
to have moved to the city in advance of Armed Forces Day.

The transport network, including air services, is being expanded, and
Pyinmana now appears on the weather map carried by Burma’s state-run
television programs.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

March 20, BosNewsLife News Center
Thousands of Karens flee Burma offensive

Over 3,000 terrified predominantly Christian Karen villagers were in
hiding Monday, March 20, after new attacks by the Burmese Army in Western
and Northern Karen State, a human rights group said.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), which has investigated the situation
in the region, said an unknown number of civilians were killed and several
villages were burned in the latest offensive.

The Burmese army "is laying more landmines in the area, and forcing those
villagers who have not fled to work as porters for the military," CSW
claimed. The reports seem consistent with a BosNewsLife investigation
inside Burma, also known as Myanmar, last year.

CSW said the fighting began March 9 when soldiers from three battalions
attacked "Klaw Kee village in the Saw Ka Der area of Mon Township, western
Karen State." One 38 year-old man, Saw Maw Sae Kya, was shot dead.

VILLAGERS FLEE

The troops then attacked Maw La Kee village, where they burned down seven
houses, CSW said, citing sources in the region. "At least 1,140 villagers
have fled Mon Township and are hiding in the jungle. Constant Burma Army
patrols in the area mean they cannot return to their homes," the group
added. In Ler Doh Township, similar attacks took place, "forcing 1,153
villagers from Kwey Der village into hiding,"  CSW said in a statement to
BosNewsLife.

Over the last two weeks attacks have reportedly also taken place against
civilians in Toungoo District, in northern Karen State, "causing the
displacement of over 700. Last month a further 640 were displaced, and
they are unable to reach the Thai border due to Burma Army patrols," CSW
claimed.

It said that since December 2005 "at least a thousand people have fled to
the safety of the refugee camps in Thailand and many more may follow." CSW
quoted another advocacy group, the Free Burma Rangers, as saying that
"these attacks reflect the ongoing effort of the Burmese army to break the
will of the people and control them. The murder of porters and the laying
of landmines to terrorize and block food to a civilian population are two
of the tactics used in the strategy" of the military government "to
dominate, assimilate and exploit the ethnic people of Burma..."

LATEST ATTACKS

CSW Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas said, "These latest attacks are tragic
in themselves, but even more tragic when added to the litany of violations
perpetrated by the ruling military regime over the past half a century.
For too long the world has sat by and allowed these attacks to continue.
It is time now for the international community to say enough is enough,
and to act to stop the genocide unfolding."

The current military regime, known as the State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC) has been accused of attacks against predominantly Christian
communities including the Karen, Karenni, Shan, Mon, Chin, Kachin, Arakan
and Rohingya.

Over one million people are believed to be internally displaced, and since
1996 over 2,500 villages have been destroyed in eastern Burma alone, CSW
said. Attacks against Christians have been linked to fear within the
regime to lose its power base. (With BosNewsLife Research and reports from
Burma).

____________________________________

March 21, Irrawaddy
Thai authorities close migrant schools in Phop Phra - Sai Silp

A local government official in Phop Phra district, Tak province, told The
Irrawaddy on Tuesday that five schools in the district for migrant workers
and their children had closed their doors on orders from Thai authorities.

The closure order was first made in mid-February of this year by
government officials concerned that the schools could pose a national
security risk.

“These schools were opened without permission from local authorities,” the
official said. “We don’t know what curriculum is being taught, and the
schools could be a threat like religious schools in southern Thailand,
where violent uprisings continue.”

After being notified that they must close, administrators for the schools
successfully lobbied to remain open until mid-March to allow students to
complete their coursework and exams.

The official added that the closings could be temporary, and that the
government could find a better solution for monitoring and regulating
migrant schools, which are common throughout Tak province.

Thai Senator Jon Ungpakorn, who recently visited Mae Sot to assess the
needs of the migrant community in Tak province, said that educational
opportunities for migrant workers and their children need to be expanded.
He added that citing national security as for closing the schools was
unreasonable.

“The solution is that Thai authorities should accept these schools at
least as learning centers, because Thai law requires that migrant workers
be provided with educational opportunities,” said Jon.

“Besides, their children should have a chance to study like Thai children,
and authorities should grant certificates that could be used after they
graduate for further study.”

According to a report on Tuesday from Prachatai, an online Thai daily
newspaper, an official from the Burmese Migrant Workers Education
Committee said that school administrators have submitted a letter to
education authorities requesting permission to continue operating the
migrant schools, but have not yet received a response.

Nay Oo, a teacher in Mae Sot, said that the closure order came from
officials in Phop Phra, and the order has not as yet been extended to
include similar schools operating in Mae Sot.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

March 21, Narinjara News
Bamboo in Arakan attracts multiple taxation

In Arakan State, bamboo has been one of the most useful materials since
time immemorial and is necessary for the construction of homes and
household furniture.

However, bamboo and products made from bamboo are attracting more and more
taxes. Many taxation checkpoints have been set up to collect taxes on
bamboo products.

These taxation checkpoints have not been set up by the government to earn
revenue, though. Rather, they have been set up by local army battalions to
collect funds.

Many battalions throughout Arakan State have set up the taxation gates
independently at main points along the rivers and creeks, including the
Kalandan, Laymro and Mayu rivers.

According to local bamboo traders, in Ramchaung alone, between Mrauk U and
Kyauktaw Township, there are two taxation gates. One belongs to the forest
department and another belongs to an army battalion, LIB 376, based in
Daungtaungyo of Kyauktaw.

The forest department collects 200 kyat per 100 bamboo stalks at its gate,
while the army collects 250 kyat per 100. Furthermore, several police and
customs officers have also set up temporary outposts along the rivers to
collect tax on bamboo.

Bamboo prices in Kyauktaw market are only 2,500 kyat per 100 stalks, but
bamboo cutters sell bamboo at prices ranging from 1500 kyat to 1700 kyat
in the market. Due to the multiple taxation points, the bamboo cutters
earn only about 1,000 kyat per 100 bamboo stalks.

Bamboo in Arakan State grows in the deep forests of the mountain ranges of
Arakan Roma. Bamboo is difficult to cut and collect in Arakan; therefore,
prior to 1988 taxation on bamboo was non-existent.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

March 21, Irrawaddy
Mandalay struggles to contain bird flu - Clive Parker

Mandalay is struggling to contain an outbreak of avian influenza, the Food
and Agriculture Association said today after receiving word from the
authorities that 42 poultry farms had now likely been affected by the
outbreak.

Samples from the farms tested in Burmese laboratories have produced
positive results for the deadly H5N1 strain. An unknown number of positive
samples were sent to Bangkok for further testing on Sunday, the FAO’s
chief representative in Rangoon, Tang Zhengping, said.

The government yesterday confirmed the deaths of more than 6,000 chickens
and quails in the infected areas of Mandalay Division, Tang said, with the
Burmese authorities having now culled more than 200,000 poultry in
response. All cases that had tested positive for bird flu in Burmese
laboratories had occurred in the seven-kilometer radius “control zone”
around the original infection site at a farm in Pyigyidagun Township,
Mandalay, Tang added. This suggests that the virus has spread outside a
three-kilometer “restricted area” established on March 11, two days after
the outbreak was first detected.

An official of Burma’s Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department who
asked not to be named today acknowledged that the disease was spreading,
“but they [colleagues] quarantined the farms and then they destroyed the
rest of the chickens,” he said.

Yesterday a representative of the FAO in Bangkok, Laurence Gleeson, warned
in a Reuters report that the Burmese authorities were losing the battle to
control the spread of the virus: “My impression is that it is spreading
out of their [the authority’s] local control at the moment,” he said.
Gleeson was not available for further comment today.

Prolonged confusion over the situation in neighboring Sagaing Division was
caused, the LBVD official said, by a bird that had undergone a suspected
vaccination against the virus outside of Burma. One dead bird tested
positive in Khin Oo Township on March 10, according to a preliminary
report on the outbreak sent to the FAO’s Bangkok office on March 13. The
FAO today reaffirmed it knew nothing of an outbreak of avian flu in
Sagaing Division, despite reports in the international media and confusing
accounts in Burma’s state-run press.

Although the outbreak is still confined to only one area, the Burmese
government is understood to be seriously lacking funding for vital
equipment to help control the outbreak and to compensate the increasing
number of poultry farmers affected.

The Irrawaddy today received reports that in some cases farmers had been
instructed by the authorities to cull poultry themselves without expert
help, although these could not be confirmed.

Tang said the FAO had met with potential international donors in a bid to
bolster Burma’s response but had still not secured additional funding on
top of that provided by the FAO itself last week in the form of protective
clothing, disinfectant and containers to transport future samples safely.
The organization is also yet to approve a second batch of supplies,
although Tang said it is likely such a move would be made in the future.
It may also provide training to laboratory workers in Burma “to protect
themselves,” Tang said, adding the staff in question were “capable.”

The FAO and the Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department today also
said that compensation had still not been paid to any farmers embroiled in
the outbreak due to a lack of government funds. The junta is currently
discussing the possibility of restocking farms that have been affected and
supplying the first batch of poultry food. They may also call on the
state-run Livestock and Fisheries Development Bank to provide a
low-interest loan to fund the scheme.

Meanwhile, despite a complete ban on poultry products in Mandalay City,
one resident who requested not to be named said chickens and eggs were
still available on the black market. With the price of chickens reportedly
reduced by half since the outbreak, some in Mandalay had taken advantage
of what had now become a relatively cheap source of food, the resident
said: “The poor, who could not afford to buy chicken in the past
say that
only now are they able to afford such an expensive meal.”

The authorities have enacted a blanket ban on poultry products in Burma’s
second city since shortly after the outbreak, and have also temporarily
closed all poultry markets.

____________________________________

March 21, Mizzima News
ADB willing to aid Burma to fight bird flu - Mungpi

The Asian Development Bank said they were willing to provide assistance to
Burma in the wake of last week’s outbreak of bird flu, should the country
request it.

ADB announced on Thursday a $38 million programme to help poor countries,
including Burma, to bridge the gaps in their efforts to defend against
bird flu and to strengthen regional cooperation to fight the disease.

"Assistance to a country, including [Burma], will never be imposed, but
ADB will answer requests for assistance," said Graham James Dwyer,
External Relations Specialist of the ADB.

Following the Burmese military junta's brutal crack-down on student
protestors in 1988, the ADB stopped all monetary lending and technical
assistance operations in Burma. However, the ADB has considered assisting
Burma to fight against bird flu as a part of the global response to the
disease.

"
the strength of the global response to bird flu will be determined by
its weakest link
Therefore, ADB will provide assistance through its new
bird flu project to all member countries, including [Burma], if the
situation warrants," he added.

The project, jointly launched by ADB, ASEAN, the Food and Agriculture
Organisation and the World Health Organisation, aims to provide assistance
to developing countries to fight against avian influenza until
international organisations can assist them.

Under the project, countries can receive direct assistance if they request
ADB support and outline specific activities to combat the virus. Specific
interventions can also be requested by the project’s technical partners,
such as the FAO and WHO—both of whom have made such an appeal for Burma.

Graham told Mizzima that the ADB has requested clarifications on the kind
of assistance that Burma needs, but that if the country asked for
emergency aid, the ADB would rapidly address it as an emergency case.

"Support for [Burma] will be through regional activities such as sharing
of information, epidemiological data, and training. If there are emergency
needs in the country with regional implications, support could be provided
through the emergency facility of the project," he said.

Burmese authorities are battling an outbreak of the H5N1 virus in the
north-central part of the country, where the first confirmed case was
report on March 13. The government has promise to be transparent and
inform the international community immediately of the disease.

"We hope that this transparency will continue
We hope that, in fighting
Avian flu, the Government will consider only the technical aspects and the
emergency of the problems, without giving priority to political demands,"
said Graham.

He added: "Access to those regions where bird flu outbreaks have been
identified is important to control rapidly the outbreaks and prevent the
spread of avian flu."

____________________________________
DRUGS

March 21, Agence France Presse
Myanmar claims progress in narcotics crackdown

Myanmar's military rulers said Tuesday they were making progress in
battling the country's thriving narcotics trade, as official media cited
hundreds of new arrests and huge seizures of drugs.

Some 970,000 amphetamine tablets and nearly 5.5 tonnes of low-grade opium
were seized, while 336 people were arrested for drugs crimes in February,
the official New Light of Myanmar newspaper said.

That followed the seizure of 12 million amphetamine tablets in January,
roughly four times the amount of drugs seized in all of last year.

Myanmar is the world's second-largest producer of opium after Afghanistan,
and is a major source of amphetamines -- a class of narcotics that
includes a variety of cheaply made drugs such as speed and ecstasy.

With UN help, Myanmar has made strides in eradicating crops of
opium-producing poppies in the last five years but at the same time
amphetamine production has soared.

Western powers like the United States and Asian neighbors like China both
condemn Myanmar's narcotics trade.

China last month urged it to crack down on a "flood" of illegal drugs
crossing their common border, which is blamed for rising drug addiction
and HIV infections in China's southwestern Yunnan province.

The United States said in its annual narcotics report last year that
several hundred million amphetamine tablets are produced in Myanmar and
distributed by drug gangs that operate freely along its borders with China
and Thailand.

The US Justice Department has indicted eight leaders of the Yangon-allied
United Wa State Army on narcotrafficking charges, although the military
government has taken no action against the group.

____________________________________
ASEAN

March 21, Agence France Presse
Malaysia FM preparing to visit Myanmar

Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar on Tuesday expressed optimism
that he will travel to Myanmar this week to check on democratic reforms
but said his flight details were not yet confirmed.

Syed Hamid, who is travelling to Myanmar as an ASEAN special envoy, said
over the weekend he would visit this month but that the date of the trip
would remain a secret to avoid excessive publicity.

When asked Tuesday if he was going this week, he replied "Insyallah (God
willing)."

When pressed on the date, he told reporters: "I should be going, I am
trying to get a flight, I don't have a flight yet."

Syed Hamid was originally due to visit in January, but Myanmar's military
government said it was too busy relocating the national capital to receive
him.

The visit has apparently stalled on the envoy's insistence on meeting
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent most of the last 16
years in jail or under house arrest.

Myanmar is under heavy international pressure to undertake democratic
reforms.

The junta brutally crushed pro-democracy demonstrations in 1988 and two
years later rejected the result of national elections won by Aung San Suu
Kyi.

The 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) decided to
send Sayed Hamid to Myanmar at its annual meeting in December.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

March 21, Associated Press
Exiled Myanmar politicians urge EU to engage in dialogue with military
regime - Onika Oleksyn

Vienna Austria: Two exiled Myanmar politicians said Tuesday that the
European Union should not relax its position toward their country, but
should engage in a dialogue with the military regime to encourage a
national reconciliation.

"Our policy is to seek a negotiated settlement through dialogue," said
Thaung Htun, secretary of the foreign affairs committee of the exiled
National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma.

Htun, at a joint news conference with Sein Win, prime minister of the
exiled government, spoke to reporters in Vienna after meetings with
Austrian officials. Austria currently holds the EU's rotating presidency.

Western nations maintain political and economic sanctions against Myanmar
because of the junta's poor human rights record and failure to hand over
power to a democratically elected government. EU foreign ministers agreed
in 2004 to tighten sanctions against the military leadership to protest
its failure to improve human rights. Measures included extending the visa
ban on high-ranking generals. It includes all those ranked brigadier
general and above.

The junta, which seized power in 1988, held a general election in 1990 but
refused to honor the results after a landslide victory by the National
League for Democracy party of Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who
is under house arrest.

The two men, whose Austria visit continues for the rest of the week,
emphasized that in contrast to other Asian countries, Myanmar was headed
in the wrong direction and that its population was suffering from severe
human rights abuses, malnutrition, poverty and the spread of the AIDS
virus.

"What we are asking the European Union is to keep the European common
position strong. You have no reason to relax it because the military is
not doing anything; Aung San Suu Kyi is still under house arrest and 15
members of parliament are under arrest," said Win, who is a cousin of Suu
Kyi as well as chairman of the Party for National Democracy.

He was elected prime minister following the formation of the
government-in-exile on Dec. 18, 1990.

The two lawmakers said their party would be ready to recognize the
military regime as an interim government if it allowed the parliament to
convene based on the result of 1990 elections.

"That way, we can normalize relations between (the) current government and
(the) international community," Htun said.