BurmaNet News, October 24, 2006

[Editor]

October 24, 2006 Issue # 3072

INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Campaign nets more than half a million signatures
Irrawaddy: Burma drops further in press freedom index
Mizzima: Junta trains village chairmen as new 'educated civilian'
administrators
DVB: Burmese soldiers continue to rape local women

ON THE BORDER
Khonumthung: Military commander arrives in Indo – Burma border, curfew
imposed

BUSINESS / TRADE
DVB: Money for old robes: Burmese traders abuse customers' trust

HEALTH / AIDS
Irrawaddy: UN praises Burma for bird flu response
Narinjara: 41 children perish in diarrhea outbreak in Arakan

DRUGS
Asia Times: Myanmar's largest drug militia at crossroads

REGIONAL
Mizzima: Chin activist to campaign for Burma in AICC
Mizzima: Another batch of army officers to be trained in South Korea

PRESS RELEASE
DVB: Unofficial translation of 88 Generation Students’ statement at the
end of signature campaign

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

October 24, Irrawaddy
Campaign nets more than half a million signatures - Yeni

Burma’s leading pro-democracy activists on Monday closed their
signature-gathering petition campaign calling for political dialogue and
the release of political prisoners. The petition was signed by a total of
535,580 people, the organizers said.

The petition was drawn up by the 88 Generation Students group, comprising
former political prisoners and student activists. They launched it on
October 2 after five of their leaders were arrested in September at their
homes in Rangoon by security officials. The regime accused the detained
activists of trying to stimulate unrest at a time when the UN Security
Council was holding discussions on how to achieve democratic reform in
Burma.

Mya Aye, one of the group’s leaders, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday. “We
conclude that the campaign has been successful, because people express
what they want with more courage than ever.” The completed petition would
now be sent to the UN.

Burmese officials made no move to stop the circulation of the petition,
apart from arresting Win Ko, a National League for Democracy member. Win
Ko was arrested on October 6 with 400 petition signatures in his
possession. He was convicted of obstructing the work of a government
official who had questioned him about the signatures, and he was sentenced
to two years imprisonment. He was sentenced to a further year on a charge
of possessing illegal lottery tickets, which he denied.

The organizers of the petition claimed it was a way of giving people a
chance to participate in politics. The petition urged the regime to free
all political prisoners—particularly NLD leaders Aung San Suu Kyi and Tin
Oo, prominent journalist Win Tin, Shan ethnic leader Hkun Htun Oo and
former student leaders Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, Htay Kywe, Min Zeya and
Pyone Cho.

Meanwhile, ceremonies were planned around the world on Tuesday to mark the
total of 11 years spent in detention by Suu Kyi. The student union of
London's School of Oriental and African Studies is to make her its
honorary president, and Irish sympathizers were planning to hold a
candle-lit vigil in Dublin.

The 88 Generation Students said further peaceful campaigns for national
reconciliation and democracy would be launched soon. No details were
announced.

In a comment on the Burma situation, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the UN’s
Special Rapporteur on human rights in Burma, said grave abuses were
continuing with impunity. He said there was an “urgent need” for a better
coordination of approaches by UN member states towards the achievement of
a transition to democracy in Burma.

In recommendations to the UN’s Third Committee in New York—which deals
with social, humanitarian and cultural matters—Pinheiro said human rights
violations had been committed by Burma’s military, who had never been held
accountable.

____________________________________

October 24, Irrawaddy
Burma drops further in press freedom index - Clive Parker

Burma slid one place in this year’s Reporters Sans Frontières (Reporters
Without Borders) press freedom index to 164th, just five places from the
bottom, as the government stepped up legal action against journalists
while maintaining strict media censorship.

Although Burma’s ranking was relatively unchanged from last year, its
overall score deteriorated from 88.83 to 94.75, representing a slide in
media freedom. By comparison, North Korea—again ranked the least free
media environment in the world—scored 109, Paris-based RSF said in its
annual assessment of global media freedom, released on Tuesday.

“Unfortunately nothing has changed in the countries that are the worst
predators of press
freedom,” the media watchdog said. “Journalists in North Korea, Eritrea,
Turkmenistan, Cuba, Burma and China are still risking their life or
imprisonment for trying to keep us informed,” it added, referring to the
lowest placed countries in the index.

RSF recommended that the worst violators of press freedom be prepared to
accept criticism and “stop routinely cracking down on the media so
harshly.”

In Burma’s case, RSF said that in 2006 the authorities detained 11 more
journalists, seven of whom were given jail terms.

U Thaung Sein and Moe Htun, of Dhamma Yate magazine, were sentenced to
three years in prison in March for photographing Burma’s new capital
Naypyidaw. Mandalay regional court upheld the sentence in an appeal in
June, without hearing any witnesses RSF said.

In another case, four young Burmese activists were sentenced to prison
terms of between seven and 19 years in June for publishing poetry in a
book entitled Daung Marn, or The Strength of the Peacock.

Meanwhile, the Burmese Ministry of Information continues to censor heavily
all domestically-produced material for release in the public domain.

Burma was the worst performer in the Asean region, which was again a poor
performer as a whole with five members placed in the bottom 30
positions—Burma along with Laos (156th), Vietnam (155th), Singapore
(146th) and the Philippines (142nd). Singapore has increased restrictions
against foreign media in recent months, banning the Hong Kong-based Far
Eastern Economic Review, while the Philippines remains one of the world’s
least safe countries for journalists.

Thailand, previously one of the least restricted media environments in
Southeast Asia, slipped 15 places to 122. Similarly, Cambodia fell 18
places to 108. Only Malaysia broke into the top 100, with a ranking of 92,
a significant improvement over last year, when it was placed 113th.

Asia as a whole was ranked the least free region for the media, with seven
countries in the bottom 20 positions and none in the top 20. “The
continent’s dictatorships stepped up their repression over the past year,”
RSF said.

____________________________________

October 24, Mizzima News
Junta trains village chairmen as new 'educated civilian' administrators

In a move to replace local administrators with educated civilians, the
Burmese military junta has started training chairmen of villages in Bago
division in central Burma.

The month-long training, started on October 2, where six men from each
village in Bago division were forced to attend. The trainees included
former village chairmen and members of the Union Solidarity and
Development Association, sources said.

"If we don't attend it [the training], the soldiers come to our village
and call us forcibly even if we tell them [the authorities] the reason for
not being able to attend. So we are made to attend despite our
disapproval," said a trainee from Waw Township in Bago division.

The village chairmen are being given training by the authorities in order
to select new chairmen for villages. While the current chairmen of the
villages were removed from their position, the new chairmen, according to
the new criteria set by the authorities, must be between the ages of 30 to
40 and should have passed at least their matriculation or be a graduate.

They must also be members of the USDA, sources said.

The training will be followed by a test after which the authorities will
select the new chairmen for each village.

The new chairmen will be paid by the authorities for governing the village
or ward. However, this new programme has raised fears among local
residents because being a paid job the new chairmen will be under pressure
by the authorities to tighten village rules.

"If they get a salary, they will face a difficult situation because they
will be ordered around," said a resident of TaNatPin town in Bago
division, on condition of anonymity.

According to sources, the current chairmen of the villages, who have not
obtained USDA membership, are required to become members of USDA if they
are to continue their chairmanship.

"I can't become a USDA member, so, I'll resign from my position [as the
chairman]," said a village chairman in Kamaryut Township.

Meanwhile, the authorities have reportedly reduced the number of days a
guest can stay at a person's house from five to three days.

____________________________________

October 24, Democratic Voice of Burma
Burmese soldiers continue to rape local women

A Russian trained Burmese army officer raped a 17-year-old village girl at
gunpoint near Tada-U International Airport in central Burma while on
security duty on 22 August, according to local villagers.

“There is an airbase on the north of Shwebon Village in Tada-U Township to
defend Tada-U Airport. The officer on duty at that airbase, Lt-Col Thiha
Maung Maung pointed gun at Ma Moe Moe Myint from Sipinkwayh Village and
took her away. The incident occurred on 22.8.2006,” a villager told DVB.

The villagers reported the incident to the officer commanding Thiha Maung
Maung, the local police and authorities, but no action was taken against
the officer, and the villagers were told not to leak the incident to the
outside world on the pain of punishment.

Similarly, on 10 October, three naval cadets gang raped a 14-year-old girl
named Khaing Thin Kyi at Yaysinpyin Village, Akyab (Sittwe) Township in
western Burma’s Arakan State. None of the cadets were punished and to make
the matter worse, the girl was forced to marry one of the rapists by lying
her age.

Meanwhile, regular reports of Burmese soldiers raping ethnic national
women in conflict zones in eastern Burma are continuing to come out of
areas.

On one occasion, before raping a woman, a Burmese soldier reportedly shot
dead two dogs to indicate as to how he would deal with his victim if she
didn't comply.

____________________________________

October 24, New Light of Myanmar via BBC Monitoring
Burma association opens journalism course to counter attacks on foreign media

Text of report in English by Burmese newspaper The New Light of Myanmar on
24 October.
The basic journalism course No 7 organized by the Union Solidarity and
Development Association [USDA] was opened at the USDA Headquarters in
Bahan Township this morning, with an address by CEC member of USDA U Aung
Min.

Also present were USDA CEC members U Ohn Myint, U Khin Maung Myint, U Aung
Thein Lin, U Maung Pa, responsible personnel of USDA Headquarters, course
instructors, trainees and guests. First, USDA CEC member U Aung Min made
an opening speech. He said that USDA turned 13 years on 15 September. The
association served the national political duty with its aims of
non-disintegration of the Union, non-disintegration of national
solidarity, perpetuation of sovereignty, keeping patriotism alive and
dynamic towards the uplift of national prestige and integrity and building
a peaceful modern developed nation. There are now more than 23 million
USDA members due to its lofty aims.

He said this basic journalism course is significant. Outstanding trainees
of public relations and knowledge management courses were chosen and
allowed to do the course. The association is nurturing the trainees to
possess good qualities such as knowledge and thought with the objectives
of building a peaceful modern developed nation and safeguarding it. The
journalism course was conducted with the aim of applying news and
information in propaganda work effectively and widely in practical field
with the combination of print and electronic media after establishing
information pillar of the USDA, he said.

He said the trainees are to study leadership, developments of the state,
international affairs and brief history of the newspapers and learn
various kinds of skills regarding the journalism.

He said the basic journalism course would turn out good reporters, skilled
journalists, editors, photo journalists and TV cameramen. They would also
help counter the media attacks of some foreign news agencies. The present
world is the age of information technology and the world has become a
global village. In the globalization process, some big nations with
superiority in IT development are interfering in the internal affairs of
sovereign nations through the media.

In connection with foreign media interfering in the internal affairs of
other countries, USDA Patron Head of State Senior General Than Shwe sent a
message on the occasion of 85th Anniversary National Day, saying that "in
this age of advancing science and technology, the neo-colonialists instead
of using much-obvious colonization and coercion resorting to force, are
trying to encroach on and dominate others through the media, with social,
economic, human rights and narcotic drug excuses. In this regard, we all
need to guard the nation against their perpetration with national
awareness that originated in patriotism and union spirit.

"The CEC member continued that the information ministers meeting of the
96th Non-Aligned Movement was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia recently. The
meeting passed a resolution to establish NNN: Nam News Network. He said
all the members of NAM are criticizing Western media for their fabricated
news ignoring the objective conditions of developing countries. Thus, the
member countries unanimously approved Kuala Lumpur declaration to
constitute NWICO: New World Information and Communication Order. So, all
the trainees need to know the importance of countering such foreign media.

The CEC member urged the trainees to uphold Our Three Main National
Causes, to actively participate in the successful implementation of
seven-step Road Map to shape a peaceful modern developed democratic
nation, to try their utmost during the course in order to perform their
duties efficiently in the media field and to try to become efficient
information staff.

After the ceremony, the CEC member cordially greeted the trainees. A total
of 53 USDA members from the states and divisions are attending the
ten-week course.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

October 24, Khonumthung News
Military commander arrives in Indo – Burma border,curfew imposed

Brigadier Colonel Myint Shwe, Tactical Operation Commander, stationed in
Kalaymyo town arrived in Dar Khai (B) village in Tonzang town of Chin
state, Burma yesterday.

He reportedly had a meeting with Colonel Tin Hla, Tactical Commander
stationed in Hakha town, capital of Chin state and inspected the military
camp in Dar Khai (B) village.

“They have imposed curfew since this morning. There is no movement in the
area,” a villager told Khonumthung News yesterday.

According to sources close to the Burmese Army, the military authorities
are likely to discuss border security and their operation at the meeting.

In a bid to expand the military stronghold in Chin state, Burmese soldiers
from Light Infantry battalion (LIB) No. (268), have since 1999, started to
set up military camps in Dar Khai village.

Dar Khai (B) has 70 households and is three miles from the Indo – Burma
border.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

October 22, Democratic Voice of Burma
Money for old robes: Burmese traders abuse customers' trust

Due to economic crisis in the Burma, some unscrupulous traders have been
passing off old Buddhist monk robes as new and cheating their customers
during the robe offering festival at the end of the Buddhist Lent in
October.

Normally, devout Burmese Buddhists buy readymade and unopened packs of
robes from specialist shops without questioning the quality of the robes
nor the credibility of the shops, and offer the products to the monks
during religious ceremonies.

But a Burmese abbot Rev. Wimala, living at Tawyat Monastery in Thailand’s
Maesod near Myawaddy in southeast Burma, told DVB that his acolytes from
Burma donated some old robes bought from Burma thinking that they are new.

“None of the robes could be worn. Some of them are torn and some were
rejects of dulabat (hermits?),” Rev. Wimala told DVB. “Some
unknowing/innocent acolytes had to pay much money for them. This is such a
dirty deed in our religion. Now, we have to burn all the useless robes.”

A specialist robe retailer in Maywaddy told DVB that the sale of old robes
earns more money for unscrupulous robe dealers as a pair of brand new robe
fetches 8000 Kyat.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

October 24, Irrawaddy
UN praises Burma for bird flu response

The chief UN official for avian and human influenza, Dr David Nabarro, on
Monday praised Burma, along with a host of countries where bird flu had
struck this year, for their response to the virus. Working with the World
Health Organization and World Organization of Animal Health, Burma
initiated a poultry culling program in Mandalay and Sagaing divisions
following a bird flu outbreak in March, a response that Nabarro said had
proven effective. “Myanmar [Burmese] authorities seem to have had better
cooperation with the outside world on this issue than they’ve had on any
other issue,” The Associated Press reported him as saying. “It seems the
government is poised so that if there are further outbreaks, the
government can deal with them quite quickly.”

Nabarro recently returned from a fact-finding mission to Burma, Cambodia,
Indonesia and Australia, the UN said. During this year’s outbreak, Burma
created quarantine zones around infection sites and has since conducted
several pandemic preparedness exercises. But basic health infrastructure,
including laboratories, is still considered inadequate in the event of
human cases, a situation that has yet to hit the country. Last month, the
World Bank said it was ready to consider funding to boost Burma’s capacity
to deal with the possibility of future outbreaks. Burma is one of a number
of countries in the region—along with Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam and
Thailand—that has recorded cases of the virus this year. Indonesia has
alone been responsible for 43 of the 73 human deaths in 2006 and remains a
“very great concern,” Nabarro said. Although the disease had not yet
spread across the globe as widely as feared, Nabarro called for continued
vigilance, particularly against the possibility of a major human pandemic.

____________________________________

October 24, Narinjara News
41 children perish in diarrhea outbreak in Arakan - Aung Khaing

Forty one children, all under 10 years of age have died in a severe
outbreak of diarrhea between October 10 to 20, and another 87 people have
been infected in Tawphyachaung area of Ponna Kyunt Township, Arakan State,
local doctor's report.

The majority of the children were from Tawphyangchaung areas, including,
Thanpongtan, Ohmay, Tharachaung, Pangchaung, Thakyintaung, Khamerwa, and
Phorheepyarn villages. The disease has been a major problem in the area
since it broke out in February this year.

According to local people, children in the area have been afflicted with
diarrhea due to malnutrition. Many of the children have been eating
unhygienic food such as bamboo shoots and white yam, because their
families are unable to provide them with nutritious or staple food.

In the area, 90 percent of villagers' work relate to cutting bamboo and
trees. However, many of the villagers are unemployed after local
authorities placed a ban on bamboo felling in the area, said a source.

"We are banned from entering the forests by the local army authorities, so
most of the villagers who depend on the forest for their survival are
facing shortage of income, and are unable to buy food for their daily
survival. Many people, including children, are being afflicted with
several diseases, especially diarrhea," said Maung Phru Chay from
Thakyintaung Village.

The government is aware of the problems of starvation in the area, but no
provisions have been provided for the hungry people, he added.

Tawphyachaung area is a few miles from the nearest town in Ponna Kyunt,
and is located between the Tawphyachaung River and a high mountain range.
Doctors and other health workers have a difficult time visiting the area
during the rainy season due to lack of transportation.

"I feel sad for them because they are children, and they were going to
school," said the villager.

Except for a few families, the majority are unable to make it to the
nearest hospital for treatment because they have no money.

A source from Ponna Kyunt said Major Myo Tun of Battalion 550 based in
Ponna Kyunt, and two doctors from AZG, a non-governmental organization,
have been to the area since October 10 to try and help check the outbreak
of the disease.

AZG, the Dutch branch of Medicins Sans Frontieres has operated several
medical projects, including malaria and HIV treatment and prevention
projects, in several townships of Arakan, including Ponna Kyunt Township.
The NGO has been working in Burma since 1992.

____________________________________
DRUGS

October 24, Asia Times
Myanmar's largest drug militia at crossroads - Michael Black

Myanmar: The United Wa State Army (UWSA), widely recognized as the world's
largest heavily armed narcotics-trafficking militia, finds itself at a
strategic crossroads, with one path crucially leading in the direction of
renewed conflict with the war-ravaged country's military-led government.

The UWSA, which in 1989 signed a ceasefire with Myanmar's ruling State
Peace and Development Council (SPDC), currently controls Myanmar's remote
Special Region No 2 territory with near-total autonomy. Ever since the
October 2004 internal purge of former SPDC prime minister and intelligence
chief General Khin Nyunt, the army-led junta has taken an increasingly
hardline approach toward integrating ethnic insurgent groups, including
the UWSA, and their respective controlled territories into the national
fold.
Khin Nyunt was known to be the Wa's chief government patron, allowing the
rebel group to invest its ill-gotten narcotics earnings in legitimate
Yangon-based businesses, including a national airline and a bank. With his
ouster, the UWSA has maintained less cordial relations with the SPDC led
by General Than Shwe, and recently strongly rejected the junta's calls to
disarm and integrate its 20,000 or so foot soldiers into the SPDC's
national armed forces, known as the tatmadaw.

In retaliation, the SPDC has acted to disrupt legitimate lucrative teak
and mineral exports from the UWSA-controlled territory to China's southern
province of Yunnan and, according to one in-the-know border watcher, has
recently cracked down on the militia's established drug-trafficking routes
through Shan state territories contiguous with China and Thailand now
controlled by the tatmadaw.

Lieutenant-General Thein Sein in July pressed the UWSA leadership to
accept the establishment of nationally sponsored schools, immigration, and
customs bureaus in the region as part of a proposed deal to reopen its
border crossing with China - an offer the UWSA rejected out of hand.

Tit for tat, the SPDC has indirectly impeded the flow of foreign aid
earmarked for Wa-controlled territories, including rice supplies from the
United Nations-run World Food Program. WFP officials have reportedly
expressed their growing disenchantment with the unusual bureaucratic
hassles it encounters trying to obtain official permits to move supplies
into Wa territory. Although the UWSA profits hugely from the drug trade,
the general population still lives in abject poverty.

In a bid to win foreign aid, trade and investment opportunities and
burnish their badly tainted international image, UWSA leaders in June 2005
publicly announced a ban on all opium cultivation in the remote and
lawless territories it controls, historically some of the richest
opium-producing areas in the world. That international overture was shot
down out of hand the following month when US courts indicted eight leading
UWSA officials, including militia chairman Bao You-xiang, on
drug-trafficking charges.
At the same time, Yangon and Beijing are carefully squeezing the UWSA,
cognizant of the militia's proven ability to sow violence and chaos.
Significantly, the ethnic-Chinese Wa are geographically positioned to
disrupt growing China-Myanmar trade flows, and the group's tendency to
flood the region with cheap narcotics has long presented a security threat
to some of China's already socially volatile peripheral regions.

Moreover, if the UWSA felt overly cornered by the junta's pressure on its
legitimate and illicit commercial activities, it could switch sides and
join forces with the ethnic insurgent groups, including the Shan State
Army (SSA), which it now indirectly helps the SPDC in exchange for
territorial concessions.

Myanmar's already stretched armed forces are clearly reluctant to pursue
an all-out military confrontation with the UWSA, which would endanger
delicate ceasefire agreements with other loosely UWSA-allied armed groups
that are similarly coming under central-government pressure, specifically
the Kokang in Special Region No 1 and the National Democratic Army
Alliance (NDAA) in Special Region No 4 (SR4) in eastern Shan state.

The 3,000-strong NDAA's former reputed drug-dealing leader, Lin Mingxian,
alias Sai Leun, was closely allied to current UWSA senior leaders when
they led the Chinese-backed Communist Party of Burma.

While traditional UWSA contraband trade routes have come under pressure,
including along the Salween River, Thailand-based analysts have noticed a
concomitant shift of UWSA troops operating in NDAA-controlled territory,
particularly along SR4's Chinese border areas and around the region's
capital Mong La.

The same analysts say SR4 territories would hypothetically provide an
unhindered outlet for UWSA-produced contraband along the Mekong River.
Warming UWSA-NDAA relations also send a signal to the SPDC that increased
pressure to disarm and integrate could escalate into a new broad and
complex confrontation.

Chinese supplies

The UWSA's relations with China are equally complicated. A 2005 Chinese
intelligence report reviewed by Asia Times Online highlights the strategic
importance China places on the autonomous armed ethnic groups, including
the UWSA and NDAA, that operate along its border with Myanmar.

According to the report, those non-state actors provide China with both a
buffer and a lever in managing its strategic and economic relationship
with the SPDC, and hence Beijing has a strategic interest in the UWSA
remaining autonomous rather than being folded into the tatmadaw.

Significantly, China remains the UWSA's sole supplier of military
equipment. More personally, UWSA chairman Bao You-xiang has since December
suffered from deteriorating health, and the rebel leader has on several
occasions, most recently last month, traveled to Kunming, China, for
medical treatment.

Significantly, these clandestine visits have taken place while China has
cooperatively maintained border closures near Wa-controlled territories,
signaling Beijing's broader strategy of counterbalancing Myanmar's
generals through the Wa and other armed militias. Although ties with the
UWSA are not as strong as previously, one Pangsang-based businessman said,
"China is still the UWSA's big brother."

China wishes to avoid a full-blown conflict, which would have the
potential to spill over its borders. At the same time, the UWSA's various
illicit commercial activities have long represented a bilateral irritant
and potential source of social instability in China's comparatively poor
southern provinces.

Since January 2005, Beijing has sporadically closed its Yunnan border with
contiguous UWSA-controlled areas. According to sources in Wa-controlled
areas, China sent a small number of troops across the border to enforce
the closure of casinos catering to Chinese gamblers operating near its
border in the jungle town of Mong La.

On March 26, China closed its border to timber and other mineral exports
from Wa-controlled territories, in part because of pressure from
international advocacy groups that have campaigned against the adverse
environmental impact wrought by unregulated Chinese logging inside
Myanmar's Shan state areas. Unlike past border closures, according to
local traders, the current restrictions have so far been strictly
enforced.

While both Beijing and local Yunnan-based officials in Kunming wish to
stem the flow of UWSA-produced narcotics into China, there is incentive
for seepage as Chinese policymakers also desire to maintain legitimate
trade with Myanmar as an economic outlet for its more isolated, poor
peripheral southern provinces. "The Burmese and the Chinese have agreed to
this move. Anything that is not signed by the Burmese will not be allowed
into China," said a Thailand-based analyst who monitors the border area.

However, a Wa official who spoke to Asia Times Online on condition of
anonymity contends that the UWSA has already received assurances from
Chinese authorities that the closure would be only temporary.

Wei to the rescue

Faced with such economic predicaments, the Wa have so far reacted to the
pressure internally rather than externally. During a July 4 emergency
council session, UWSA leaders transferred responsibility over the
militia's financial affairs to fugitive drug lord Wei Hsue- kang, the
notorious commander of the UWSA's 171 north region along the Thai border.

That's a strong indication that the SPDC's, and to a lesser degree
Chinese, pressure is starting to hit the UWSA's cash flows. Senior UWSA
leaders had in recent years attempted to distance the militia from Wei,
who in the past helped to bankroll the UWSA through heroin proceeds, but
also is under a US government US$2 million bounty for his capture. Wei,
who once escaped from a Thai jail, has been sentenced to death in absentia
in Thailand.

A former cadre of heroin kingpin Khun Sa's drug-dealing Mong Tai Army and
associated in various ways with the Wa since 1989, Wei has proved himself
to be an innovative businessman. For instance, he led the Wa's strategic
shift in the mid-1990s from sole reliance on opium and heroin production
to the manufacture of methamphetamines and other illicit stimulant drugs.

He also was instrumental in diversifying the group's assets into pig
farms, cigarettes, bootleg audio and video discs, a local airline, and the
Mayflower Bank in Yangon. The US Treasury on November 19, 2003, identified
the Mayflower as of "primary money-laundering concern", and the financial
institution has since been shuttered.

The SPDC has consistently denied Wei's presence inside Myanmar, but
intelligence sources contend that he is now operating out of Panyang,
eastern Shan state. Since taking over the UWSA's finances in July, his 171
Military Region is now commanded by his younger brother, Wei Shiue-ying.
Those 20 regiments, which operate predominantly along the Thai-Myanmar
border, have long served as a proxy force in the SPDC's campaign to crush
the SSA. This is a non-ceasefire group that is known to have received
military supplies and support from Thailand's armed forces and also covert
drug-interdiction training from the United States through the recently
dismantled Task Force 399 based in Mae Rim, northern Thailand.

Despite UWSA claims to eradicate opium cultivation in its territories,
regional intelligence officials contend that they still allow for poppy
production in certain remote areas, albeit on a smaller scale than
previously. In the wake of the UWSA's declared ban, poppy farmers have
relocated to nearby areas not directly administered by the UWSA, and in
some cases have settled into territories directly controlled by tatmadaw
forces. Intelligence and insurgent sources report bumper crops in areas
southwest of Pangsang and to the east and west of the Salween River, both
territories controlled by the tatmadaw.

Although the UWSA vowed to cease opium production, it gave no such
assurances regarding synthetic narcotics, namely amphetamine-type
stimulants (ATS), which in recent years have inundated China, Thailand and
other countries in the region. For its part, the UWSA have steadfastly
insisted that they lack the technical capability or precursors to produce
synthetic narcotics such as methamphetamines and Ecstasy. However, last
month a Thai narcotics official overseeing border areas contended that
hundreds of millions of UWSA-produced methamphetamine pills have entered
Thailand this year.

Until now the SPDC has demonstrated leniency when it intercepts UWSA
narcotic shipments. On September 10, 2005, based on a tip-off from Chinese
intelligence agents, the SPDC intercepted 496 kilograms of heroin
transported by Tha Pan, a UWSA commander and adopted son of Bau Youri, the
eldest brother of UWSA chief Bau Youxiang, according to various media
reports. Although Ta Pan and his entourage of 17 UWSA officers were
arrested, the SPDC prosecuted the case against Tha Pan as an individual
rather than against the UWSA as an organization.

As tensions mount, it's unclear now whether the junta would handle future
UWSA-related busts with such kid gloves.

Michael Black is a freelance journalist based in the northern Thai city of
Chiang Mai.

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REGIONAL

October 24, Mizzima News
Chin activist to campaign for Burma in AICC - Muana

A Chin woman activist will campaign for restoration of democracy in Burma
at the conference of the All India Christians Council in Hyderabad, Andhra
Pradesh.

On the invitation of Dr. Joseph, President of AICC, Cheery Zahau will
campaign and lobby for support for Burma's democracy movement at the
conference to be held between October 24 to 28.

Ms Zahau will appeal to the congregation to pressurize the government of
India to reconsider its policies towards military ruled Burma and press
for restoration of democracy for the people. The threat to the region from
increased production and trafficking of drugs and rampant spread of
HIV/AIDS will also be highlighted.

Cheery Zahau said, "If my papers are approved by the President of the
AICC, I will conduct a signature campaign for an open letter to the Prime
Minister of India. I will also request the congregation to offer prayers
for Burma."

Democracy activists are skeptical of India's aid and economic ties with
Burma as it is not in the best interest of India or regional security. It
inversely emboldens and enables the SPDC to commit further abuses.

The activist will appeal to the congregation to call upon the Government
of India for a non-punitive UN Security Council resolution on Burma,
review and delay India's financial commitment to the Shwe Gas project. She
will further call upon the Government of India to advocate economic and
political reforms in Burma, to pressurize SPDC to release all political
prisoners, cease hostilities against ethnic civilians and prepare an
atmosphere conducive for a tripartite dialogue.

Meanwhile, the field investigation of the AICC on Burma's human and
religious rights situation will be discussed during the conference. Two
AICC delegates investigated Burma's social condition on the Indo-Burma
border in September.

____________________________________

October 24, Mizzima News
Another batch of army officers to be trained in South Korea

Another batch of about 150 Burmese Army officers will be sent to South
Korea in March 2007 for a two-year artillery training programme, said a
source in the army.

About 150 officers graduating from the Defence Service Academy are already
being trained in South Korea since January 2005 and will return to Burma
in January 2007.

"About 150 army personnel are to go," said the father of an officer who
will be in the team to be sent to South Korea.

"I heard that the junta is buying guns from South Korea," he added.

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PRESS RELEASE

October 23, Democratic Voice of Burma
Unofficial translation of 88 Generation Students’ statement at the end of
signature campaign

1. The signature campaign (petition) expressing the desire of 88
Generation Students and the public, started on 2 October 2006 and ended
successfully today on 23 October 2006 with the cooperation of the public,
and, within a short space of time, many signatures expressing the desire
were collected.

2. We the 88 Generation Students want to express our respect and pride for
monks, students and the whole public who bravely put their signatures
expressing their true desire despite the difficulties, problems and
harassments. We especially want to record our respect and pride for Ko Win
Ko from Yethabya Village in Hteintaw Monyo Township who was arrested
arbitrarily with trumped up charges while transporting
petitions/signatures and the villagers.

3. In order to respect and acknowledge the desire of the public, we
seriously call for the release of all political prisoners including U Tin
Oo, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, U Win Tin, U Khun Tun Oo and ethnic national
leaders, leaders of 88 Generation Students Min Ko Naing Min Zeya, Ko Ko
Gyi, Ko Pyone Cho and Ko Htway Kywe who have been working selfless for the
substantiation of national reconciliation and democracy which are the aims
of the petition.

88 Generation Students