BurmaNet News, August 25, 2006

[Editor]

August 25, 2006 Issue # 3033


INSIDE BURMA
AP: Red Cross says it is barred from making prison visits in Myanmar
Irrawaddy: British Embassy rebuffs junta’s accusations
Scoop: American Embassy in Burma attracts junta's ire
Irrawaddy: Charity donations dry up amid regime takeover reports

ON THE BORDER
Mizzima: International pressure to help solve refugee problem: Sauerbrey
SHAN: ‘Patriotic' power shut down in Tachilek

BUSINESS / TRADE
AP: U.S., ASEAN ink expanded trade pact but Malaysia warns that it
shouldn't pressure Myanmar
IMNA: Price of imported goods spiral

ASEAN
AP: Cambodia calls on Myanmar to release political prisoners, speed up
democratic reforms

REGIONAL
AFP: Thai deputy PM visits Myanmar for drug talks

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

August 25, Associated Press
Red Cross says it is barred from making prison visits in Myanmar

Yangon: Myanmar's ruling junta is refusing to let the Red Cross visit
prisons where some 1,200 political prisoners are being held under abysmal
conditions, a Red Cross official said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has not been granted access
to the prisons since December, and a meeting between its representative
and Myanmar's military government earlier this week failed to end the ban.

"We are very disappointed because there was no mention of a resumption of
prison visits by the ICRC during the meeting," Fiona Terry, spokeswoman
for the ICRC in Yangon, said Thursday.

"We have not been able to visit the prisons since last year and we are
deeply concerned about the general conditions in prisons," Terry said.

The military regime holds about 1,200 political prisoners, the most
prominent of whom is pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent
the last three years in detention, mostly under house arrest.

Human rights groups and ex-prisoners say torture, poor food, little
medical attention and brutal guards are common in Myanmar's extensive
network of prisons and labor camps. The government denies such charges.

Myanmar's junta has given no specific reason for suspending the ICRC's
prison visits.

The Geneva-based ICRC says one reason could be the government's insistence
on taking along members of government-affiliated organizations such as the
Union Solidarity and Development Association and women's groups during
prison visits, which is against ICRC procedure.

"We want to have confidential discussions with detainees and also with
prison authorities," Terry said.

The ICRC's country representative, Patrick Vial, met Home Affairs Minister
Maj. Gen. Maung Oo on Wednesday at Myanmar's new administrative capital of
Naypyidaw, 400 kilometers (250 miles) north of Yangon, Terry said.

Since 1999, the ICRC has made more than 450 visits to about 90 prisons and
labor camps across Myanmar, meeting detainees and providing them with
medicine, soap and other assistance. The ICRC also met Suu Kyi shortly
after she was detained following an attack on her motorcade by a pro-junta
mob in 2003.

____________________________________

August 25, Irrawaddy
British Embassy rebuffs junta’s accusations - Aung Lwin Oo

The British embassy in Rangoon on Friday dismissed accusations by the
country’s military government that the mission was violating diplomatic
codes of conduct by meeting with pro-democracy opposition groups this
week.

State-run The New Light of Myanmar criticized newly credentialed British
ambassador to Burma Mark Canning for meeting with members of the National
League for Democracy, the ethnic umbrella group Committee Representing the
People’s Parliament and the 88 Generation Students Group, reportedly to
discuss the administration of humanitarian funds for fighting HIV/AIDS,
tuberculosis and malaria.

“It [the embassy] should make coordination and cooperation with the
[Burmese] Health Ministry
instead of holding secret meetings with unlawful
organizations and political agents that never represent the nation,” the
report said.

Official press had previously criticized the US and British missions in
Rangoon of violating diplomatic codes of conduct by maintaining close
relations with opposition groups. It also suggested that representatives
of unnamed Western nations were contributing to the instability of Burma.

“It is incorrect to suggest that these meetings were ‘secret’ or in any
way in violation of diplomatic norms,” said the British embassy’s press
spokesperson, who added that as part of his normal diplomatic routine,
Ambassador Canning will continue meeting with “a range of people from a
cross spectrum of Burmese society,” including UN agencies, NGOs, political
parties, media representatives and individuals from various ethnic groups
and civil society.

The ambassador’s meetings followed an announcement by the UK on August 10
of US $36 million in aid—part of a multinational $100 million package—to
help fight three major diseases in Burma—HIV/AIDS, malaria and
tuberculosis. The package includes funds from Australia, the European
Commission, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.

“Several senior members of the Burmese government have welcomed the UK’s
assistance to the 3 Diseases Fund and expressed gratitude for the UK’s
recently announced donation,” the spokesperson said.

The embassy said that, being the largest donor among EU members, the UK
aims to meet the bloc’s requirement to discuss its aid projects and
programs with “civil society and all democratic groups.”

“Not only should the government and political organizations be involved,
but other social organizations as well,” Cin Sian Thang of the CRPP, who
met with the ambassador on Monday, told The Irrawaddy. “But it appears
that the government doesn’t even approve our meeting.”

On Thursday, Ambassador Canning, who assumed his duties on August 18, met
members of the 88 Generation Students Group, comprising former political
prisoners and student activists. The group said it was an informal meeting
with an incoming ambassador, and both sides exchanged views on the current
stage of the country’s political and social development.

____________________________________

August 25, Scoop.co.nz
American Embassy in Burma attracts junta's ire - Richard S. Ehrlich

Bangkok: The military regime in Burma has targeted the American Embassy in
Rangoon, and one of the embassy's female Burmese staffers, because U.S.
and British diplomats met opposition politicians whose leader is the
world's most famous political prisoner, Aung San Suu Kyi.

Suu Kyi has been locked under house arrest inside her dreary, two-story,
lakeside mansion for 11 of the past 16 years.

Her National League for Democracy Party won a landslide election victory
in 1990, but the regime does not want her to rule the Southeast Asian
nation.

The military junta in Burma, a Buddhist-majority country also known as
Myanmar, unleashed its anger at the American Embassy in a chilling,
personalized complaint in the government-run newspaper, The New Light of
Myanmar.

"Diplomats and staff of the American Embassy have visited the NLD HQ
(National League for Democracy headquarters) almost every day, sending
letters and holding discussions more than 130 times from January to July,
2006," the paper said on Wednesday (August 23).

"In doing so, Daw Shwe Sin Nyunt, a staff member of the information
department of the U.S. Embassy, always accompanies those diplomats. She
also visits the NLD HQ alone many times, to send the embassy's
instructions and take whatever feedback the NLD gives.

"Thirty-seven-year-old Daw Shwe Sin Nyunt, the daughter of U Nyunt Pe and
Daw Khin May Chaw, is married, and served in the culture department of
French Embassy after she had left the University of Economics as a second
year student in 1989.

"Since December 23, 2005, she has been working for the information
department of the U.S. Embassy. She now lives at No. 4, 2nd Street,
Shwegondine Ward West, Bahan Township," the paper said.

Burma's unelected regime frequently lashes out at the U.S., Britain and
other foreign countries for supporting Suu Kyi's quest for democracy, and
has criticized American politicians, diplomats and others by name.

This is the first time it has publicly named, blamed and shamed a Burmese
citizen employed by the U.S. Embassy.

The government said it was publishing these latest "news reports with
photos, to expose those diplomats and staff, as well as the NLD, for their
violation of the diplomatic code of conduct and inappropriate acts."

The generals who run Burma are angry at America because Washington has led
calls for international economic sanctions against the country -- while
Washington finances Burmese dissidents in Thailand, Europe, the U.S. and
elsewhere.

Suu Kyi, 61, and her party have been weakened by repeated arrests.

She remains extremely popular, however, throughout the impoverished,
hermit country despite the government's frequent description of her as a
"puppet" of foreign powers which are anxious to exploit Burma's vast
natural resources.

Burma was a British colony until 1948, and London is also perceived as
meddling in the country's internal affairs.

"Diplomats and staff of the British Embassy frequented the NLD HQ, and
sent letters and instructions to it about 30 times from January to July
2006," the government's official mouthpiece said.

Burma's dissidents are supported by foreign "Members of Parliament and
diplomats of the West, CIA agents under the guise of NGOs (non-government
organizations) and white, terrorist, course instructors," it said.

The racial reference apparently points to a handful of Caucasian
mercenaries who occasionally surface after offering free, or inexpensive,
military training to minority ethnic Karen guerrillas fighting a
55-year-long, losing war for autonomy or independence along Burma's
eastern border with Thailand.

Burma also castigated former U.S. Congressman Stephen J. Solarz, who
became a consultant advising foreign governments in their relations with
the United States, and helped set up the International Crisis Group,
according to the Development Executive Group where he is on the board of
advisors.

In the 1980s, Solarz supported Cambodian guerrillas fighting to end the
Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia -- a strategy widely condemned because
jungle-based Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge benefited from an indirect alliance
with the U.S.-backed rebels against the Vietnamese.

The New York-based Burma Peace Foundation and its head, David Arnott, were
also named. The foundation has campaigned for the unconditional release of
Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi, and favors crippling Burma with economic
sanctions.

In a time-warp lapse by the generals, they also heaped abuse U.S. Senator
Daniel Patrick Moynihan, whose "Moynihan amendment" toughened economic
sanctions -- but he died in 2003.

Solarz, Arnott, Moynihan and others "are producing and nurturing the
expatriates" who fled Burma and now plot to overthrow the regime, it said.

The U.S. government-funded, cash-awarding National Endowment for Democracy
and others were also named for sinisterly interfering in Burma.

____________________________________

August 25, Irrawaddy
Charity donations dry up amid regime takeover reports

Some donors are withdrawing their support for a free funeral service
association in Rangoon following news that it is likely to come under the
control of a government-affiliated group, according to social workers
there.

Increasing government pressure on the Free Funeral Services Society is
also having a negative effect on donations, said one Rangoon-based social
worker.

The FFSS is reported to be facing a takeover by the regime-affiliated
Union Solidarity and Development Association, best known for its
involvement in the junta-organized attack on opposition leader Aung San
Suu Kyi and her motorcade in May 2003, when dozens of her supporters were
killed.

No official announcement has yet been made of the reported takeover. Since
news of the probable takeover broke, however, donations dried up,
according to an FSSS staff member. Until now, the group has been receiving
30-40 million kyats (nearly US $30,000) a month. Most donations come from
Burmese people living in Japan, Taiwan, Britain and the US.

The FFSS provides more than 40 free funeral services daily for families
who can’t afford the expense. Since its formation it has financed nearly
40,000 funerals.

Social workers with other welfare associations, including funeral
services, are concerned that their organizations might come under similar
government pressure. There are around 20 funeral services associations in
Mandalay alone.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

August 24, Mizzima News
International pressure to help solve refugee problem: Sauerbrey - Siddique
Islam

The Rohingya refugee problem would be easier to solve if international
pressure on the military rulers of Burma continues, said the visiting US
Assistant Secretary for Population, Refugee and Migration Affairs Ellen R
Sauerbrey.

The senior US State Department official also stressed on the need for
bilateral talks between the two neighbouring countries, Burma and
Bangladesh for finding ways to resolve the problem of Rohingya refugees.

"The refugees would certainly go back to their home after restoration of a
congenial atmosphere in Myanmar [Burma ]," she said while talking to
reporters at the UN refugee agency's sub-office in Cox's Bazaar on
Wednesday after visiting two Rohingya camps in the district.

The US official also said that they found no evidence of Bangladesh
forcing the refugees to go back to Burma.

Sauerbrey has assured the Bangladesh government all kinds of cooperation
to find 'a permanent solution' to the repatriation of Rohingya refugees to
their homeland, Burma.

The assurance came when a five-member delegation led by the US official
called on Food and Disaster Management Minister of Bangladesh, Chowdhury
Kamal Ibne Yusuf at his office in Dhaka on Wednesday.

During the meeting, the Bangladesh authorities apprised the US delegation
that sheltering the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh beyond the provisions
of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees was not possible.

Bangladesh also sought international assistance, including from the United
States, to help find a new home for thousands of refugees from Burma ,
saying it could not afford to keep them any longer.

"We have urged the US and the UN to try to relocate the Myanmar refugees
in a third country," the minister told newsmen.

He said that as per provisions of the MoU, UNHCR would play an effective
role in organizing food, clothing, treatment for the refugees and assist
in sending them back to their homeland.

Impoverished Bangladesh was not in a position to accommodate thousands of
refugees for an indefinite period, he added.

Yusuf told the US delegation that over 21,000 listed refugees have been
staying in Kutupalong of Ukhia and Nayapara refugee camp in Teknaf,
Bangladesh for 16 years.

____________________________________

August 25, Shan Herald Agency for News
‘Patriotic' power shut down in Tachilek

For the fourth consecutive day Tachilek, the twin city of Maesai, has been
in darkness again, three years after electricity supply from Thailand was
stopped by the order of the Burma Army, according to sources from the
border.

This time the plant in Ponglo quarter is undergoing repairs.

The military zone north of the city however has not been affected by the
power outage. “Actually, it was the military that got hit by the
blackout,” one respected citizen explained. “But they ordered that the
supply lines going into the city be redirected to the military zone.”

“In a way, this is another sample of our future democracy,” he quipped,
“which will be of the army, by the army, for the army.”

The plant in Ponglo quarter, set up in 2003, is undergoing emergency
repairs under the supervision of five engineers summoned from Mandalay,
said another source.

Before 2003, electricity to Tachilek was supplied by Thailand, at 4.75
baht ($0.1) per unit. However following a series of confrontations with
Thailand, Maj Gen Khin Zaw, then commander of eastern Shan State,
downgraded the purchase of power from Thailand as an “unpatriotic act” and
contracted the local Wai Family Electrical Production and Supplies Co.Ltd,
owned by U Tar Wai, instead to supply electricity to the city, at 8 baht
($0.2) per unit, which has now gone up to 12.50 baht ($0.3) per unit.

U Tar Wai, said to be a close associate of Wa druglord Wei Hsuehkang was
arrested last year in connection with the Myanmar Universal Bank, which
was closed down in August by a military order. “He was freed later after
paying Kyat 800 million ($666,000),” a Wa source told S.H.A.N.

U Tar Wai reportedly has been close to Maj Gen Khin Zaw, now commander of
Mandalay-based Central Region Command, when he was still chief of Tachilek
district between 1998-2000.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

August 25, The Associated Press
U.S., ASEAN ink expanded trade pact but Malaysia warns that it shouldn't
pressure Myanmar -Eileen Ng

Kuala Lumpur: The United States and ASEAN signed an expanded trade and
investment pact Friday, but Malaysian trade minister warned it must not be
used as a tool to pressure military-ruled Myanmar toward democracy.

U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab inked the Trade and Investment
Framework Arrangement, or TIFA, with ministers from the 10-member
Association of Southeast Asian Nations. This included National Planning
and Economic Development Minister U Soe Tha of Myanmar, a country that
faces economic sanctions from Washington.

Schwab said the TIFA marked U.S. commitment to have a more vigorous
economic engagement with ASEAN, which as a bloc is America's
fourth-largest trading parter, but it will not shift Washington's policy
toward Myanmar, also known as Burma.

"The United States has very serious concerns about human rights in
Myanmar. The TIFA is not going to change that," she told a news conference
after the signing ceremony.

Malaysian Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz noted the TIFA was not legally
binding but said it is a regional initiative and will include Myanmar's
participation.

And while she expressed hopes it would help contribute toward Myanmar's
national reconciliation, she said it must not be used to arm-twist Yangon.

"I would rather not put this cloud, this whole group exercise we have with
U.S. with individual country issues," she said.

"If through the TIFA, we get to realize things in Myanmar that could not
be realized in any way, that will be good contribution but we should not
be using the TIFA to push any country in any way," Rafidah said.

Myanmar's minister, who left immediately after the signing, was not
immediately available for comments.

Two-way trade between ASEAN and the U.S. surged 12.4 percent on-year to
reach $152 billion in 2005.

President Bush earlier this month renewed sanctions against Myanmar
following its refusal to speed up democratic reforms and free political
prisoners, including pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

ASEAN has a policy of not interfering in each other's affairs but is
increasingly frustrated over Myanmar's slow pace of reforms. However,
ASEAN officials insist continued sanctions imposed by the European Union
and the United States may not help Myanmar's military junta in moving
toward democracy.

Officials said the TIFA will bring in new U.S. funds for capacity building
projects and spur investor confidence.

In a joint statement, the two sides said they will establish a joint
council on trade and investment to implement the TIFA and outlined several
work programs. Washington will support the "ASEAN Single Window" to create
a common custom system to cut red tape for entry of goods, it said.

"It will also include cooperation on sanitary and phytosanitary issues to
foster additional trade in specific agricultural goods," the statement
said.

They will also work together to develop "harmonized standards for
pharmaceutical registration and approval, which will speed the delivery of
innovative medicines to ASEAN patients," it added. No other details were
given.

American pharmaceutical companies have complained generic drug copies of
patented medicines are eating into revenue, and affecting their research
capabilities. Poorer countries say they cannot afford the high cost of
some patented lifesaving or life-extending medicines.

Rafidah dismissed suggestions that the TIFA is bringing the two sides
closer to a free trade agreement.

"It is not a precursor to anything yet. We just started the TIFA, give it
time. We will cross the bridge when we get there," she said.

ASEAN groups Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines,
Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Brunei and Myanmar.

____________________________________

August 24, Independent Mon News Agency
Price of imported goods spiral - Joi Htaw

The prices of Thai consumer goods imported to Burma have been spiraling
after the military government began charging a higher rate of customs duty
on the goods and started seizing foreign supplies.

“The prices of all Thai consumer goods are on the rise, including snacks
and condensed milk,” said a local shopkeeper in Mudon Township.

She added that the price of a can of condensed milk has risen from Kyat
450 to Kyat 600, a small can of biscuits from Kyat 1,500 Kyat to Kyat
2,700, while a big can from Kyat 5,200 to Kyat 7,500.

The price rise depends on customer demand. A big can of cooking oil went
up from Kyat 13,500 to Kyat 19,000 and a tin of preserved fish from Kyat
315 to Kyat 460. Although the goods are expensive, people who can afford
it are still buying, she added.

Even though State Peace and Development Council generals visited the
factories and said that the amount of consumer goods should be doubled,
the prices are twice as high as before, said a resident in Moulmein
(Mawlamyine).

“The government is not doubling the amount of goods -- it is doubling the
prices,” he added.

Thai products are sold throughout Myanmar (Burma) including in Mon State,
because the people prefer to use imported rather than domestic products.

A woman shopkeeper in Mudon Township said that the authorities are not
seizing Thai goods in the markets [because the people would get angry –
IMNA] and people can easily buy them.

However, further inside Burma, Thai goods are more difficult to find.

People cannot find Thai goods like tinned fish in the village, said a girl
in Paung Township, Mon State.


>From July this year imported goods started being seized during

transportation because the government wanted to charge customs duty from
the people who are importing Thai goods.

Earlier, when Thai products were carried from the border to Burma’s
interior, businessmen paid customs duty to local authorities at
check-points and cease fire groups.  The taxes from the local check-points
did not reach the government department.

____________________________________
ASEAN

August 25, Associated Press
Cambodia calls on Myanmar to release political prisoners, speed up
democratic reforms - Ker Munthit

Phnom Penh: Cambodian lawmakers on Friday called on Myanmar's ruling
military junta to stop oppressing its people and to deliver on its failed
promises of democratic reforms.

Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi must also be immediately released
from house arrest to take part in the democratic process, said Son Chhay,
a lawmaker who heads Cambodia's newly launched parliamentary caucus on
Myanmar.

Myanmar, also known as Burma, "loses respect and credibility in the
world's eyes" for inflicting "unnecessary suffering" on its people, he
said.

"The Burmese military junta must recognize before it is too late that
there needs to be a genuine political shift away from its oppressive
policies of the past," said Son Chhay, a member of Cambodia's opposition
Sam Rainsy Party.

Under military rule since 1962, Myanmar held elections in 1990 which gave
a resounding victory to Suu Kyi's party, but the junta refused to
recognize the results.

Suu Kyi has spent nearly 11 of the last 17 years in detention, mostly
under house arrest.

The Cambodian caucus of legislators advocating democratization in Myanmar
was launched Friday and is the sixth of its kind in the 10-member
Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN. Other countries with the
caucus are Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines.
ASEAN also includes Brunei, Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar.

Myanmar has become an embarrassment to ASEAN because of its failure to
restore democracy and release political prisoners. ASEAN's pressure on the
junta to speed up democratic reforms have so far been fruitless.

Son Chhay reminded Myanmar of Cambodia's experience with oppression during
the Khmer Rouge's four-year rule in the late 1970s, which led to the
deaths of nearly 2 million people.

"We want to help Burma because we know where this journey will end," he
said. "Such a non-democratic and oppressive approach to government is
self-limiting and destructive."

Zaid Ibrahim, a Malaysian member of parliament who heads the ASEAN
Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus, said positive changes seen in Cambodia
could inspire other regional leaders, including those in Myanmar who
"still live in the stone age," to adopt democratic values.

ASEAN and the international community must continue to pressure Myanmar's
junta, he said, adding that "it is a matter of time before the generals
will say 'our time is up.'"

_____________________________________
REGIONAL



_____________________________________

August 25, Agence France Presse
Thai deputy PM visits Myanmar for drug talks

Bangkok: Thai Deputy Prime Minister Chidchai Vanasatidya has made an
unannounced visit to military-ruled Myanmar, the latest in a series of
high-level talks between the neighbors, officials said Friday.

Chidchai, who is also justice minister, flew from Bangkok to Myanmar's new
administrative capital in the mountains outside the central town of
Pyinmana on Thursday, an official from Thailand's Narcotics Control Board
told AFP.

"He went following an invitation from his Myanmar counterpart to talk with
officials there about cooperation to tackle with drug problems between the
two countries," the official said.

He was due to return late Friday, the official added.

Thailand and Myanmar share a 1,800 kilometer (1,100 mile) border that is
ridden with fighting between Myanmar and ethnic rebels and where illicit
drugs flow easily.

Myanmar's official New Light of Myanmar newspaper said that Chidchai met
Thursday with Prime Minister Soe Win and the home affairs minister, Major
General Maung Oo.

Chidchai's visit was the latest in a series of high-level contacts this
month, beginning with Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's surprise
meeting with Myanmar's military supremo Senior General Than Shwe on August
2.

Less than a week later, Thailand's military chief General Ruangroj
Mahasaranon paid a three-day visit to discuss security matters.

The Thai side said political and economic issues were discussed during the
trip when Myanmar's junta leader was asked to free detained democracy icon
Aung San Suu Kyi.

The top-level visits by Thai officials come amid mounting international
pressure on Myanmar to make democratic reforms and to release Nobel peace
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi who has spent more than 10 years under house
arrest.

Thailand is also trying to boost its economic ties with Myanmar, hoping to
beat out China and India with bids to tap new offshore petroleum reserves.