BurmaNet News, July 7, 2006

[Editor]

July 7, 2006 Issue # 2999


INSIDE BURMA
IPS: Myanmar's long march to civilian rule
Reuters: Foreign pressure won't free Suu Kyi: state media
DVB: Prosecutions for those who criticise Burma junta’s physic nut project
NMG: Karen IDPs may face food, medicine shortage: FBR
DVB: NLD MP Than Nyein is not well in jail
IMNA: Thefts on the rise in southern Burma
Mizzima: Google back in Burma

ON THE BORDER
DVB: Only mass movement will force Burma junta to talk - FDB
Irrawaddy: Thai press coverage of Burmese migrant issues criticized

BUSINESS / TRADE
Xinhua: Draft law on special industrial zone completed in Myanmar

HEALTH / AIDS
Irrawaddy: Thailand to improve health conditions for migrant workers

DRUGS
Kantarawaddy: More and more drugs produced in Pa-O ceasefire areas

REGIONAL
Narinjara: Thirty Burmese fishermen die of unknown disease in Indonesian
waters

INTERNATIONAL
Irrawaddy: Euro parliament passes resolution on Internet censorship

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

July 4, Inter Press Service
Myanmar's long march to civilian rule - Larry Jagan

Bangkok: Myanmar's military rulers have begun a significant internal
shakeup of the army and government in preparation for a planned political
transition to civilian rule, according to Yangon-based diplomats.

Eight deputy ministers and a Supreme Court judge were recently relieved of
their posts and several other cabinet changes are believed to be in the
pipeline.

It is the start of a fresh attempt to turn Myanmar's ruling State Peace
and Development Council (SPDC) into a civilian body in preparation for the
political change that will be ushered in under a new constitution, which
is expected to be promulgated in the next two years.

Toward that end, SPDC chairman General Than Shwe is also planning
significant policy changes, including a new program of economic
liberalization and government assistance to strengthen the country's
private sector.

The planned changes notably also coincide with the regime's new crackdown
on corruption. Several top customs officials, including the department's
director general, have recently been detained and are soon expected to be
charged with corruption. The investigations have broadened to include
several other economic ministries and perhaps even the central bank,
according to diplomatic sources in Yangon.

The personnel changes represent the second major revamp in recent months.
A cabinet shuffle in May saw two deputy information ministers, Thein Sein
and Brigadier-General Aung Thein, lose their jobs for undisclosed reasons.
Deputy defense minister Major-General Khin Maung Win; deputy mines
minister Myint Thein; deputy culture minister Brigadier-General Soe Win
Maung; the deputy minister of border areas and national races and
development affairs, Brigadier-General Than Tun; deputy minister of
industry Thein Tun; and deputy transport minister Pe Thein were all also
nudged into retirement.

Their replacements are yet to be announced, but sources in Yangon say they
are likely to be drawn from a younger generation of graduates from the
National Defense College. This may be Than Shwe's way of keeping General
Maung Aye, the SPDC's second-ranking officer, in the system while reducing
his influence, according to a senior Asian diplomat familiar with the
situation.

Maung Aye is seen as Than Shwe's only potential challenger inside the
junta after the October 2004 internal purge that ousted from the SPDC
General Khin Nyunt, former prime minister and powerful intelligence chief.
Maung Aye and Khin Nyunt had for years jockeyed for power and influence
inside the SPDC. Now Than Shwe's reorganization of the government is
designed to clip Maung Aye's wings, according to Yangon-based diplomats.

For instance, many of the regional military commanders known to be loyal
to Maung Aye were moved after the SPDC's last quarterly meeting, which was
held in the new capital Pyinmana, where the junta abruptly moved the
government late last year.

"He is replicating his usual approach of pitting potential junior rivals
against each other to create a balance of power," said independent Myanmar
analyst Win Min, who is based in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai.

Junta-led democracy

Now that the war office and the government administration are up and
running in the new capital, Than Shwe is again turning his attention to
the country's political future. The national-reconciliation process, as
the military regime calls its plans for political reform, has been
substantially delayed, partly because of the junta's move to the new
capital, partly because of the uncertainty due to the surprise purge of
Khin Nyunt's military intelligence apparatus in October 2004.

Hundreds of his supporters were sentenced to long jail terms for a wide
array of charges, including alleged corruption and other economic crimes.
Since then Than Shwe has been primarily concerned with consolidating his
own power within the army and the country's administration.

Meanwhile, the National Convention, which is in the process of drafting a
new constitution, is scheduled to resume its deliberations this year.
Foreign Minister Nyan Win told his counterparts in the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations in April that the constitution would not be
completed for at least another two years.

Once completed, the new charter will be put to a referendum and general
elections will be held some time after that, according to the SPDC's
so-called "roadmap to democracy". The main opposition National League for
Democracy (NLD) won a landslide victory the last time general elections
were held in Myanmar, and the opposition has since maintained that the
1990 poll results should be upheld.

But indications are that the SPDC plans on managing its political
transition without the NLD's participation. The junta has recently
intensified its campaign of harassment against the NLD, moving to
immobilize or eliminate the pro-democracy party as well as organized
ethnic rebel groups, most of which have signed ceasefire pacts with the
military government.

At the same time, Myanmar's top general is reportedly considering giving
up at least one, and possibly two, of the three key posts he currently
holds - chairman of the SPDC, army supreme commander and defense minister.

"We expect Than Shwe to relinquish his position as defense minister as
part of the forthcoming reshuffle," said an Asian diplomat based in
Yangon.

Meanwhile, the SPDC is expected to be renamed the State Democracy and
Development Council within the next few months, indicating the next step
from military to civilian rule. Since the army seized power, the military
rulers have once before changed the junta's formal name from the State Law
and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) to the SPDC in 1997. Nine years
later it would not be a surprise if it changed the name again, partly
because nine is regarded as an auspicious number in Burman astrology.

The idea would be that the ruling council would remain the highest
political authority overseeing both a military council and a civilian
cabinet. The military command would be replaced by a military council -
led by third-ranking SPDC officer General Thura Swe Mann, but with Than
Shwe also serving on the body.

"The idea has probably been adopted from the Chinese, and Than Shwe plans
to follow [late Chinese leader] Deng Xiaoping's example after he resigns
his official government and party posts," Win Min said.

The cabinet, meanwhile, is already being fully transformed to civilian
status: ministers have recently lost their military rank upon appointment
to government posts. Even Prime Minister Soe Win recently relinquished his
official military post and stripes.

Chinese officials believe Than Shwe will stand down this year so that he
can become the civilian president under a new constitution.

"He wants to be president for life," a senior military source close to him
said.

Although the new generation of generals may take responsibility for the
day-to-day running of the country and execute the seven-stage roadmap to
democracy, Than Shwe is still expected to remain the power behind the
throne.

____________________________________

July 5, Reuters
Foreign pressure won't free Suu Kyi: state media

Mounting international pressure on Myanmar will not free democracy icon
Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest, state-run newspapers said on Tuesday
as a visit by a regional envoy was postponed.

"There is no point at all in the United States and its liberal gang
members demanding her release. Her release would be dangerous for herself
and the country," said a commentary published in newspapers considered
mouthpieces of the regime.

"Only Daw Suu Kyi herself can bring about her freedom. Nobody else can do
it," it said of the Nobel Peace laureate who has spent 10 of the last 17
years under some form of detention.

The United States, which has imposed sanctions on the former Burma, wants
the U.N. Security Council to put pressure on a regime Washington says is a
threat to "stability, peace and security in the region".

Myanmar's neighbors in the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN)
have also shown rare public displeasure with Yangon, but they have had
little success in cajoling the generals to free Suu Kyi or speed up
promised political reforms. Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto
Romulo was due to visit Yangon this week as Manila prepared to assume the
chairmanship of ASEAN in late July.

But the trip was put off due to a scheduling problem.

"Hopefully, by next month. We have not agreed on the date. It will
happen," Romulo told reporters in Manila, adding that he had asked for
permission to meet Suu Kyi. Her house arrest was extended in May for
another year.

"My desire is to meet her. Our policy has been the same -- the road map to
peace and democracy, and it has been expressed by the president in
international fora. The road map to democracy is the important point," he
said.

Yangon says its seven-step plan announced in 2003 will end more than 40
years of military rule, but it has set no timetable.

____________________________________

July 5, Democratic Voice of Burma
Prosecutions for those who criticise Burma junta’s physic nut project

The Burmese authorities at Bhamo, Kachin State in northern Burma issued an
edict which states that those who criticise the government’s physic nut
plantation projects will be arrested and prosecuted under Act (118).

Local residents are being forced to contribute human and monetary
resources for the projects by the order of the district authority chairman
Major Hla Thaung. They have been forced to clear wild scrublands for the
projects, situated 6 miles away from the town.

Each ward is being forced to grow an acre of the plants and those who
could not take part in the project are fined 3000 Kyat. Each household has
to pay 800 Kyat for the purchase of seedlings along with 300-500 extra
charges.

Similarly, the local authority chairman of Mauklauk Village, Meikhtila
Township in central Burma, Aye Saung has been imposing fines on those who
do not grow the plants, and using the money for his own benefits,
according to local residents.

Oil extracted from the nuts is reportedly used as the main ingredient of a
type of bio-fuel in attempts to solve acute fuel shortages in Burma while
the government is selling off the majority of the vast offshore natural
gas reserves to foreign countries.

The people insisted that these government projects are economically
unviable and that if the junta wants to help the people and itself, it
should stop its authorities from meddling in their lives which the
authorities neither understand nor try to understand.

Some people claim that the projects are part of the ruling military junta,
the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) efforts to ‘ward of evil’
so that it could hold on power forever.

____________________________________

July 6, Network Media Group
Karen IDPs may face food, medicine shortage: FBR

As fresh operations were launched at the beginning of this month by the
Burma Army, more Karen villagers have fled and are hiding in the jungles.
They may face acute shortage of food and medicine if they have to hide
longer, according to a source from the Free Burma Ranger (FBR) which is
helping Burmese IDPs.

“The number of IDPs is causing anxiety for they might become sick because
it’s raining. Rice is almost gone; there are stocks left for only about
one month. We need medicine and more important is their safety. If there
is no security for them, they might be killed by Burmese troops. I think
it’s a condition which is worrisome,” said the source.

Because of renewed attacks by the Burma Army on Karen villages in Mon
Township, Nyaunglebin District, about 4,000 villagers from at least 28
villages have fled and are hiding in jungles. They have to depend on
meagre rice and rations that they brought with them and stored in the
jungles.

The Burma Army has, since last March, launched monthly attacks on villages
in Mon Township.

“They [Burmese troops] launched fresh attacks on July 1. The villages
under attack are those between Kyauk Kyi and Mone River,” the source
added.

The villagers went back to their villages when the army withdrew its
troops from the areas in late May. However they have again had to flee
when the army started launching renewed attacks on the 1st of this month,
according to the Committee for Internally Displaced Karen People (CIDKP).

The FBR and CIDKP are currently providing medicine and food to Karen
villagers in the jungles.

A report released by FBR on June 30 says the Light Infantry Battalion 240
under MOC 16 was attacking the Kyauk Pia area and on June 29 fired from
machineguns to chase villagers hiding in the jungle.

Thousands of Karen refugees have fled to the Thai-Burma border after the
Burma Army’s attacks, started in late 2005, on villages in Taungoo,
Nyaunglebin and Papon districts.

Some of the villagers arrived in Mae Ra Moe refugee camp and some are
staying at the new Ei-du-hta camp on the border. The rest of the villagers
are hiding in the jungles of Karen State as homeless refugees.

____________________________________

July 6, Democratic Voice of Burma
NLD MP Than Nyein is not well in jail

National League for Democracy (NLD) elected representative (MP) Dr. Than
Nyein who is being detained Prome at (Pyay) Jail in central Burma, has
been suffering from cancerous prostate and liver diseases.

His condition is said to be in a worrying state as there is no doctor at
the prison to look after him at the moment, according to his wife Khin Aye
who went to see him at the prison recently.

“The prison doctor had moved out since early this year but his replacement
hasn’t arrived yet. He said he is worried. In case of emergency, they have
to fetch a township doctor,” Khin Aye told DVB. “If the doctor is not here
for emergency, I will be in trouble, if something happens to me, he said.
As the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) doesn’t come, he
can’t say anything about his health.”

The prison authorities have been barring Than Nyein from seeing specialist
doctors for his prostate and liver complaints for nearly two years.

“As for me, I want him to be shown to specialists in Rangoon most. Only
then would we know properly what is happening to him. Leave aside his
heart and high blood pressure, the doctors here can deal with them. His
prostate could become cancerous, especially, his liver shrinks and
toughens and it could become cancerous.”

Than Nyein was sentenced to seven years in jail in 1997 for trying to form
Rangoon Mayanggone Township National League for Democracy (NLD) Youth. He
was due to be release in 2004, but continued to be detained with Act 10A.
He staged a hunger strike to protest against the unjust practice and he
was transferred from Rangoon Insein Jail to Thrawaddy, Paungde and Prome
Jail, step by step.

____________________________________

July 6, Independent Mon News Agency
Thefts on the rise in southern Burma - Loa Htaw

Burglaries seem to be on the rise in southern Burma, Mon state, claim
people in the region.

Thefts appear to be increasing in Moulmein, Mudon, Thanbyuzayat, and Ye
township, said Nai Min a resident of Mudon Township.

“People have no positive clue as to why robberies are increasing. But they
feel it is probably because of the rise in illegal gambling, including
lottery and increased drug use” he added.

Another resident Nai Zaw Htat also complained of increasing thefts and
said last year he had rarely heard of robberies in Mon state.

Motorcycles, gold and money were the main targets of thieves and people
claimed that about 10 motorbikes have been stolen recently. But they had
no information whether the police have arrested the thieves he added.

Similarly, residents in Rangoon are also witnessing an increase in thefts
and assume it is because of illegal gambling during the ongoing World Cup
soccer.

Many people in Burma are keener on illegal gambling (lottery) than
politics and some rely on the lottery business for their survival.

____________________________________

July 5, Mizzima News
Google back in Burma - Mungpi

Internet users in Burma have found ways to access the well-known Google
search engine and have almost beat the regime at its own game just weeks
after the military banned the site in an apparent bid to win back control
of the profitable long-distance telephone call market.

While Gmail and Google talk are still banned a Rangoon resident told
Mizzima, "Google has been accessible for sometime now."

According to the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, the
military banned the site because the Voice over Internet Protocol
technology used by Google talk has impacted government revenues from
state-controlled telephone companies.

Burmese authorities also have a history of banning free web-based email
providers such as Yahoo, Google and MSN in attempts to force users to rely
on state-controlled providers that are heavily filtered.

While an official from the Winners Computer Group in Rangoon's Myanma
Information and Communication Technology Park confirmed today that Gmail
and Google talk were still unavailable, internet users in Burma have found
ways to get through the military-created firewall and many are
successfully using free online proxy servers to access the sites.

An internet user in Rangoon told Mizzima via Google talk today that users
were still finding ways to access their accounts and only the site's voice
features had been permanently blocked.

While Burma Information Technology, a New Delhi-based group of Burmese IT
experts, said Burmese authorities would continue to ban and block sites
such as proxy servers, which are regularly accessed by internet users,
sources in Rangoon said, "They can ban proxy servers but more will
emerge".

The state-run Myanmar Teleport, which took over Bagan cybertech after the
purge of former Burmese prime minister and intelligence chief, Khin Nyunt,
controls Burma's internet access and has installed the high-tech
Fortiguard filtering system made by the US-based company Fortinet.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

July 6, Democratic Voice of Burma
Only mass movement will force Burma junta to talk - FDB

Only mass movement and fight will succeed in forcing stubborn Burma’s
military junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) into
carrying out political dialogues, an exiled Burmese political force, Forum
for Democracy in Burma (FDB) said today.

The comment came in a statement issued at the end of the first FDB
conference held from 2 to 6 July.

“The public, the people inside are the main (force),” said FDB
joint-secretary Ngwe Lin. “We have plans to get the international
pressure, but we regard it as the reserve (help). In fact, we clearly see
that internal forces and the public must do it steadfastly and vigorously,
and we want to point out that as long the public doesn’t do a mass
movement, we will find it difficult to move forward.”

Ngwe Lin added that the public, regardless of racial or political
denominations, is suffering under the stubbornness of the military junta
and desperately wants change.

“We assessed that in order to make these changes happen, they themselves
have to do it. In order to do that, what kind of help we could give to
them, what kind of thing we could do? What we could do is we are trying to
make the sparks which could occur at any day become real mass movements
through our people and contacts (within Burma)
”

When asked if the people would rise up inside Burma as they are filled
with fear although they want change, Ngwe Lin said:

“When there is so much oppression, what we see externally is, they are
afraid and subdued. But if something starts to happen, we could have a
nationwide uprising like it was in (19)88. The reason is, before 1988, U
Ne Win’s government oppressed people like this. We assume that there will
never be dialogues with the stubbornness of the army clique without the
push of the public fight or the mass movement. Although we do not know
when this matter will happen, we are determined to make it happen with the
help of other forces.”

____________________________________

July 7, The Irrawaddy
Thai press coverage of Burmese migrant issues criticized - Sai Silp

Burmese living in Thailand are pictured in a negative way in the Thai
press, media activists told a conference in Chiang Mai on Friday.

“The mainstream press in Thailand always reports news about the Burmese in
a negative way, such as crime cases where the suspects are Burmese migrant
workers,” said one of the participants, Wandee Suntiwutmethi, editor of
the Salween Post. She said such coverage could create anti-Burmese
prejudice.

Wandee was taking part in a conference titled  “Peace Media in the Greater
Mekong Sub-region,” organized by Chiang Mai University’s Faculty of Mass
Communication, with the support of Germany’s Heinrich Boell Foundation.

Complaints have arisen in the past of anti-Burmese bias in Thai press
coverage of the tsunami disaster. Burmese migrant workers have been
accused of theft and pillage in the aftermath of the catastrophe, whereas
most of the thieves were subsequently found to be Thais.

Supinya Klangnarong, of the Campaign for Popular Media Reform, complained
of bias in Thai television programming. Burmese migrant workers, along
with hill tribe and Lao people, were ridiculed in TV shows, she said.

Chawarong Limpattamapani, of the Press Council of Thailand, suggested that
members of the Thai media should co-operate more with the Burmese exiled
media in Thailand. There was a lack of understanding between them, he
said, because of language difficulties and the state control of the press
in Burma.

The conference—attended also by representatives of the BBC World Service,
Earth Journalism Network and the Indochina Media Memorial Foundation—also
discussed the extent of freedom of the press in the Greater Mekong
Sub-region.

James David Fahn, Executive Director of Earth Journalism Network, said
press censorship in any one country had an effect on neighboring ones. As
an example, he told the conference that Chinese authorities had prevented
him from reporting on a Chinese company engaged in logging in northern
Burma. The concerns of local people had therefore not been reported, he
said.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

July 7, Xinhua General News Service
Draft law on special industrial zone completed in Myanmar

A draft law on running special industrial zones in Myanmar with full
foreign investment has been completed and will soon be introduced,
according to a latest report of the local weekly Voice.

The law, which is aimed at absorbing inflow of foreign investment to
promote Myanmar's industrial development, will grant special privileges to
foreign investors who set up such zones, sources with the Myanmar National
Investment Commission was quoted as saying.

The law directs at the emergence of the exceptional Thilawa Special
Industrial Zone (SIZ) in Yangon's Thanlyin township, the prospective first
full foreign investment SIZ.

According to the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and
Industry, the Thilawa zone will become the export concentration zone in
which all formalities for export of the zone 's products will be handled.

There has been 19 industrial zones across Myanmar and small private
industrial enterprises are dominating these zones, leading in the
sustainable development of the country's industrial sector.

These zones comprise a total of 9,574 industrial enterprises in operation
which include small, medium and heavy industries which respectively take
57.48 percent, 25.24 percent and 17.28 percent, according to the Myanmar
Industrial Development Committee.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

July 7, The Irrawaddy
Thailand to improve health conditions for migrant workers - Shah Paung

Thai government officials, non-governmental health organizations and
international aid groups ended a three-day conference in Bangkok on
Friday, during which they discussed ways in which to work together to
improve health conditions among the country’s migrant workers.

“In the conference, we discussed how we can improve migrant worker health,
particularly ways to keep health workers in migrant communities and to
train new health workers,” said Dr Cynthia Maung, head of Mae Sot’s Mae
Tao Clinic.

Most migrant workers in Thailand come from Burma, Cambodia and Laos. Many
of them reside in the country illegally, and they avoid seeking treatment
for illnesses at local hospitals and clinics out of fear that police will
arrest them.

“In Mae Tao Clinic, we treat 200 to 300 patients per day,” said one
representative from the clinic. “In 2005, patient numbers were up to
50,000,” adding that many of these came from Burma.

A statement on the website of Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health, who
sponsored the three-day conference, said that tuberculosis was the most
prevalent infectious disease among the country’s 600,000 registered
migrant workers.

Thailand’s ministries of Labor and Interior said during the conference
that they will review current policies on migrant health and work more
closely to address problems, according to Dr Cynthia Maung.

The conference, titled “Healthy Migrants, Healthy Thailand,” was the first
in the country to specifically address the health needs of migrant
workers, and included some 600 representatives from groups such as the
World Health Organization, International Rescue Committee and the Raks
Thai Foundation, among others.

“We hope that the Thai health and labor departments will give more support
to Burmese migrant workers, based on our discussions during the
conference,” said Dr Cynthia Maung.

____________________________________
DRUGS

July 6, Kantarawaddy Times
More and more drugs produced in Pa-O ceasefire areas

Pa-O ceasefire areas are doing roaring business in drugs and the youth are
falling prey to addiction. Poppy fields have been extended and Yaba pills
are being continuously produced in the areas controlled by PaO groups
which agreed to a ceasefire with the Burmese junta, said a local PaO
youth.

“They [drugs] are being produced, but I don’t know where,” said the
source, “There is an abundance [of drugs].”

More and more Yaba bills are being produced in PaO areas, and the
consumers are mostly young people.

“As far as I know, there are three types. The good quality one is called
‘R,’ the average one is ‘Y’ short stem and the inferior one is called ‘Y’
long stem, the youth said.

Purchased in retail, the price of the good quality is Kyat 2,000 per pill,
Kyat 1,500 for an average one and Kyat 1,000 for an inferior tablet.
However, if purchased in wholesale, the price is only about half of that
in retail, according to the source.

Though selling and buying narcotic drugs is illegal and banned, they can
be easily sold or bought at different places, said the young man.

The Burmese military junta (SPDC) on June 26 burnt 1.69 tons of drugs at
the 20th Annual Drug Destruction Ceremony to mark the International Day
Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. The drugs torched included
169.7 kilograms of heroin, 690.6 kilograms of opium, 101.74 kilograms of
ice, 2.1 million pills of amphetamine stimulants and worth about US $ 148
million.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

July 6, Narinjara News
Thirty Burmese fishermen die of unknown disease in Indonesian waters

At least 30 Burmese fishermen working on Thai trawlers have died from an
unidentified disease in Indonesian waters.

According to a report by the BBC Burmese section yesterday morning, the
disease was first noticed in the beginning of April this year and three
days later the first casualties occurred.

According to the report, the fishermen suffered symptoms where their legs
and bodies became inflamed and swollen.  A few days later the victims
died.

During the period from April to June, at least 30 Burmese and seven Thais
died from the unidentified disease in Indonesian waters.

After the disease broke out among fishermen, the fishing trawlers returned
to Thailand in a bid to escape from the disease.  Currently, 18 fishermen
who contracted the disease have been admitted to hospital in Thailand and
are under treatment, the report said.

A doctor at the hospital thought the disease could be related to
elephantiasis, due to lack of vegetables in the fishermen's diet as they
spent long periods at sea.

However, the doctors have come to the conclusion that the disease is
unrelated to elephantiasis and its cause remains a mystery, said the
report.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

July 7, The Irrawaddy
Euro parliament passes resolution on Internet censorship

The European Parliament on Thursday passed a resolution on internet
censorship condemning governments which ban content—including Burma, China
and Vietnam—as well as IT companies that work with them to impose online
restrictions. Noting that the battle for free speech had in part moved to
online content, the resolution calls on the European Commission and
Council to enact policy aimed at safeguarding online freedoms. The
suggested measures include putting pressure on countries that restrict the
internet and that have jailed citizens for their activities online, as
well as a voluntary code of conduct for companies including Google and
Microsoft, which are accused of facilitating censorship. The US introduced
a draft bill—the Global Online Freedom Act—in February aimed at regulating
IT companies that operate in repressive countries. In response to the
European initiative, media watchdog Reporters Without Borders said: “It is
essential that Europe should move forward in this area at the same time as
the United States to ensure that all companies respect the same ethical
principles.”

Meanwhile, internet users in Burma have said that the previous ban on
Google Talk and Gmail has been lifted, although the use of both is still
hampered by slow internet connections—a common problem in the country.
Some had switched to Gmail Lite, a version that can run at lower
connection speeds. In Mandalay though, sources said Google Talk and a
similar program, Skype, were still unavailable. Other free web-based
emails that were blocked late last month at the same time—Sailormoon.com
and Mail2World—are also still banned, users said.