BurmaNet News, October 26, 2006

[Editor]

October 26, 2006 Issue # 3074

INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Junta claims petition singers were tricked
Democratic Voice of Burma: USDA officials at Chauk misappropriate public
funds

ON THE BORDER
SHAN: Junta sleuths on the border on graft mission
Narinjara: PWO condemns sexual violence by Burmese troops against Palaung
women
Khonumthung: Burmese military reopens Indo–Burma border road

BUSINESS / TRADE
Irrawaddy: Regime seals off Kachin gold-mining areas - Khun Sam

HEALTH / AIDS
Myanmar Times: UNFPA happy with health movie - Zo Puii

REGIONAL
AFP: Myanmar's prime minister to attend China-ASEAN summit

INTERNATIONAL
BBC Burmese Service: The Lady of Burma
Western Mail: Stop investment in Burma, Welsh MP urges

OPINION / OTHER
Washington Post: In Burma, a cry for U.N. help
Nation: Burma before the Security Council

PRESS RELEASE
WLB: WLB demands an immediate end to war crimes in Burma

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

October 26, Irrawaddy
Junta claims petition singers were tricked - Shah Paung

Burma’s military government has accused organizers of the 88 Generation
Students group of tricking people into signing petitions during a recent
campaign to free five of their detained leaders.

State-run The New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported on Thursday that
activists had tricked people in some townships into signing petitions.

The report singled out opposition party National League for Democracy
member Shwe Maung, who is alleged to have acquired signatures in Mandalay
without explaining the purpose of the petition.

“This accusation is totally false,” Shwe Maung told The Irrawaddy by phone
on Thursday. “I have not cheated anyone.”

The signature campaign was started by the 88 Generation Students group in
response to the arrest in late September of five of their leaders—Min Ko
Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, Htay Kywe, Min Zeya and Pyone Cho.

The petition calls for the release of the five activists and all
additional political prisoners currently in jail—including opposition icon
Aung San Suu Kyi.

Shwe Maung also disputed state-run media reports that he had canvassed
individual households for signatures, saying that he only approached NLD
members. Others, he added, came to him on their own because they were
interested in the campaign.

In all cases, he said, respondents were told about the purpose of the
signature campaign and shown an accompanying letter of explanation—a rule
insisted on by the activist group.

“I think they [the junta] have made these accusations and have told the
authorities to follow me because they want to put me in jail,” said Shwe
Maung. “This peaceful campaign is not an attack and does not hurt
anybody.”

Shwe Maung was arrested in 2002 and sentenced to three years in prison for
making a gilded sculpture of a khamauk hat, the symbol of the NLD. He was
released in November 2005.

“It [the campaign] is a way that people can become involved in politics,”
said Jimmy, a leader of the 88 Generation group. “The junta has accused us
of obtaining false signatures because they cannot control the people who
have chosen to become involved.”

He added that the rules of the campaign were clear: to make certain that
all interested signers first read an accompanying letter of explanation,
and never to compel anyone to sign by force. “You cannot lie to people to
get their signature,” Jimmy said.

The campaign, which ran from October 2 to October 23, collected a total of
535,580 signatures. The names will be sent to the UN.

Meanwhile, the activist group will start a new campaign, called “Multiple
Religious Prayer,” in which participants are urged to wear white shirts
and offer prayers at Christian churches, Buddhist monasteries and Muslim
mosques.

The new campaign will run from October 29 to November 4, and seeks prayers
from participants for the peaceful resolution of the country’s political
crises, for the freedom of all political prisoners and for the victims of
recent floods across Burma.

____________________________________

October 24, Democratic Voice of Burma
USDA officials at Chauk misappropriate public funds

The officials of Burma military junta-sponsored Union Solidarity and
Development Association (USDA) at Chauk Township in Magwe Division have
been misappropriating money and abusing power, according to local
residents.

Higher authorities allocated 5m Kyat for the construction of a government
office but USDA chief organiser Kyaw Myint and gang used it for their own
profits and opening teashops, bars on the plot of land reserved for
building the office. The local authorities confiscated the land and
recreation centre for workers of petroleum industry.

“On that land there is a Myanmar cask beer shop, (and) a teashop,” a local
resident told DVB. “The beer shop owner had to build the building with his
own money. If he quits, he has to leave the building in the possession of
the USDA.”

Members of Kyaw Myint-led official gang has not only been abusing their
power but also harassing young women physically.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

October 26, Shan Herald Agency for News
Junta sleuths on the border on graft mission

Tachilek's district post and telegraph chief is facing a tough grilling
following reports that he has been depositing more than 60 million kyat
($46,000) in his bank account, according to an informed source in Maesai,
Tachilek's twin city on the Thai side.

The team of investigators coming from the new capital started "pumping"
A.E. Ohn Thwin yesterday about how he had conducted the sales of 500 cell
phones and another 500 cable phones that began early in the year.

According to insiders, an applicant for the phones was required to submit
copies of his/her citizenship ID card as well as his/her household
register, known in Burma as Form 10. "Ohn Thwin had rejected the majority
of the applicants, filling in instead with others including Thai and Wa
who don't have Burmese IDs," he said.

Ohn Thwin, in the process, had cleared at least 100,000 kyat ($80) for
each cell phone and 10,000 kyat ($8) for each cable phone. The local
Myanmar Economic Bank is said to have more than 50 million kyat ($38,000)
in his account, while the Kambawza Bank has another 10 million kyat
($8,000).

In the meanwhile, he had been able to transfer to the ministry the
required 1.95 million kyat ($1,500) per cell phone and 600,000 kyat ($460)
per cable phone. (In Thailand one can easily buy a cheap cell phone for
1,000 baht or $ 27)

"The joke", he continued, "is that the junta had already allocated another
500 cell phones and 500 cable phones for military and civilian officials,
most of whom have already resold them. However, unlike Ohn Thwin, they are
unlikely to face any legal action."

Resold, a cable phone will get one 1 million kyat ($770) and a cell phone
2.5 million kyat ($1,923) in Tachilek. In Rangoon, the price of cell
phones goes up to 3 million ($2,307), according to him.

The military in Burma, since July, has been launching what some observers
term as a war against graft. "It's a war against expendable people," he
remarked. "They're only cutting off the tree without removing its roots –
themselves."

____________________________________

October 26, Narinjara News
PWO condemns sexual violence by Burmese troops against Palaung women

The Thailand-based Paluang Womens Organization, or PWO, condemned the
violent sexual attacks committed by Burmese army troops against three
Palaung women in a village of southern Shan State in Burma on 9 October,
in a statement issued on 25 October, 2006.
The incident occurred outside Wan Pan Village, of Ho Pong Village Tract in
the Loi Lem District of Southern Shan State.

The three women were Daw Nan Man, aged 52, Ma Aye Sein, aged 32, and Ma
Aye Kyaing, aged 14. All three women were rice cultivators.

Two of the women, Daw Nan Man and Ma Aye Kyaing, escaped from the hands of
the Burmese soldiers after being raped, but they suffered several injuries
from the attack.

The third woman was left by the soldiers after being gang-raped, and
suffered severe injuries.

The PWO said that Ma Aye Sein's skull had been cracked open, there were 4
stab wounds under her left breast, and three ribs were broken. On 13
October, at Lwe Lin Hospital, she died from her injuries, which had been
complicated by delays in getting her to the hospital.

The rapist soldiers are from Light Battalion 9 stationed at Murng Naung
base, located in Wan Pan Village of Loi Lem District. They have been
identified as Thet Pine, Thet Lwin Oo, Myo Thein, La Min Htwe, Kyaw Soe,
and Win Ko.

The statement said that Wan Pan villagers went to the battalion to
complain of the incident to commanders, but there has been action taken
against the six rapists.

The PWO also calls on the international community to increase pressure on
the military regime to implement a nationwide ceasefire, and demanded that
the government withdraw their troops that are stationed in the ethnic
regions.

On 10 October, three Burmese sailors raped a teenaged Arakanese girl at a
naval outpost of Akyab, in Arakan State. The authorities have also not yet
taken any action against the three rapists involved in that attack.

____________________________________

October 26, Khonumthung News
Burmese military reopens Indo–Burma border road

Burmese military authorities have reopened the Indo– Burma border road
linking Paletwa town in Chin state Burma to Mizoram state in India. The
road was closed for over two weeks.

Khonumthung News: 26 October, 2006

Burmese military authorities have reopened the Indo– Burma border road
linking Paletwa town in Chin state Burma to Mizoram state in India. The
road was closed for over two weeks.

“They reopened the road and the situation has normalised. We have resumed
our business activities,” a pig peddler told Khonumthung News.

According to a merchant, the reopening of the border road will revive the
routine trade of Burmese merchants and engine boats owners who depend on
the Kaladan River to earn a livelihood.

“The income is stable if we can operate regularly,” said an engine boat
owner on the condition of the Kaladan River route.

Most engine boat owners give the driver around Kyat 20,000 (Burma
currency) plus health care facilities and food while they charge pig
suppliers Kyat 100,000 for an engine boat which can carry around 25 pigs.

An engine boat consumes 13 gallons of diesel on a one way trip to Mizoram
from Kyauk Taw town in Arakan state. The price of diesel has touched Kyat
5,000 per gallon in Chin state.

Most merchants supply pigs purchased from Kyauk Taw, Mala, Mrauk-U town of
Arakan state to markets in Lawngtlai Town, Mizoram.

There are around 20 engine boats operating daily along the Kaladan River
that connects Kyawk Taw town in Arakan state and Tuidang village in
Mizoram state.

The military authorities imposed curfew on the road to India two weeks ago
in order to search for two deserters.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

October 26, Irrawaddy
Regime seals off Kachin gold-mining areas - Khun Sam

Burmese troops have reportedly blocked routes into two gold mining areas
of Kachin State, disrupting major sources of revenue for the Kachin
Independence Organization.

The military action, sealing off the mining areas of Mali Hku and N’Mai
Hku, is apparently in response to the refusal by the KIO to join a
regime-instigated protest against the inclusion of the Burma question on
the agenda of the UN Security Council.

Sources in the Kachin State capital, Myitkyina, told The Irrawaddy on
Thursday that government troops had been preventing the transport of
essential supplies such as rice and fuel into the gold-mining areas since
the end of September. The areas are some 80 km (50 miles) from Myitkyina.

“The gold mining business has been on hold due to the Burmese (soldiers)
prohibiting supplies being transported there,” a pastor from the Mali Hku
area told The Irrawaddy.  He said rice was in short supply and the price
had risen threefold.

One source said about half the 30 or so gold-mining operations in the
N’Mai Hku area had been forced to close because of the disruption of
supplies. Soldiers there were demanding high taxes from local
businesspeople, the source said.

Mali Hka and N’Mai Hka are two main tributaries of the Irrawaddy River and
the surrounding areas are controlled by the KIO, one of Burma’s major
former insurgent groups.

Although the blockades are thought to be in retaliation for the KIO
refusal to join in condemnation of UN Security Council discussion of
Burma, the head of Northern Command, Maj-Gen Ohn Myint, said the problems
had been caused by the mismanagement of a low-ranking official, according
to KIO Myitkyina liaison officer Kumhtat Gam.

Justifying its refusal to condemn the inclusion of Burma on the UN
Security Council agenda, the KIO told the regime in late September that it
wanted to remain neutral. A number of other ethnic ceasefire group have
fallen in line with the regime-led condemnation.

Shortly after the KIO refusal, the government blocked one of the group’s
trade routes on the China-Burma border, a major source of revenue. Some
unlicensed vehicles belonging to KIO members were also confiscated.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

October 16-22, Myanmar Times
UNFPA happy with health movie - Zo Puii

The United Nations Population Fund in Myanmar said it was satisfied with
the results of a health education film sponsored by the organisation
currently being shown in Yangon’s cinemas.

“It means that one of our projects has been successful,” said the
organisation’s national project officer for Myanmar, Daw Ni Ni Khaing.

The film, titled Hmyaw lint chin myar swar (much hope), was directed by
Maung Myo Minn and features a cast that includes Yan Aung, Min Maw Kun,
Naing Naing, Pan Phyu and Soe Myat Nandar.

It seeks to educate the public about the causes and effects of HIV/AIDS.
The organisation conceived the film project in 2004 when it began
researching the best way to educate the public about health issues.

“For HIV/AIDS education, there were already VCDs and DVDs on the subject
on the market, but no films with our endorsement,” said Daw Khin Ma Ma
Aye, assistant representative for UNFPA in Myanmar.

“We thought that if health education information was given by celebrities,
the public would respond and pay attention, so we told the Myanmar Motion
Picture Organisation and Myanmar Maternal and Child Welfare Association
that we wanted to sponsor a film, and they agreed to work with us,” she
said.

“We got a good idea about how to proceed with the project after talking to
people in the film industry,” Daw Ni Ni Khaing said.

Maung Myo Minn wrote the entire script and directed the film, which shows
how HIV/AIDS is transmitted through unsafe sex and blood.

“People in Myanmar don’t talk much about HIV/AIDS, so we hope this movie
will prompt viewers to be more open about it and help each other,” Daw Ni
Ni Khaing said.

All the actors contributed their time and efforts free of charge.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

October 26, Agence France Presse
Myanmar's prime minister to attend China-ASEAN summit

Myanmar's prime minister will attend a summit in Nanning, China next week
commemorating relations between China and Southeast Asian countries, a
state-run newspaper reported Thursday.

The New Light of Myanmar said the Chinese government invited Soe Win to
the summit marking the 15th anniversary of relations between China and the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Myanmar is a
member. China is a major trading partner of military-run Myanmar and its
closest ally at a time when the junta is facing increasing international
pressure over human rights abuses and its suppression of political
opposition.

Myanmar also has a strained relationship with ASEAN, some of whose 10
members accusing it of damaging the regional bloc's credibility because of
its slow progress carrying out democratic reforms.The New Light of Myanmar
also reported that the visiting Chinese army chief of staff General Liang
Guanglie and his delegation had left Myanmar for China on Wednesday.

Liang had been in Myanmar since Monday on a goodwill visit, and met with
military leaders including junta chief Than Shwe in the new administrative
capital Nay Pyi Taw.

During his three-day visit, Liang also visited the central city of
Mandalay and two military training academies in the central town of Pyin
Oo Lwin.The two countries enjoy strong military ties, and trade with China
is vital for Myanmar's rulers amid enduring Western economic sanctions and
increasing international isolation.

The United States has been pushing for more punitive action by the United
Nations, arguing that drug trafficking, refugees, rights abuses and a
growing AIDS problem in Myanmar represent a threat to international peace
and security.

However, China would likely veto any UN resolution against Myanmar, which
has been under military rule since 1962.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

October 26, BBC Burmese Service
The Lady of Burma

The Lady of Burma, a new play about Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will be staged at
the Old Vic Theatre, London on 12 November.

This play is organised by the Burma Campaign UK to reflect her feelings
during the lonely years of house arrest for almost eleven years

Actress Liana Gould will impersonate as Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and it is
written and directed by Richard Shannon.

Suu Myat Mon gives the preview of the Lady of Burma.
____________________________________

October 24, Western Mail
Stop investment in Burma, Welsh MP urges

The Government should close a loophole that allows companies to use
Britain to invest in Burma via British-dependent territories, a Welsh MP
said yesterday.

Stephen Crabb, the Conservative MP for Preseli Pembrokeshire, was speaking
in a Westminster debate to mark the 11th anniversary of the detention of
Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Burma's democracy movement.

Although most major British companies which previously invested in Burma
have withdrawn, Britain is the second largest source of approved
investment in Burma.

He said, 'I recognise that there are many challenges on the international
scene at the moment, but given Britain's history with Burma, and given the
severity and the duration of the suffering of the people of Burma, I hope
that the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary will give the situation
a higher priority than they have done so far.'
____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

October 26, Washington Post
In Burma, a cry for U.N. help - U Pu Chin Sian Thang and U Thein Pe

Last month the U.N. Security Council formally discussed the situation in
Burma for the first time. For Burmese people such as us, who live under
the country's oppressive regime, this was a welcome development.

The Security Council discussion is incredibly important. Over the past 10
years we have watched with dismay as our country's military ruler has
repeatedly hoodwinked a stream of U.N. envoys and ignored the world body's
actions. Twenty-eight resolutions from the U.N.'s General Assembly and its
former Commission on Human Rights, four consecutive human rights special
rapporteurs and two successive special envoys representing U.N. Secretary
General Kofi Annan have failed to produce political change, dialogue or
national reconciliation in Burma.

Meanwhile, much of the world has failed to understand the gravity of the
crisis in our country. It is shocking that the Security Council has taken
so long to get involved. No fewer than 3,000 villages have been destroyed
or dislocated by the military regime in eastern Burma in the past decade.
During the regime's systematic attacks on ethnic populations, women have
been raped, children conscripted as child soldiers and rice supplies
burned.

Recently the regime instituted a practice of using soldiers' bayonets to
pierce the bottoms of rice bowls, leaving villagers unable to cook their
most basic foodstuff. Fleeing the cruelty of this regime, leaving
smoldering villages behind, our fellow citizens run for their lives, often
to inhospitable territories where the junta awaits. The cycle of terror
seems without end. Because of the regime's practices, mortality rates in
eastern Burma have risen to the levels of the worst conflict zones in
Africa. Children are chronically malnourished, infant mortality rates are
soaring, and the most common ailments have become death sentences for
thousands.

We know the Security Council has responded to other cases in which there
are horrendous problems with refugees and internally displaced
populations, in which rape is widespread and conscripting child soldiers
is the norm. Burma, with 70,000 child soldiers, waits for a similar
response and resolve from the Security Council. We simply cannot
understand why the council has not taken the same sort of action in Burma
as it has elsewhere. Now that it has taken up the issue of Burma, it must
go further and pass a resolution.

Clearly, efforts outside the Security Council have not worked. After
Ibrahim Gambari, a U.N. undersecretary of political affairs and envoy to
Burma, visited the country in May, the military regime doubled the
sentence imposed on Aung San Suu Kyi, the world's only imprisoned Nobel
Peace Prize recipient, and increased its attacks on ethnic minorities. The
heightened military offensive against these communities has resulted in
thousands more refugees streaming across the borders into neighboring
countries.

The regime has not stopped its brutal campaign of terror, in part because
the secretary general is unable to act without the mandate of a Security
Council resolution. Only a council resolution will provide the United
Nations with what it needs to confront this situation.

Just last month the Burmese military arrested five of the most prominent
members of our movement, including Burma's second most-famous political
leader, Min Ko Naing. By writing this opinion piece, we, too, are risking
our lives. Our freedom is worth the risk.

We hope that attention at the Security Council will do more to shed light
on the important cultural and political context of our struggle and the
threat destabilizing the region. The U.N. diplomatic corps must understand
that, unlike other countries, in which factors such as religion or
historical rivalries weaken public support for democracy, Burma is a
nation in which the people have clearly and repeatedly articulated what
they want: a democratic society. That is why the National League for
Democracy and allied parties won 82 percent of the seats in parliament in
our last elections, and why tens of thousands of people risk their lives
to participate in our movement.

Put simply, there is overwhelming evidence that the people of Burma want
an end to the dictatorship that has been forced upon them. Without this
understanding and without a Security Council resolution, the United
Nations is likely to fail in Burma yet again.

The writers are members of Burma's parliament, which was chosen in the
country's last democratic elections but has never been permitted to meet.

____________________________________

October 26, The Nation
Burma before the Security Council - Brad Adams

The Security Council must act further on the human rights situation of a
country where violence and repression from the military are an everyday
fact of life.

Burma has finally arrived on the formal agenda of the UN Security Council.
On September 30, the Council held its third briefing on the dire human
rights situation in Burma, with member states voting 10-4 (with one
abstention) to continue the discussion. This process began in 2005, when a
report commissioned by Vaclav Havel and Bishop Desmond Tutu, called
"Threat to the Peace: A Call for UN Security Council Action on Burma",
advocated increased Council action to address Burma. This has become one
of the most serious international efforts facing the generals who run the
country with brutality and an iron fist, and comes after years in which
the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) ignored repeated General
Assembly and Commission on Human Rights resolutions condemning systemic
rights violations.

In recent weeks the SPDC has mobilised rallies by the pro-regime Union
Solidarity and Development Association to protest against the Security
Council deliberations. It has instructed ethnic militia cease-fire groups
to issue statements condemning the move as "imperialist", and "exploiting
the authority of the UN". The SPDC has rejected or ignored all
international efforts to assist the welfare of the people of Burma, and
these cries of defiance demonstrate how unconcerned they are with
international opinion.

If the Burmese regime wished to demonstrate its contempt for international
efforts to bring it before the Council, then it made its intentions plain
two days before the vote. Burmese police arrested three prominent
activists, Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi and Htay Kywe for advocating action by
the Security Council. Days later they arrested another two '88 Student
Generation' activists, Min Zeya and Pyone Choe, and lawyer U Aye Myint.
There are grave concerns over their welfare

The Security Council must act further on the human rights situation of a
country where violence and repression from the military are an everyday
fact of life. The military doesn't allow a free press, independent civil
society organisations or opposition parties, and it arrests and tortures
those who speak out. These are the issues the Council must address. The
next step is a strongly worded resolution calling on the SPDC to fulfil
its obligations to its citizens and the international community.

With the political support of China, Russia, India and Thailand, the SPDC
has become increasingly intransigent. All have close diplomatic and
commercial ties with the SPDC, including arms sales that enable the
Burmese military to commit abuses and stay in power. Each provides
diplomatic cover for the generals to commit their abuses. For example,
when the issue of Burma was placed on the formal agenda on September 15,
the Chinese ambassador to the United Nations, Wang Guangya, called the
move "preposterous".  India recently welcomed junta leader Than Shwe with
a 19-gun salute and recently sold artillery pieces to the Burmese army. To
secure his business goals in Burma, recently deposed Thai prime minister
Thaksin transformed Thailand into an international mouthpiece for the
Burmese junta. Thai authorities have also adopted a hard-line policy to
put pressure on asylum seekers, dissidents and human rights activists from
Burma.

Yet the tide of international opinion is turning. In an unprecedented
statement for an organisation historically committed to non-interference
in the internal affairs of other members, the secretary-general of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), Ong Keng Yong said in
July, "Asean has a lot of other things to do. But now Myanmar [Burma]
seems to be always there and clouding the other issues out of the way."

China is increasingly out of step with Burma's neighbours, which see the
Burmese junta as an embarrassment to Asean and want reforms to start
immediately. If China wants to be taken seriously as a respected member of
the international community, it needs to stop protecting the Burmese
generals who provide neither security nor development for their people.

Thailand, which under then Foreign Minister Surin Phitsuwan first raised
the issue of human rights in Burma within Asean in 1997, now has the
opportunity to end its recent shameful political support for the Burmese
government by instituting a new policy. The newly appointed interim prime
minister, General Surayud Chulanont, and the army that installed him must
see the many ethnic armed conflicts in Burma, the systematic abuse of
Burmese people and the lack of democracy in Burma - as symbolised by the
continued detention and isolation of Aung San Suu Kyi - as a destabilising
factor for Thailand. Thailand must no longer be passive or half-hearted in
supporting international action to improve democracy, human rights and
peace in Burma.

A change in Thai policy and a willingness to speak out on the dire
situation in Burma is critical to success in improving the human rights
situation in Burma and gaining an international consensus, including at
the Security Council, for urgent action. It will help give the senior UN
official in charge of the Security Council process, Under-Secretary
General for Political Affairs Ibrahim Gambari, the kind of political cover
necessary to make it clear to the junta that it will not be protected by
all of its neighbours anymore.

The Security Council should not wait any longer before acting. It should
approve a resolution that will make clear the need to rapidly begin a
genuine process towards civilian rule and democracy. Recently arrested
political activists and other political prisoners must be released.
Military offensives against ethnic minority populations must also cease.
Humanitarian aid agencies must be permitted unfettered access to parts of
the country where poor military governance has degraded the health
conditions of the population, and forced labour and sexual violence are
widespread. The generals must get the message that they can no longer
remain intransigent with the support of China and other neighbours.

Brad Adams is Asia director of New York-based Human Rights Watch.

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

October 25, Women League of Burma
WLB demands an immediate end to war crimes in Burma

Recent incidents of sexual violence by the Burmese military regime's
troops  in western, eastern and central Burma have lent urgency to demands
for an  immediate end to war crimes in Burma made by the Women's League of
Burma in  a position paper released today at the United Nations in New
York.

On 9 October 2006, six soldiers from Infantry Battalion No. 9 gang-raped 
three Palaung women, including a 14-year-old girl, in southern Shan State;
 one of the women died of her injuries. On 10 October 2006, three naval 
cadets gang-raped a 14-year-old girl in Sittwe, in western Burma's Arakan 
State. On August 22, 2006, a Russian-trained Burma Army officer raped a 
17-year-old village girl at gunpoint near Tada-U Airport in central Burma 
while on security duty. None of the rapists has been punished.

In the position paper released by WLB for the Sixth Anniversary of UNSC 
resolution 1325, the WLB reiterates that the sexual violence being 
committed by the regime's troops in Burma are war crimes. They are not 
committed by rogue elements within the military but are systematic and 
structuralized, and central to the modus operandi of the regime.

"These political rapes, these war crimes, have been continuing because of 
the system of impunity that exists Burma and the complete lack of any 
improvement politically inside Burma" says Thin Thin Aung, a WLB Presidium
 Board member, one of the WLB team lobbying at the United Nations Security
Council in New York.

The position paper also exposes how the regime's increased militarization 
and prioritization of military spending has seriously affected the social 
sectors of health and education, with dire impacts on women and children.

The WLB team is currently joining the Women, Peace and Security Advocacy
Week activities at the United Nations, where it is using UNSC Resolution 
1325 to lobby for a Security Council resolution on Burma, and for an 
increased role for women in peace-building processes.

"The UN Security Council must pressure the regime to implement an
immediate  ceasefire and cease all war crimes against civilians in Burma,"
says Thin  Thin Aung. "Then the UNSC must ensure that an irreversible
peace and  reconciliation process takes place."

Media Contact:
Thin Thin Aung  Presidium Board member          +  1 732 6067508
Lway Aye Nang  Joint- General Secretary (1)     +  66 9 4342841
Hseng Noung     Presidium Board member          +  66 1 8844963