BurmaNet News, January 10, 2007

[Editor]

January 10, 2007 Issue # 3118


INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Myanmar democracy activists welcome draft UN resolution
Independent: Gold in the lair of the tiger: Big cats vs big profits
Mizzima News: Internet policing in Burma stepped up

ASEAN
AP: Philippines renews call for Myanmar to fulfill democratic reforms
DVB: ASEAN activists welcome plans for talks on Burma
AFP: ASEAN tackles fate of migrant workers

REGIONAL
Mizzima: Than Shwe "hanged" in a fake video

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: US submits UN resolution slamming Myanmar junta's policies
AP: EU allocates euro 15.5 million (US$20.2 million) in humanitarian aid
to Myanmar
Irrawaddy: Chin activist wins humanitarian award

INTERVIEW
DVB: Human Rights Defenders Group official interviewed on Burma situation

PRESS RELEASE
Burma Campaign UK: Burma student democracy leaders released; regime trying
to manipulate UN Security Council
Liberal Democrat Party (UK): Dire situation in Burma must be improved –
Michael Moore

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

January 10, Agence France Presse
Myanmar democracy activists welcome draft UN resolution

Yangon: Pro-democracy activists in Myanmar on Wednesday welcomed a United
States draft resolution to the UN Security Council calling for the release
of political prisoners and accelerated democratic reform here.

"We welcome what the US submitted," said Kyaw Min Yu, an activist who came
to prominence during a crushed student democracy uprising in 1988.

"Their calls are good, but it is also important that they implement the
resolution," he told AFP.

The United States on Tuesday submitted a draft resolution to the UN
Security Council expressing concern that the overall situation in the
military-run nation posed a serious risk to peace and security in the
region.

The text is a slightly amended version of a draft first submitted by the
US delegation last month, and calls on the junta to begin substantive
dialogue with all political leaders and national ethnic groups.

It also calls for the release of political prisoners including democracy
leader and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent more than
a decade under house arrest.

However China and Russia, two of Myanmar's closest allies, have questioned
the need for the resolution, and could veto any moves by the 15-member
Security Council to chastise the regime.

"We want to know what Russia and China's intentions are. The problems in
Myanmar will not be solved if they use their veto," said Kyaw Min Yu,
adding that the two countries should try and come up with positive
suggestions for reconciliation in Myanmar.

The UN Security Council decided to put Myanmar on its agenda in September
last year, with the United States driving efforts to pressure the
repressive regime to reform.

Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962. Aung San Suu Kyi's
party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), won a landslide victory in
1990 elections, but the junta never allowed them to take office.

NLD spokesman Lwin, who goes by one name only, declined to comment on the
US draft resolution.

"It is the concern of the UN Security Council," he said.

____________________________________

January 10, The Independent (UK)
Gold in the lair of the tiger: Big cats vs big profits

When the Burmese junta agreed to protect a vast tract of wilderness, the
world was astonished.

But the move also sparked the exploitation of the region's natural wealth,
as Peter Popham reports

The American big cat conservationist Alan Rabinowitz, prime mover of the
Wildlife Conservation Society, prides himself on going where lesser
conservationists fear to tread. In the 1980s, this bull-headed biologist
from Brooklyn coaxed the government of Belize into creating the world's
first and only jaguar reserve. Years later he made a close study of a
wildlife sanctuary for big cats in Thailand which obtained
Unesco-protected status as a result.

The boldest gamble of his career has been to brave widespread condemnation
by going into Burma and working with the military junta to create the
world's biggest tiger conservation park. But in a new report published
today, investigators claim the park has become infested with dozens of
large-scale gold mines which are wreaking havoc with its environment and
killing off the wildlife.

Kachin state, in the far north of Burma, is home to some of the last real
areas of virgin wilderness in Asia. There are no major cities or towns;
the only important road, the so-called Burma Road linking India and China,
was built during the Second World War by the American military. It is home
to a fabulous array of minerals and precious stones, including imperial
jade (it's one of the world's only two sources), diamonds, rubies, and
gold, plenty of it. But exploitation of these treasures has been a homely,
amateurish affair: gold prospecting was the pastime of small boys with
wooden pans, messing about in the wild rivers for pocket money while their
parents concentrated on the serious business of growing rice.

The stagnation imposed by Burma's long-running military dictator Ne Win
was a blessing of sorts for Kachin state. The dozen Kachin tribes, mostly
Christian and with a language and writing system distinct from other
Burmese ethnic groups, were left largely to their own devices. And the
fabulous array of wildlife, including hundreds of tigers and elephants,
had the forests to themselves. Logging and the growing of the opium poppy
and mining for gems were all small-scale.

All that began to change in 1988, when Ne Win was deposed and a new set of
generals clawed their way to power, naming themselves Slorc, the State Law
and Order Restoration Council. They killed thousands of pro-democracy
students, put democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest and in
1990 brushed aside the general election result that saw Suu Kyi's party,
the National League for Democracy, obtain 80 per cent of the popular vote.
As Slorc, and subsequently the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC),
they began the task of pacifying the rest of the nation.

In 1994 the Kachin came to the negotiating table and cut a deal with the
regime. And that was when life in the wilderness of Kachin state began to
change. Ethnic Kachin tribes no longer had the region to themselves. The
military, a temporary and fleeting presence in the area until then, began
building permanent camps. Ethnic Burmans began to move in, Chinese
merchants arrived and set up shop. And for the first time ever the
systematic exploitation of the natural wealth of the area got under way.

It was also around this time that the American big-cat conservationist
rolled up. Alan Rabinowitz, whose wife is Thai, had done pioneering work
on saving big cats in Thailand, Laos and Taiwan. But from his base in
Thailand he looked hungrily over the border to Burma. Kachin was one of
the world's most important "biodiversity hotspots". But it remained a
closed book to the outside world: the last Western scientist to have a
good look at it was the British botanist Frank Kingdon-Ward, in the 1900s.

The region's wildlife had never been properly documented. The only thing
for sure was that there was plenty of it, including many, many tigers -
but it enjoyed scant protection under Slorc. The military regime admitted
to devoting a paltry 0.1 per cent of GDP to wildlife conservation.

In the early 1990s therefore, Alan Rabinowitz marched into the Ministry of
Forestry in Rangoon and badgered the Forestry Minister into doing a deal.
He led a gruelling exploratory trek through Kachin state, and sketched the
outlines of four national parks within it. The first to be established was
Hkakabo Razi, around the mountain of the same name, Burma's tallest, which
borders Tibet and China.


>From being a country with a negligible quantity of protected wilderness,

within a decade Burma had quite a bit. The four reserves for which
Rabinowitz had lobbied constituted what was called the Northern Forest
Complex, an area the size of Belgium. And in 2004 the jewel in the crown,
the Hugawng Valley Tiger Reserve, was tripled in size to become the
largest tiger reserve in the world, with an area of 13,500 square miles
(21,802 km): a region of vast forests and untamed rivers in the western
part of Kachin near the Indian border, between the Kumon mountain range to
the east and the Patkai mountains to the west, replete with tiger (around
100 of them, according to a count in 2003), clouded leopards, black bears,
sambar, a previously undiscovered species, the leaf deer, and much else.

The process was certainly accelerated by the fact that there was no
requirement to put it before parliament. As Rabinowitz commented to
National Geographic magazine, "It's much harder to get conservation done
in democracies than in communist countries or dictatorships."

Those words, however, may come back to haunt him. For as a report
published today reveals, the Burmese junta have been playing both sides of
the street. While gaily endorsing Rabinowitz's ambitious schemes, they
have also been facilitating - and making immense profits from - an
unprecedented gold rush into the very zones where his conservation effort
is focused.

The report, entitled Valley of Darkness - Gold Mining and Militarisation
in Burma's Hugawng Valley, published by the Kachin Development Networking
Group, painstakingly describes how the military have colonised the
previously virgin Hugawng Valley. Since the ceasefire with the Karen
Independence Organisation in 1994, new military bases have sprung up all
over the state, with private homes strategically placed by roads
confiscated for military use and 41 battalions of the army stationed in
the state.

The small-scale gold mining business of the past has been transformed into
a large-scale mechanised industry, as the junta sold off concessions to
eight selected companies for huge sums. The number of important gold
mining sites in the Hugawng Valley has increased from 14 in 1994 to 31
today. A gold-mining company employee told the writers of the report about
the procedure for obtaining a concession.

"You must pay at least 10m kyat (about £800,000) to the Mining
Department," he said. "But that money doesn't go through official
channels. You pay that as a present to the Mining Minister through his
personal assistant." Further enormous bribes - 50-70m kyat (£3-£5m) to the
Northern Commander and 300-500m (£24-£40m) to the same official for the
"Kachin State SPDC fund" - are required before a company can be sure of
its right to mine.

Despite the regime's ostensible commitment to the wildlife reserves, the
report says no trouble is taken to contain the catastrophic environmental
damage that large-scale gold mining causes. Laws requiring companies to
rehabilitate worked-out mines are not enforced, and as the concept of
environmental impact assessment does not exist in Burma, there is no
mechanism for assessing the damage a mine may cause in advance.

The report claims that this lack of supervision has "caused environmental
damage throughout Kachin state, including in biodiverse areas. Land,
including forests, is indiscriminately cleared for hydraulic and
pit-mining operations. Pit mining guts the remaining soil, leaving it
pock-marked with a series of tunnels up to 20 feet long and 10 feet deep,
while hydraulic mining blasts away soil causing erosion on river banks.
Wastes from the mining process, including mercury-contaminated rocks and
soil, are left discarded throughout the other-worldly landscape. Grazing
grounds and habitats for animals are destroyed as well as plant life that
could once grow in the areas."

One result is the near-disappearance of once-common gibbons, rarely seen
in the Hugawng Valley today. "We villagers felt warm at heart whenever we
heard a gibbon singing in the jungle," commented a Christian deacon living
in the valley. "But we can no longer hear their songs."

With the opening of large mines, the social evils found in places like the
notorious jade- and gold-mining shanty city of Hpakant are moving north to
the Hugawng Valley. Small-scale opium production has been a feature of
Kachin state for many years, but with the arrival of an army of labourers,
a tide of opium, heroin and metamphetamines is pouring into the townships
that spring up around the mines.

"Those who had ties with government officials were allowed to engage in
the drug trade," says the report. "One interviewee estimated that 80 per
cent of people in the Tong Mali gold-mining area are addicted to opium and
approximately 30 per cent of gold miners use heroin and metamphetamines.
It is not only the general atmosphere of desperation in the mining areas,
but also the specific working conditions of gold mining that push some to
use drugs." The use by addicts of shared needles and an explosion of
prostitution around the new mines have also led to an upsurge of HIV and
Aids, local people interviewed for the report claimed.

Colin Poole, director of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Asia
Programme, said: "The Hugawng Valley is a huge area and I am not aware of
new large-scale gold mines coming up in the past two years since the tiger
reserve was established."

But, the new report says, "gold mining is ... widespread and thriving in
partnership with the SPDC's Ministry of Mines ... With SPDC officials from
the top down profiting from gold mining, there is little political will to
place serious curbs on the industry."

Jeremy Woodrum of the US Campaign for Burma claims the willingness of the
regime to create tiger reserves was a cunning ploy. "The ruling regime has
launched a full-frontal attack against ethnic minorities within their own
borders. They'll do anything they can, including create large reserves, to
seize control of land that historically belonged to a particular ethnic
group."

Mr Poole commented: "We have not come across any direct evidence that the
regime is using us for their own ends. Protecting the national resources
of Burma is critically important. Hugawng Valley is one of the most
important ecosystems left in south-east Asia. If we can have any role in
helping to preserve it, that's a good thing."

____________________________________

January 10, Mizzima News
Internet policing in Burma stepped up

Surfing the Internet is becoming more difficult by the day in Burma. The
military ruled country has come down heavily on net users increasing the
list of sites to be banned. Proxy sites used till Monday are not working
any more. Internet users who want to use free emails and messengers like
Google mail, Google Gtalk are now hastily looking for new proxy sites.

Since last Monday, the junta banned proxy sites such as www.polysolve.com,
www.glite.sayni.net, www.3proxy.com, www.unipeak.com among others, which
used to help surf banned sites including email service providers,
political opposition sites, human rights pages and pornography for almost
a year.

Internet surfers therefore cannot access free mail websites, messengers
and are unable to communicate via the internet with people inside and
outside the country.

Internet experts, however, suggest there are ways and means to get over
this and the regime will lose out in a cat-and-mouse game.

Aung Kyaw Myo, the New Delhi based manager of Burma Information Technology
said there are many proxy sites and a software called "Freedom" which is
useful to Burmese Internet users.

"Countries into Internet censorship ban proxy sites when it becomes
popular with many people using it. But if a proxy site is banned, there
are still many left to use. Besides, you can use a local proxy software
called 'Freedom.' You install this software in your computer and then you
can surf the Internet and log onto banned sites. You can download it from
http://www.your-freedom.net ", said Aung Kyaw Myo.

"Moreover, there is one more way. I haven't tested it yet. It is Psiphon,
an open source software which I noticed two months ago. It is said to be
more secure than proxy servers. With this software, you can surf Internet
freely from a computer somewhere outside Burma. For example, you can
operate a computer in India with Psiphon software and users in Burma with
client software will have access to your computer and they can surf the
Internet from there. If you want to study it check
http://psiphon.civisec.org" he added.

This is not the first time that Burmese Internet users are experiencing
censor-ship. Paris-based media watch dog, Reporters Sans Frontiers or RSF
said the Burmese junta's Internet policies are even more repressive than
that of China and Vietnam.

"The military junta clearly filters opposition websites. It keeps a very
close eye on Internet cafes, in which the computers automatically execute
screen captures every five minutes, in order to monitor user activity."
said the RSF website.

Burma uses Fortiguard, an Internet filtering programme produced by a US
company Fortinet.

Burma with two Internet Service Providers- Myanmar Posts and
Telecommunica- tions and BaganNet, officially allow only government
controlled e-mails in which your password is given by the authority.

If you type www.gmail.com in a computer with BaganNet Internet connection,
"Access Denied" will appear on your screen while a computer with MPT shows
"STOP Access is denied".

However, some Burmese Internet users who are technically savvy have been
using G-talk, Skype and VZO chat. They use those messengers via a proxy
site or use Freedom software. Now, the government has banned these proxy
sites and they are looking for new proxy sites.

Under BaganNet Internet connection, Google's Gtalk and Google mail,
popular among the Burmese has often been banned.

Last year, it was banned just after June 2006 19, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's
birthday and reopened after July 2006 3, coincidentally after the wedding
ceremony of Senior General Than Shwe's daughter.

Then, it was banned again until now since August 10, 2006.

However, MPT only banned Gmail not Gtalk. Only business houses use MPT
while the majority is Bagan net users.

"SPDC doesn't want to see information flowing into and outside Burma.
That's why they go for bans", Aung Kyaw Myo said.

According to the RSF "The aim is two-fold: to defend the profitable
long-distance telecommunications market, which is controlled by state
companies, as well as to stop cyber-dissidents from using a means of
communication that is hard to monitor"

____________________________________
ASEAN

January 10, Associated Press
Philippines renews call for Myanmar to fulfill democratic reforms - Jim Gomez

Cebu: Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo said Wednesday he met
with his Myanmar's counterpart and reiterated a call for the
military-ruled nation to fulfill a promise to rapidly move to democracy.

Romulo's meeting with Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win was held on the
sidelines of an annual summit of the 10-member Association of Southeast
Asian Nations in the central city of Cebu this weekend.

Asked if he renewed a long-standing call by other ASEAN members for
Myanmar to push through with a roadmap to democracy, Romulo replied: "I
repeated that."

Romulo has praised efforts by the tiny military-ruled nation to draft a
constitution but has stressed that its junta should do more.

He said he expected Nyan Win to brief counterparts when they meet in a
working dinner late Wednesday to report on Myanmar's reform efforts.

Efforts to prod Myanmar to democratize gained a new urgency Tuesday when
the U.S. government introduced a U.N. resolution calling the deteriorating
situation there a serious risk to regional peace. The resolution urged
Myanmar's government to immediately free all political prisoners.

Washington faces an uphill struggle in winning Security Council approval
of the draft because of opposition from China and Russia, both
veto-wielding council members. The council put Myanmar on its agenda on
Sept. 15 over objections from Beijing and Moscow.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said Myanmar should take the
U.S.-introduced U.N. resolution seriously and ASEAN should discuss the
latest development.

"That resolution is there already so I hope they take it seriously," he
told reporters in Cebu. "I haven't had the chance to sit down with my
ASEAN colleagues, (but) certainly it's something that is of importance for
ASEAN to discuss."

Myanmar's ambassador to Manila, Thaung Tun, said late Monday his country
has friendly relations with its neighbors and has been struggling to build
a stronger economy and foster national unity.

"It bears to be repeated that Myanmar is a peace-loving nation and poses
no threat to its neighbors or the region," Thaung Tun told diplomats in
Manila.

Western nations and even fellow ASEAN members have long expressed concern
over Myanmar's dismal human rights record. Some ASEAN members like
Malaysia have lately become more blunt in their criticism, urging the
junta to show "tangible progress" in its promise to democratize.

Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962, and the current group of
generals took power in 1988. They called elections in 1990 but refused to
recognize the results when pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party
won a resounding victory.

ASEAN'S members are Brunei, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar,
the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
____________________________________

January 10, Democratic Voice of Burma
ASEAN activists welcome plans for talks on Burma

Activists and politicians from several ASEAN organisations yesterday
welcomed a statement from Indonesia confirming the situation in Burma
would be discussed at the 12th annual ASEAN summit.

Press reports on Tuesday quoted Indonesian foreign minister Hassan
Wirajuda as saying delegates at the summit—to be held in the Philippines
city of Cebu on Saturday—would take Burma to task over its unsatisfactory
progress toward democracy. It is unclear if the talks will be held
officially or on the sidelines of the summit.

Network coordinator of the Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma Debbie
Stothard told DVB the comments from Indonesia were a “good sign”.

“This year, Indonesia is a member of UN's Security Council. So it has to
act very responsibly,” Stothard said.

“The case of Burma is right on the front yard of Indonesia . . . so if
they cannot be decisive on this matter, how do you expect Indonesia to act
responsibly on other international security issues outside of this
region", Stothard said.

Roshan Jason, a spokesperson for the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar
Caucus, said the group was encouraged by the Indonesian foreign minister’s
statements and that talks on Burma were welcome as long as they were
meaningful.

“. . . we hope that it will not be superficial discussions like as
happened in previous summits. We hope that it will be very concrete
discussions with time-framed resolutions and directions for the military
government of Burma to comply with,” Jason said.

He said AIPMC hoped that yesterday’s introduction of the US-backed United
Nations Security Council resolution on Burma would add pressure on ASEAN
diplomats to show support for action on the country.

Analysts and academics have cited the ASEAN grouping’s failure to formally
tackle the issue of Burma as evidence of its increasing irrelevance. But
ASEAN has fought against the claims by developing a new draft charter that
could provide guidelines for penalising members such as Burma.

ASEAN leaders are set to decide on the wording of the charter at
Saturday’s summit and Mely Caballero-Anthony of the Institute of Defence
and Strategic Studies in Singapore told DVB the charter’s acceptance could
lead to formal talks on the situation in Burma.

“. . . when issues about the Charter will be discussed and as
recommendations will be considered, [Burma] may be indirectly mentioned
given that this continues to be an issue that will affect, among others,
the credibility of ASEAN,” Anthony said.

____________________________________

January 10, Agence France Presse
ASEAN tackles fate of migrant workers - Karl Wilson

Cebu: The rights of Southeast Asia's vast army of migrant workers are
proving to be a source of dispute for regional nations looking to agree a
labour deal this week, an official said Wednesday.

The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) plans to
issue a declaration at its annual summit aimed at shoring up the rights
and working conditions of the bloc's migrant labour force.

But senior economic officials were reduced to arguing over line-by-line
changes to the statement on Wednesday, with nations at odds over extending
rights to the families of immigrant workers, the official said.

"The whole issue of migrant labour in Southeast Asia is a minefield of
problems," the official, who did not want to be named, told AFP.

He said Indonesian insistence on including "migrant workers and their
families" was being strongly resisted by Singapore and Malaysia, two of
the region's biggest recipients of migrant labour.

Human rights and labour groups around the region have called on ASEAN to
improve the pay and conditions of migrant workers, many of whom are
exploited and paid low wages.

William Gois, regional coordinator for Migrant Forum in Asia, said migrant
workers were the "backbone" of the region's economic success but at the
same time were treated miserably.

"The problem for ASEAN is to come up with a document that will be taken
seriously and incorporate labour standards including freedom of
association, the right to organise and bargain collectively, and eliminate
all forms of discrimination at the workplace," he said.

"ASEAN should also recognise that its people are not tradable commodities."

Indonesia, the Philippines, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam are the
region's main suppliers of labour, providing skilled and unskilled
workers, while Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei and Thailand are among the
major recipients.

Gois said no one knows how many legal and illegal migrant workers there
are in Southeast Asia but said it was "reasonable to assume that the
figure would be many millions".

He added: "Countries like Singapore and Malaysia are heavily dependent on
migrant labour. Without them their economies would face serious problems."

He said the number of undocumented migrant workers in Malaysia from
Indonesia, the Philippines and Myanmar probably topped 200,000.

"Nearly all those working on Malaysia's rubber plantations are migrant
workers, while countries like Singapore seek out skilled technical
people," he said.

Gois said ASEAN should recognise the contributions made by millions of
migrant workers to the economies of its members.

Migrant workers are one of several high-priority topics on this year's
ASEAN agenda, which also includes a new accord on fighting terrorism and
preparing the way for a mini-constitution to make the bloc an EU-style
legal entity.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

January 10, Mizzima News
Than Shwe "hanged" in a fake video

The head of the Burmese military junta Senior General Than Shwe was
"hanged" in a video produced by a Japan based anti junta organization. The
video clip was hosted on the internet.

In a short video clip posted in Youtube www.youtube.com produced by a
lesser known pro-democracy organization, the BDA, and acted out by five
Burmese, thought to be living in Japan, Than Shwe was "hanged" like former
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

The video clip is a remix of the footage on the execution of Saddam Hussein.

In the video produced by the Burmese activists, a television anchor is
shown speaking in English followed by the video footage on Saddam. The
anchor speaks of the 1988 uprising, the bloody crack down and mass
killings by the Burma Army. And finally shows the "execution" of Than Shwe
played out by Burmese actors. It closes with the junta supremo's shrouded
"body".

The presenter in the video clip warned that Than Shwe will become a second
Saddam Hussein if the Burma Army led by the Senior General refuses to have
a dialogue with the National League for Democracy and other concerned
political parties.

Since being posted two days ago, Burmese surfers of the net have been
passing the link of the clip from one person to another. There is a rush
to see the footage.

However, not all are happy with the video clip.

"I don't know what's going on here! I mean we are trying to inch towards
national reconciliation not hatred. If you guys, continue talking or doing
such things, they will not give up their position. It doesn't make any
sense. For your information - the crackdown on the 8888 uprising was
planned by Ne Win, not Than Shwe," wrote a viewer in Youtube site.

The 73-year old military supremo's health is at the centre of speculation
among the Burmese since he left for Singapore secretly on December 31 for
treatment though officials called it a routine "medical check up".

Sources in Rangoon said that he secretly returned to Burma and he may need
to take rest for some more days even though his health is thought to be
good. But controversy still surrounds Than Shwe's health and a possible
power transfer or a coup.

He is reportedly suffering from diabetes, hypertension and other ailments
such as vessel blockage and intestinal cancer. However, no one knows his
exact health condition yet.

Speculation on his health condition intensified and more rumors spread
when he failed to show up at Burma's Independence Day dinner on January 4.

Link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTD85IZ6aEo

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

January 10, Agence France Presse
US submits UN resolution slamming Myanmar junta's policies

United Nations: The United States on Tuesday introduced a revised draft
resolution in the UN Security Council urging Myanmar's rulers to initiate
democratic reforms, release all political prisoners and stop using rape as
a weapon of war.

But Russia and China, two fellow veto-wielding members of the 15-member
council, immediately questioned the need for the text -- even though it
does not call for sanctions -- insisting that they did not view the
situation in Myanmar as a threat to regional peace and security.

The text, a slightly amended version of a draft first submitted by the US
delegation last month, expresses "grave concern that the overall situation
in Myanmar has deteriorated and poses serious risks to peace and security
in the region."

It calls on Myanmar's military government "to begin without delay a
substantive political dialogue which would lead to a genuine democratic
transition, to include all political stakeholders, including
representatives of ethnic nationality groups and political leaders."

It appeals to Myanmar rulers "to take concrete steps to allow full freedom
of expression, association, and movement by unconditionally releasing
(democracy icon) Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners ... and
allowing the (opposition) National League of Democracy (NLD) and other
political parties to reopen their offices."

The US draft also urges an end to "military attacks against civilians in
ethnic minority regions and in particular to desist immediately from the
use of systematic rape of women and girls as an instrument of armed
conflict."

"There was clear agreement and consensus that the situation in Burma is of
concern," US acting ambassador Alejandro Wolff told reporters after
council consultations on the issue, using Myanmar's former name.

"We expressed the priority we are attaching to this initiative," he noted,
adding that he was hoping for a vote "as soon as possible, hopefully this
week."

Wolff said council experts would meet Wednesday to try to fine tune the text.

But Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, who chairs the council this month,
said Myanmar was not "a proper issue to discuss in the Security Council."

Asked whether he was prepared to veto the text, he replied: "I don't want
to use big words until I get instructions."

China's UN deputy representative Liu Zhenmin also questioned the need for
such a text, saying: "The Security Council should focus on more important
issues which are really threats to international peace and security."

In a statement issued at the end of December, the State Department said it
was deeply concerned about "the deteriorating humanitarian and political
situation in Burma."

"The situation in Burma remains bleak," the statement said, citing
violence against ethnic minorities -- including the use of rape as a
weapon, forced labor, narcotics smuggling and the detention of more than
1,100 political prisoners by the Myanmar junta.

Last week in Washington, 13 Nobel Peace Prize winners held a rally in
support of the US draft and of fellow Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, the
pro-democracy activist and NLD head who has been kept under house arrest
by the Mynmar military for more than 10 of the past 17 years.

____________________________________

January 10, Associated Press
EU allocates euro15.5 million (US$20.2 million) in humanitarian aid to
Myanmar

Brussels: The European Union has allocated euro15.5 million (US$20.2
million) in humanitarian aid for refugees on the Myanmar-Thai border and
to some 1 million people suffering from food shortages in Myanmar,
officials said Wednesday.

Some regions of the internationally isolated Asian country were in the
midst of humanitarian crises, "with many groups living in extremely
vulnerable conditions," EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel said.

Aid would be focused at alleviating shortages of basic health care and
emergency food aid in remote areas of Myanmar, also known as Burma,
officials said.

Water and sanitation programs are also to be funded through the EU aid in
the most volatile areas.

The aid package will also be used to support some 150,000 Burmese refugees
along Myanmar's border with Thailand. Refugees there are "almost entirely
dependent" on international aid, the EU said in a statement. Aid will also
be used to help the International Red Cross and United Nations efforts to
provide protection and monitoring for those refugees.

The European Commission said it had given euro106 million (US$138 million)
in humanitarian aid to Myanmar since 1992.

The commission said the health situation inside Myanmar is "particularly
worrying," pointing to the high child mortality rates which it blames on
HIV/AIDS and malaria. It added that waterborne diseases were also
widespread accounting for 50 percent of deaths among young children there.

____________________________________

January 10, Irrawaddy
Chin activist wins humanitarian award

Dr Lian H Sakhong, a prominent ethnic Chin pro-democracy activist, was
named this year’s recipient of the Martin Luther King, Jr prize. The award
was established by a peace activist in Sweden and will be presented there,
along with US $25,000, on January 15. Lian H Sakhong is the secretary
general of three organizations: the Ethnic Nationalities Council, the Chin
National League for Democracy and the United Nationalities League for
Democracy. He also serves as research director for the National
Reconciliation Program. He was frequently detained by Burma’s military
government before he fled the country in 1990 to settle in Sweden. In
addition to his work as an activist, Lian H Sakhong has also authored
several books on the culture, politics and religion of ethnic
nationalities in Burma. Martin Luther King, Jr was a Baptist minister and
celebrated leader of the Civil Rights Movement in the US from the 1950s
until his death by assassination in 1968. He promoted non-violent means to
achieve civil rights reform and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964
for his efforts.

____________________________________
INTERVIEW

January 10, Democratic Voice of Burma
Human Rights Defenders Group official interviewed on Burma situation

[Presenter] We will now report about the activity of the only independent
human rights defenders group in Burma. The Human Rights Defenders and
Promoters (HRDB) has released a statement today expressing their support
for the "Open Heart" letter campaign of the '88 Generation Students and
pledging to criticize and censure those who obstruct that campaign.

The HRDB is the only independent group that promotes human rights in
Burma. Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) correspondent Ko Maung Too
interviewed U Myint Aye who is in charge of the HRDB in connection with
the statement. The first question he posed was for an explanation why the
group supported the campaign.

[U Myint Aye] Since we are human rights people, we look at things from the
human rights perspective only. We learned about the campaign and also
understood that it was launched by the '88 [Generation Students]. But,
from what we know, we have been hearing the people want to know whether it
would be safe to write letters because they would have to put down their
National Registration Card numbers also. We came to learn ourselves about
the difficulties of the people. So, we want the people to know that they
do have the right to write the letters. Under Article 19 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, everyone has the right to freedom of opinion
and expression and we want to inform the people about it.

Another point to raise here is that should instances emerge where people
are prevented from expressing their opinion, then there will be a need for
us to record those who did so as violators of human rights.
[DVB] If that is the case, will it be presumptuous of me to assume that U
Myint Aye and the HRDB issued a statement in support of the '88 Generation
Students and their campaign?

[U Myint Aye] As I have said it earlier, regardless of who organized it or
whatever is organized, we will only judge it through our human rights
perspective only. The current campaign fully meets the human rights
standards and we believe it should be done.

[DVB] I see. Can you please explain about the HRDB so that the people of
Burma will have a clear understanding about your organization?

[U Myint Aye] No, we are not an organization. It was around the end of
2002 that we got to study books on human rights. I am quite friendly with
the youths and we became quite fascinated by the subject. So, we thought
if we could only make the people understand about human rights and
constantly make it part of their consciousness and habit, then the burdens
that we are shouldering now and the difficulties will ease. In other
words, we are striving to make the people struggle on their own.

In the later part of 2003, we [the human rights defenders] worked
individually, as well as in conjunction with each other, using our own
financial resources. The main responsibility of the HRDB is to make the
masses know extensively about Article 19 and our second responsibility is
to defend and stand with the victims of human rights violations. Our HRDB
members are all over in Burma now, and we will not side with anyone or
make anyone our enemy. We will stand for human rights and solely work for
that goal only. We are concerned about the people, we will remain an
integral part of the masses, we will talk about the people, and we will
concentrate on their rights. That is our work.

[DVB] I see. What do you want to say about the human rights situation in
Burma now?

[U Myint Aye] Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
clearly states that everyone has the right to take part in the government
of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives. In
Burma, we had an election in 1990, but how did that turn out? That alone
should answer your question.

[Presenter] That was an interview with U Myint Aye who is in charge of the
HRDB.

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

January 10, Burma Campaign UK
Burma student democracy leaders released; regime trying to manipulate UN
Security Council

The Burma Campaign UK today welcomed the release of 88 Generation Student
leaders

Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, Htay Kway, Min Zeya and Myint Aye. The five were
arrested in September 2006, and have been held without charge since then.

“While their release is very welcome, it is clear this is a cynical ploy
by the regime to try to head off a Security Council resolution on Burma
that is likely to be voted on before the end of the week,” said Yvette
Mahon, Director of the Burma Campaign UK. “We urge Security Council
members not to be duped by such a blatant attempt to manipulate their
discussions.”

Burma has more than 1,100 political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize
winner Aung San Suu Kyi.

Shortly before his arrest, Min Ko Naing repeated his call for the UN
Security Council to pass a binding resolution requiring the restoration of
democracy in Burma.

Min Ko Naing is Burma’s most prominent pro-democracy leader after Aung San
Suu Kyi. He spent more than 15 years in detention, and was released in
2004 having served five years more than he had been sentenced to. He had
been tortured and kept in solitary confinement.

The regime in Burma has consistently defied the United Nations, ignoring
over a dozen calls for Aung San Suu Kyi’s release by the Secretary
General, and 29 resolutions by the UN General Assembly and Human Rights
Commission. The regime has also defied repeated calls by the International
Labour Organisation to end forced labour. Demands for UN Security Council
intervention increased following the arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2003.
The campaign was given fresh momentum following publication in September
2005 of a report – A Threat to the Peace - commissioned by former
archbishop Desmond Tutu and former Czech President Vaclav Havel from
global law firm DLA Piper. The report found that Burma does fit the
criteria for UNSC intervention, and called on the UNSC to pass a binding
resolution requiring the restoration of democracy to Burma, and the
release of all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi. The
Security Council held its first discussion on Burma in December 2005. The
first formal discussion on Burma was held on 29th September 2006, after
the USA asked for Burma to be placed on the formal agenda, and 10 of the
15 members voted in favour. Burma’s democracy movement has repeatedly
called for a Security Council resolution.

For more information, contact Mark Farmaner on 07941239640

____________________________________

January 10, Liberal Democrat Party (UK)
Dire situation in Burma must be improved – Michael Moore

Commenting on the US presenting a draft resolution to the UN Security
Council calling on Burma to ease repression, Liberal Democrat Shadow
Foreign Secretary, Michael Moore MP said:

"For too long the Security Council has ignored the plight of the Burmese
people and the actions of the barbaric ruling junta, so this initiative
from the United States is welcome.

"Burma clearly poses a threat to international peace and security and that
means that Russia and China must support the international community’s
efforts and not allow Burma off the hook again.

"The human rights situation in Burma is dire and must be improved. That
means political prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi must be released, but
it also requires an end to the arbitrary use of the death penalty and the
abuse of women and ethnic minorities."