BurmaNet News, December 8, 2006

[Editor]

December 8, 2006 Issue # 3102

INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: NLD suggests Asean diplomat mediate Burma’s political deadlock
Irrawaddy: Protesting Burmese village placed under Martial Law
Mizzima: First ever human rights function in Bogalay planned
Khonumthung: Chin youths being forced to serve army

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: Migrant workers must register to extend permits

BUSINESS / TRADE
Irrawaddy: India signs new offshore gas deal with Burma

HEALTH / AIDS
Xinhua: Media training workshop held in Myanmar to raise public awareness
on bird flu

DRUGS
Mizzima: Poppy business booms in western Burma - Muana

ASEAN
AP: Asean summit moved to January
VOA News: ASEAN advisors propose sanctions for members like Burma who
breach agreements

REGIONAL
AP: India, Myanmar discuss possible joint army exercises

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INSIDE BURMA

December 08, Irrawaddy
NLD suggests Asean diplomat mediate Burma’s political deadlock - Kyaw Zwa Moe

Burma’s main opposition party, the National League for Democracy, called
on a diplomat from an Asean country to take a leading role in resolving
the deadlock between Burma’s military rulers and opposition parties,
according to a confidential letter obtained by The Irrawaddy.

The letter—dated May 31 and signed by NLD Chairman Aung Shwe and Secretary
U Lwin—was addressed to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and included a
range of issues, including the national reconciliation process, the role
of the armed forces in Burma’s political future and humanitarian projects
in the country.

“The UN or the international community must initiate the terms and
conditions of the dialogue because this process will shape the destiny of
the country,” the NLD letter stated. “A negotiator must negotiate the deal
and attest to the reconciliation process.”

The NLD letter also disagreed with the suggestion—made by UN Under
Secretary-General Ibrahim Gambari following his first visit to Burma in
May—that the UN country team, referring to the UN Development Programme
and its chief coordinator Charles Petrie, would play a more active role
between the government and the NLD.

“This would be practicable,” the NLD letter stated, “if we were
considering using the UN Country Team as a post office or perhaps as an
interlocutor who sat in on meetings.”

The letter continued: “They [UNDP] are not trained or experienced or in
the habit of negotiating ‘National Reconciliation’ between two dissidents,
ideologically apart and highly motivated. Our experience is that those who
have served in this country for some time in any capacity have become
conditioned to move within the framework of thought and action set up by
the SPDC [State Peace and Development Council].

While admitting that the task of national reconciliation was “an almost
impossible task,” the letter stated that it “should be attempted under the
leadership of a wise politician of stature dedicated to democratization
and experienced in the ways of power possibilities and needs.”

“Regarding my role in Myanmar [Burma],” the UNDP’s Petrie responded, “it
is that of coordinator of the UN system’s development and humanitarian
activities in the country. My role as the UN coordinator also entails the
facilitation and support of the other efforts in which the UN is engaged.”

Other opposition groups and former activists in Burma have expressed
doubts about some UN officials and western diplomats, suggesting they had
attempted to marginalize opposition forces, including detained NLD leader
Aung San Suu Kyi.

“The responsibilities of my position include engagement with all
stakeholders, which I strive to do to the best of my abilities,” Petrie
said.

The NLD letter advises that the UN country team not be involved in the
national reconciliation process. “The country team should be busy enough
looking after their basic assignments,” the letter stated. “We are of the
opinion that any head of a UN country team should not be given the
responsibility for a position that he or she is not professionally suited
for.”

____________________________________

December 08, Irrawaddy
Protesting Burmese village placed under Martial Law - Shah Paung

A Burmese village is under martial law after local people demonstrated
against the appointment of a new, regime-backed head.

The disturbance, in the village of Hnaw Gone, in Hmawbi Township, Rangoon
Division, was the first known sign of open opposition to a regime program
to introduce a new generation of local administration officials.

About 1,000 Hnaw Gone villagers were ordered on November 30 to gather
outside the village administration office and demonstrate their support
for a new village head appointed by the regime-backed Union Solidarity and
Development Association. But the villagers vociferously denounced the
choice, and troops were called in to control them.

The villagers were ordered at gunpoint to return to their homes, but
shouts of protest continued into the night. The village is reportedly
still under tight military control.

The government program to appoint new local administration officials
became known in early November, after applications were invited for
positions within the country’s Ward and Village Peace and Development
Councils. Incumbent office-holders were told they need not apply, and in
at least one township serving members of the local WVPDC were told they
had to resign to make way for newly-recruited officials. Most of the
applicants for the administration positions are reported to be from USDA
members.

____________________________________

December 8, Mizzima News
First ever human rights function in Bogalay planned -Ngunte

The first ever function on human rights in Bogalay town, Irrawaddy
division is being planned by Human Right Defenders and Promoters network
(HRDP) on the 58th International Human Rights Day.

The function will be held on Myasainyaung Street , Bogalay on December 10,
and is expected to be attended by 100 human rights activists from
different parts of Burma. They will submit papers on the human rights
situation in their respective areas.

"We are going to release a statement based on their papers," said an
organizer who wanted to remain anonymous.

HRDP network was formed in 2003 with individual human rights activists and
has been into distributing leaflets on Universal Declaration of Human
Rights.

The Burmese military authorities have been monitoring our activities, he
said.

"In our opinion, it will be a very rare human rights happening that will
take place here because it has been non existent ", he added.

Thailand based leading Burmese human rights activist Aung Moe Min said
"When we talk about the human rights situation in Burma, there has been no
improvement. It has become worse then it was previously" .

"The military junta has been violating human rights and I don't see any
improvement as long as they are in power... The country will go from bad
to worse if things remain the same," he added.

In 2004, the local authorities arrested human rights activists from Ah
Lone village and Ah Mar villages in Bogalay.

____________________________________

December 8, Khonumthung News
Chin youths being forced to serve army

Young people in Chin state, Burma are being arrested by the military
authorities to be recruited as soldiers since November.

Soldiers from the Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No (104) arrested four
young men (Maung Kan Naing and his friends including a student from Matupi
High school) while they were celebrating Tazawngtaing (Buddhist festival)
at around 10 p.m. on November 16, according to source in Matupi town.

The high school student was released after Naw Kua Yi, a High School
teacher in Matupi met military authorities and pleaded on his behalf. The
amount of money paid as bribe to the authorities is still to be verified.

The rest of the youth were taken away in an army vehicle to Mindat town
but they escaped from the clutches of the Burmese soldiers as the vehicle
rolled down near Champian village, 12 miles from Matupi on November 27.
The fate of the three young men is not known yet.

Moreover, 10 young men from rural areas have been arrested and detained in
the recruitment camp for soldiers in Matupi.

Meanwhile, youth in Matupi are worried about going out for carol singing
even though Christmas is approaching.

“Actually we have to welcome sweet December tonight but all of us are
afraid of soldiers,” said a source in Matupi.

According to sources close to the army, Colonel San Aung, Tactical
commander of Tactical (2) in Chin state, is planning to recruit 500
people, between the ages of 18 and 40 to serve the army.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

December 8, Irrawaddy
Migrant workers must register to extend permits

Valid migrant worker permits for 2006 will be extended by the Thai
Ministry of Labour to 2008. Migrant workers will be required to register
for an extension with Thai authorities, starting January 10, 2007. To
qualify for a permit, they must have a health check-up and later be
approved by their native country, at a cost of about 3,800 baht (US $105).
Kosit Panpiumrat, a deputy prime minister, said an estimated 668,576
migrant workers from Burma, Laos and Cambodia who registered in 2006 are
eligible.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

December 08, Irrawaddy
India signs new offshore gas deal with Burma - Clive Parker

India has signed a further gas deal with the Burmese government to explore
offshore Block A-7 off the coast of Arakan State, Burma’s state press
reported on Friday.

The Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) was part of a consortium that
agreed to the deal for the 3,174 square-meter block with the Burmese
Energy Minister Brig-Gen Lun Thi in Naypyidaw on Thursday, state-run The
New Light of Myanmar said.

The agreement means that GAIL is now active in three blocks off the coast
of Arakan State, having already secured production sharing agreements to
exploit blocks A-1 and A-3.

Many details of the deal are unknown. Friday’s report said that the
agreement also included Silver Wave Energy, without specifying how rights
to the block would be split between each party.

Silver Wave Energy was described as a Singaporean company in Friday’s
report, although in a previous article in The New Light of Myanmar from
May this year, it is described as Indian. The company has a Rangoon office
at Trader’s Hotel headed by Min Min Aung, who was present at Thursday’s
signing ceremony. He was unavailable for comment on Friday.

Daljeet Ahluwalia, a representative of Silver Wave Energy in India, met
with the Union of Myanmar Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Rangoon in
April along with Oleg Dyukov, the Delhi representative of Russia’s
state-owned export bank, Vneshtorg, to discuss business matters including
investment opportunities in Burma.

More confusing still was the presence at Thursday’s A-7 Block signing
ceremony of two government officials from Kalmykia, a little-known Russian
State on the Caspian Sea. Chedyrov Boris, Kalmykia’s minister for energy,
and Tatarkhan Kubanov, the minister for special affairs, also both met
with Brig-Gen Lun Thi and other Burmese officials on Wednesday, The New
Light of Myanmar said, to discuss “bilateral cooperation” on energy.

On Friday, the Russian Embassy in Rangoon told The Irrawaddy that the
visit of both men to Burma “was not to do with this particular deal [for
the A-7 Block].” Russian companies are not known to have any involvement
in the Burmese oil and gas sector.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

December 8, Xinhua General News Service
Media training workshop held in Myanmar to raise public awareness on bird flu

A Myanmar-UN joint media training workshop, aimed at raising public
awareness of bird flu, concluded here Friday. The workshop was
co-organized by the Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department (LBVD) of
Myanmar and the UN Children's Fund(UNICEF). Speaking at the closing
ceremony, Ms Elke Wisch, acting representative of the UNICEF, said
communication is the first line of defense in the fight against avian
influenza, and accurate information and informed reporting are vital in
helping ordinary people understand the nature of the threat and the need
to protect themselves.

The workshop, attended by over 100 media persons from private and state
media, covered field trips to different poultry-related areas in Myanmar
to allow the participants to put their newly learned skills into practice.

Myanmar declared in September this year as a bird flu-free country after
confirming no virus detected in the country during a three-month program.
Myanmar was struck by an outbreak of H5N1 bird flu on March 8 in two
divisions of Mandalay and Sagaing and since then altogether 342,000
chickens, 320,000 quails and 180,000 eggs as well as 1.3 tons of feedstuff
were destroyed at 545 poultry farms.

____________________________________
DRUGS

December 8, Mizzima News
Poppy business booms in western Burma - Muana

December 8, 2006 - It is boom time for cultivation and production of poppy
as prospective buyers from other states have been gathering in western
Burma since early this year.

The sale of raw opium grown in Cikha sub-township, 30 kilometres from
Behiang, a border village between Manipur, India and Tedim Township, Chin
State is on the rise. The cease fire armed group, United Wa Army, has
entered the local market under the protection of
Burma's military regime. About four to seven members of UWA stay regularly
in Cikha sub-township and buy raw opium and cam with the help of the Burma
Army.

Under the command of a second lieutenant Mahachian alias Chaw Aung, UWA
monitors harvesting and collection of opium and makes purchases for the
year. They are now waiting for the December collection. Only one or two
UWA cadres appear in public while the others maintain a low profile in the
confines of Burma Army camps.

"Wa concentration in these areas is due to their souring of relationship
with Chinese businessmen," said a Chin businessman, who preferred to
remain anonymous.

Raw opium is collected thrice annually and UWA bought more then 150
kilograms in September and November from Cikha sub-township, while around
12,795 kilograms was sold from Tedim Township between May and August 2006.

UWA pays Kyat 1, 00, 000 for 1.5 kilograms in the local market.

Shipment of the contraband is mostly done by Burma Army's vehicles or
transportation arranged by UWA. Local residents are appeased as UWA
provides free transportation with no frisking at government check gates,
when the contraband is transported to UWA headquarters in Shan state.

There are around 20 poppy fields, three acres on an average in the 30
villages surrounding Cikha sub-township, and around 87 acres of land is
under poppy cultivation in Tedim Township.

Meanwhile, heroin refineries are said to be located in the jungles of
Falam and Tedim town in Chin state and Kalay Myo, Sakhinyi and Khampat in
Sagaing division Local residents speculate that those refineries are run
by UWA while some argue it belongs to Burma's military junta.

____________________________________
ASEAN

December 08, Associated Press
Asean summit moved to January

The annual Asean summit, scheduled for next week, has been postponed to
January because a strong storm is bearing down on the meeting site, an
organizing official said Friday.

The storm is expected to hit Cebu Province over the weekend, when leaders
of the 10-member Asean would be flying in. The summit was scheduled to be
held Monday and Tuesday, followed by the second East Asia summit on
Wednesday.

“All the ministerial meetings shall proceed as scheduled,” said Domingo
Lucinario, a member of the Philippine government's organizing committee,
referring to prior discussions by foreign ministers and other officials.
“The leaders' summit has been reset to January.”

Weather forecasters are predicting “that the storm will hit at around the
time that the leaders would be arriving,” Lucinario said.

No new date was immediately announced. Top officials of the organizing
committee were holding an emergency meeting to work out details.

The postponement also came amid warnings by the US, Britain and Australia
that terrorists might be in the final stages of planning an attack during
the summit.

Forecasters say tropical storm Utor could intensify into a typhoon. It is
expected to make landfall over Samar Island Saturday afternoon and cross
Masbate Island, about 170 kilometers (105 miles) north of Cebu, on Sunday
morning, the US Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The Philippine weather
bureau said the storm was packing sustained winds of up to 85 kph (53 mph)
and gusts of 100 kph (60 mph) on Friday afternoon.

The Philippines had rushed to get ready to host the meeting—building a new
convention center from scratch that was still getting the final touches as
preliminary meetings started—after Burma pulled out as host eight months
ago, amid criticism over its human rights record and failure to implement
promised steps toward democracy.

____________________________________

December 8, VOA News
VOA News: ASEAN advisors propose sanctions for members like Burma who
breach agreements

Former Philippine President Fidel Ramos, center, jumps with others as he
opens an exhibit on the 20th anniversary of People's Power in suburban
Makati, south of Manila, Philippines,on Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2006

A group of advisors to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations has
proposed reforms that would include sanctions against member nations who
breach agreements made within the organization.

Former Philippine President Fidel Ramos presented the proposal to
reporters today, saying that the 10 member group must be able to ensure
compliance among its members in order to be relevant.

Ramos says the proposal would alter the group's traditional policy of
non-interference with member nations in exceptional cases. Sanctions could
include suspension of rights or even expulsion from ASEAN.

The organization has received international criticism for its failure to
hold member nation Burma accountable for its poor human rights record and
lack of democratic reforms.

The proposed reforms are to be discussed at the ASEAN annual summit in the
Philippines. The meeting had been scheduled for next week but has been
postponed until January due to a powerful storm in the area.

Ramos is the Philippine representative to the so-called "eminent persons
group" assigned with forming a charter for ASEAN.

Some information for this report is provided by AP.

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REGIONAL

December 8, Associated Press
India, Myanmar discuss possible joint army exercises

India and Myanmar discussed possible joint military exercises, an Indian
army official said Friday, a day after a human rights group slammed India
for helping support Myanmar's repressive regime. Myanmar military chief of
staff Gen. Thura Shwe Mann met with the head of the Indian army's eastern
command, Lt. Gen. Arvind Sharma, and expressed great interest in
conducting joint exercises at a counterinsurgency training center in the
jungles of eastern India, Indian army Wing Commander R.K. Das said.

The move is the latest evidence that India is stepping up its activity in
neighboring Myanmar to counter the influence of rival China, and came on
the same day as an announcement by the military junta in Myanmar that a
deal had been signed with an Indian and Singaporean consortium to jointly
drill for oil and gas off the country's west coast. No details were
released on when the exercises might take place.

On Thursday, New York-based Human Rights Watch demanded that the Indian
government halt its sale of arms to Myanmar, stop counterinsurgency
training and press the military government to stop attacks on civilians.

During a visit last month to Myanmar, also called Burma, India's air force
chief offered a multimillion-dollar military assistance package, including
helicopters, upgrades of Myanmar's existing military aircraft, naval
surveillance and counterinsurgency training.

The military junta took power in 1988 after violently suppressing mass
pro-democracy protests. It held a general election in 1990 but refused to
hand over power when pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party won a
landslide victory.

India, which initially supported Suu Kyi, has in recent years kept silent
on human rights abuses in Myanmar, preferring to adopt what New Delhi
calls a "pragmatic" policy toward its military rulers.The new approach
comes as energy-hungry India searches for new sources of fuel.

The warming ties, despite its lack of progress in democratic reforms, is
also generally regarded as a move to balance the influence of their mutual
neighbor, China. Both India and China have been investing heavily in
Myanmar's promising oil and gas sector in recent years.