BurmaNet News, January 24, 2007

[Editor]

January 24, 2007 Issue # 3127

INSIDE BURMA
Asia Times: Myanmar's 88 Generation comes of age
Irrawaddy: Fuel, Fertilizer Costs Push Up Rice Prices
Irrawaddy: Activist and Politician U Bawk La Dead at 60
Xinhua: Four injured in mine explosions in Myanmar
Kaladan News: CSW launched a major report: “Carrying the Cross”

REGIONAL
Japan Economic: Myanmar's top leader meets senior Chinese official

INTERNATIONAL
AP: EU says Myanmar slowing down ASEAN, welcomes bloc's efforts to impose
sanctions
AFP: Failed UN resolution has hardened Myanmar, says Malaysia
AP: Bush urges democratic progress in Cuba, Myanmar, the Middle East and
Belarus
Mizzima: Need for united front on Burma: Former Norwegian PM

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

January 24, Asia Times
Myanmar's 88 Generation comes of age - Bertil Lintner

Myanmar's military government may have narrowly escaped United Nations
Security Council sanction, but it is facing an unprecedented political
challenge at home, not by the crippled opposition National League for
Democracy (NLD) but by an emerging network of dissidents who refer to
themselves as the 88 Generation Students' Group.

Unlike the NLD, the 88 Generation is not a political party, but rather a
movement comprising a generation of students who were active during the
1988 pro-democracy uprising. The military crushed that movement and later
sentenced many of the demonstrators to prison for various anti-state
crimes. Nearly two decades later, many of those activists are now coming
of age and in recent months they have launched a series of
civil-disobedience campaigns that have openly challenged the ruling junta.

The pro-democracy veterans started to meet and discuss politics in Yangon
teashops about two years ago. Many of them had spent long years in prison
and were "plucked from their families, from their studies", according to
one foreign observer who recently met with the network's members. "At last
free, they still live in a kind of captivity, locked out from the
universities and colleges which once offered them the promise of
relatively rewarding academic careers," he said.

Last August, the 88 Generation informal network was established. Not
surprisingly, the group's most prominent leaders were arrested the
following month, but in October other members launched a nationwide
petition calling for the release of the estimated 1,100 political
prisoners - including the detained leaders of the group - and a start to a
genuine national-reconciliation process. Dressed symbolically in white,
the group's members traveled around the country and by October 23 had
collected 535,580 signatures, which were subsequently sent to the ruling
State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), as well as various UN
organizations.

In November, the 88 Generation initiated a mass multi-religious prayer
campaign. Participants were urged to wear white clothing and hold
candlelight vigils in Buddhist, Christian, Hindu and Muslim places of
worship. Tens of thousands heeded the network's call and offered prayers
for a peaceful resolution to Myanmar's political impasse, freedom for all
political prisoners, and help for victims of floods that at the time had
devastated many areas of the country.

On January 4, Myanmar's Independence Day, the 88 Generation network
launched yet another audacious campaign dubbed "Open Heart", entailing a
letter-writing campaign encouraging Myanmar citizens across the country to
write about their everyday complaints and grievances with military rule.
The organizers have said that by February 4, the campaign's scheduled last
day, they expect more then 25,000 letters to be sent to SPDC chairman
Senior General Than Shwe.

The SPDC has no doubt been taken aback by these massive, but entirely
peaceful, expressions of dissent. The junta has released the five 88
Generation leaders who were arrested in September, an unprecedented
response to political dissidence from the historically heavy-handed junta.

Some political analysts read the move as a concession to the movement, but
more likely the junta's decision was influenced by an upcoming Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting, where the junta was keen not
to further alienate the grouping's member states with the UN resolution
already on the table. Certain ASEAN member states have expressed their
concerns about the ruling junta's lack of progress toward a democratic
solution to its political crisis, and have privately lamented the frequent
international embarrassment Myanmar has caused the grouping since its
admission in 1997.

Yet the reason for the reclusive junta's so-far-tepid response to the 88
Generation's activities is still difficult to gauge. One prevailing theory
is that the generals sense the new group's moral authority among the
public as former longtime political prisoners and fear a popular backlash
if they move too aggressively against its senior members. Another
interpretation is that the generals are concentrated on building
facilities around their new capital at Naypyidaw and as a result have
neglected security measures for the old capital, Yangon.

Recent travelers to Yangon suggest that control mechanisms for the old
capital appear less effective since the move to Naypyidaw in November
2005. Whatever the case, the dramatic rise of the 88 Generation is bound
to complicate the junta's plans to move toward so-called "military
democracy", as there is now a credible, albeit amorphous, civilian
alternative to the generals' rule.

Moral alternative
The most prominent 88 Generation member is Paw Oo Tun, alias Min Ko Naing,
a nom de guerre that translates from the Burmese into "Conqueror of
Kings". In August 1988, he was a 26-year-old zoology student who was
eloquently addressing tens of thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators on
the streets of Yangon, or Rangoon as it was then known (the junta
officially renamed the capital and the country in 1989). After the
military cracked down bloodily on the demonstrations and rounded
upprominent speakers at the rallies, Min Ko Naing went underground on
September 18, 1988.

In March 1989, he was tracked down and arrested by military intelligence
and spent nearly 16 years in solitary confinement. When Min Ko Naing was
released in November 2004, the once-youthful demonstrator was middle-aged
and the years in abysmal prison conditions had left harsh marks on the
42-year-old's body and face. Nonetheless, the long years in detention have
clearly failed to extinguish the pro-democracy activist's fighting spirit.

"The people of Myanmar must have the courage to say no to injustice and
yes to the truth," he said at the first 88 Generation meeting last August.
"They must also work to correct their own wrongdoing that hurt society."

Min Ko Naing was among those arrested in September and then released this
month. So, too, was Ko Ko Gyi, another former student leader who in March
2005 was the first of the 88 Generation to be set free after nearly 14
years in detention. A third member of the 88 Generation who was released
this month after serving a long prison term was Min Zeya, a law student
who was a prominent figure in the 1988 pro-democracy movement. Two other
prominent network members are Pyone Cho and Htay Kywe, who were among the
five who were rounded up last September. Together, they represent the core
of the network's leadership.

With estimated thousands of followers, the 88 Generation is an entirely
new phenomenon in Myanmar, and one that clearly has the junta unnerved.
Many other Asian countries have certain "generations" that fought against
military rule and sacrificed themselves for democracy. In South Korea, for
instance, the term "386 Generation" was coined in the 1990s to describe
students born in the 1960s who fought for democracy throughout the 1980s.
Now in their 40s, many of them are university lecturers, lawyers,
newspaper columnists, and even government ministers. In short, they are
the country's new political elite, widely admired by the general public
for their past sacrifices in pushing the country toward more democracy.

In Thailand, too, people often refer to the "1970s Generation" of
pro-democracy activists who took to the streets in October 1973 and forced
the military government then led by Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn into
exile. Three years later, Thanom and some of his associates returned to
Thailand - which caused a new wave of student-led protests. These,
however, were crushed by the military, and thousands of students, teachers
and labor activists took to the jungle, where they joined the
Chinese-backed insurgent Communist Party of Thailand (CPT).

Few of them were actually communists, and before long they had fallen out
with the CPT's diehard doctrinaire leadership. After a general amnesty in
1980, almost all of them returned to Bangkok and provincial cities, where
they too went on to become prominent politicians and literary figures.
Nowadays, to have been with the CPT in the 1970s bears no stigma and many
from the generation are widely respected because of the hardships they
endured in their struggle for democracy.

Now Myanmar's 88 Generation has come of age, and its recent rise
significantly comes at a time when the erstwhile pro-democracy NLD
political party has accomplished little more than its mere survival. Back
in 1988, the NLD was a mass movement, and it won a landslide victory in
the May 1990 election, a result the military soon annulled. After years of
military harassment of its members, the NLD is now only a shadow of its
late-1980s and early-1990s self.

Most if its young members have been arrested, forced into exile or cowed
into submission, and all its top leaders - including Nobel Peace Prize
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and former party chairman Tin Oo - are
incarcerated, either under house arrest or in prison. Only a handful of
mostly elderly spokespeople remain, and none of them has the strength and
charisma to carry the party forward. That serves the interests of the
,junta since the NLD increasingly appears to the outside world a less
viable alternative to the present military order.

The 88 Generation, on the other hand, has suddenly become a force to be
reckoned with, although at the moment it has no proper leadership or
organizational structure. And with the junta's still-strict restrictions
on freedom of association and assembly, it probably won't morph into a
full-blown political movement any time soon. But therein, perhaps, lies
the nascent movement's strength: the junta has shown it is easy to squash
a political party, but it will be considerably more difficult to crush an
entire generation.

Bertil Lintner is a former correspondent with the Far Eastern Economic
Review and the author of several books on Myanmar's politics, including
Outrage: Burma's Struggle for Democracy. He is currently a writer with
Asia-Pacific Media Services.

____________________________________

January 24, Irrawaddy
Fuel, Fertilizer Costs Push Up Rice Prices - Shah Paung

Increases in fuel and fertilizer costs are forcing up the price of rice
and paddy in Burma, creating further hardship for families on low incomes,
according to business sources, farmers and merchants.

One business analyst in Rangoon said the price of gasoline in the city had
increased to 3,800 kyat (US $2.9) a gallon since last August, and diesel
fuel now cost 4,500 kyat ($3.5) a gallon. Fertilizer now cost
25,000-30,000 kyat ($19.6-$23.6) for a small pack.

The increases had contributed since last December to rises in the price of
high-quality paddy (unmilled rice) to 580,000 kyat ($456.6) for one
hundred baskets (approximately 20 kg per basket) and of low-quality paddy
to 430,000 kyat ($338.5). In Irrawaddy Division, high-quality paddy costs
up to 700,000 kyat ($551).

Before December, high-quality paddy cost 400,000 kyat ($314.9) and
low-quality fetched 370,000 kyat ($291.3). A trader in Pyinmana, Mandalay
Division, reported that high-quality paddy there now cost more than
600,000 kyat ($472.4).

Farmers and merchants reported that low-quality rice had risen in price to
800 kyat (60 cents) for one pyi (2kg), while the price of high-quality
rice had increased to 1,800 kyat ($1.4) per pyi.

“The price is going up day by day, and we can’t predict what it will cost
tomorrow,” said a farmer in Pegu Division, where people earn as little as
2,000 kyat ($1.5) a day.

In Tharyawaddy Township, Pegu Division, and Kengtung Township, in eastern
Shan State, farmers are being forced to sell their paddy to the military
at below-market prices and to grow rice instead of beans.

____________________________________

January 24, Irrawaddy
Activist and Politician U Bawk La Dead at 60 - John Lydon

Activist and Kachin politician U Maran Bawk La died on the morning of
January 23 in Myitkyina, Kachin State. He was sixty.

Bawk La received his bachelor’s degree from Rangoon University in 1973 and
subsequently practiced law and completing a master’s degree in 1979. He
was a member of the Myitkyina Bar Association until his license was
revoked in 1988.

The popular jurist was a steadfast political activist throughout his life.
In 1963 he joined the Kachin Independence Organization. Two years later,
he was arrested for his underground activities and imprisoned for more
than a year. He was arrested again in 1971 and served just under a year
for his participation in the underground student union at Mandalay
University.

In 1988 Bawk La was elected as the vice-chairman and Kachin State delegate
to the General Strikes Committee in Rangoon. He also organized strikes in
Kachin State and became the first member of the National League for
Democracy from Kachin State.

On October 18, 1988, Bawk La was again imprisoned, this time in Myingyan
Jail, under Burma’s Emergency Act, section 5(j). He served three years.
Upon his release, the government pressured him to resign from the NLD and
revoked his license to practice law. He was later arrested in June 2003
and served six months on the charge of being an accomplice of Aung San Suu
Kyi, whose convoy in Depayin had less than a month previous been savagely
attacked by a pro-government mob.

Bawk La remained steadfast in his determination to stand against the
tyranny of Burma’s military government and remained an active member of
the NLD despite considerable pressure from Burmese authorities. Often
encouraged by friends to seek asylum abroad, Bawk La remained in Burma out
of a sense of commitment to the Kachin youth whom he felt obligated to
serve.

An active member of numerous Kachin cultural organizations, such as the
Kachin Manau Committee in Myitkyina, Bawk La was a deeply patriotic Kachin
who believed the only way forward for his people was through their
inclusion in a democratic federal Union of Burma.

Apart from his roles as an activist and lawyer, Bawk La was an avid reader
and author. He wrote extensively, beginning in 1969, for Win Tin’s
Mandalay-based Hanthawaddy newspaper and published four books, including
works of political biography, short fiction and Kachin cultural studies.
He also authored the Kachin Independence Army’s Military Act and Rules, a
Burmese-Kachin-English dictionary, a translation into Burmese of The Moral
Foundations of Politics by Dr Ian Shapiro of Yale University and a
translation into Kachin of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Just prior to his death, Bawk La was awarded a one-year
fellowship-in-residence at Yale University. Unfortunately, he passed away
before he was able to realize his dream of traveling and studying in the
US.

Bawk La is survived by his wife, two daughters and a grandson.

John Lydon has lived and traveled extensively in Burma.

____________________________________

January 24, Xinhua General News Service
Four injured in mine explosions in Myanmar

Four people have been injured in mine explosions in the last consecutive
days in the country's Bago division, the official English-language
newspaper New Light of Myanmar reported Wednesday.

These mine explosions with one each day since last weekend, planted by
unidentified terrorists in the division's Kyaukkyi township, injured the
four people with two of them losing their right ankles, the report said.

Local people are condemning the destructive acts of terrorists, the report
added.

According to earlier official reports, an insurgent-planted mine in the
same township on Jan. 12 killed a man and a letter bomb blast inside a
post office in Yangon's Bahan township on Jan. 15 injured a postman.

The authorities warned the people against destructive acts, calling on
them to cooperatively ward off the danger of such acts.
____________________________________

January 24,Kaladan News
CSW launched a major report: “Carrying the Cross”

On January 23, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) has launched a major
report, called Carrying the Cross: the military regime’s campaign of
restriction, persecution against Christians in Burma, according to the
report of CSW.

It is the first of its kind, the most comprehensive study of the regime's
treatment of Christians across denominations and ethnicities, and most
importantly, it will complement the reports that already exist on the
persecution of Muslims, the report further added.

On the same day, a group of Members of the British Parliament has tabled
an Early Day Motion to highlight the regime's violations of religious
freedom, and mentioned the persecution of Christians and Muslims, and the
imprisonment of Buddhist monks.

At the same time, a delegation of Chin and Kachin activists visiting
London, who spoke at the launch of the report. The report has been
launched at a meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Burma,
chaired by John Bercow MP, at about 7:00 pm in the Jubilee Room in
Parliament, London.

This is an outstanding report, which provides the most comprehensive
analysis of the State Peace and Development Council’s (SPDC’s) policies,
bigotry and hostility towards non-Buddhist peoples, particularly towards
Christians in Burma, the statement of ARNO said on 24th January 2007.

 It gives a strong and clear picture how Burma’s Christian population
faces the military regime’s explicit campaign of restriction,
discrimination and persecution.

The report of CSW also speaks out about the persecution of Muslims in
Burma and expresses its concern that the Muslim Rohingya people are
particularly singled out for their religion and face denial of citizenship
rights, restriction on movement, forced labor, torture and rape. In fact,
the report is an evidence of religious discrimination of non-Buddhist
peoples and crimes against humanity of persecution against Christians and
Muslims as well as non-Burman nationality groups in Burma, the statement 
of ARNO           ( Arakan Rohingya National Organization) added.

The statement more added that Burma for the present ruling military junta
is a Burman nation and their one supreme goal is to bring to life the
all-round glory and greatness of their military pride. Therefore, the
report rightly states, “those who do not conform with to the regime’s
version of Burman Buddhist nationalism – which the report argues, is a
‘perverted and distorted form of Buddhism’- face ‘potentially serious
consequences.’ It uses Buddhism as a political tool to oppress
non-Buddhists.”

In the press release of ARNO, more stated that they are very much thankful
to the author of the report, CSW’s Advocacy Officer for South Asia
Benedict Rogers, for this rare contribution. The reports unveil the true
character of the ruling Burmese military regime which it claims is “shaped
by a fascist mentality with echoes of Hitler and Nazis”, found in the
junta’s hostility towards ethnic and religious minorities.

The press release of ARNO further stated that “in solidarity with CSW”,
the ARNO calls on the SPDC to stop all violations of religious freedom and
urges the UN Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Religion and Belief to
investigate the violations of religious freedom reported in Burma.

The statement of ARNO also calls on the UN Security Council to pass a
binding resolution requiring the SPDC to release all prisoners of
conscience, permit unhindered excess to all parts of the country for
international humanitarian organizations, and engage in meaningful
tripartite dialogue with the pro-democracy and ethnic nationality groups,
including Rohingya.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

January 24, Japan Economic Newswire
Myanmar's top leader meets senior Chinese official

The chairman of Myanmar's ruling junta, Sr. Gen. Than Shwe, met Tuesday
with China's vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National
People's Congress at Myanmar's new administrative capital Naypyitaw,
state-run newspapers reported Wednesday.

On Monday, Li Tieying had discussions with his Myanmar counterpart Lt.
Gen. Thein Sein on bilateral issues, including economic cooperation, at
Naypyitaw, according to the New Light of Myanmar.

But the paper did not disclose any details of the meetings.

Li arrived in Myanmar on Monday for a four-day official visit.

The visit is the final leg of the NPC delegation's three-country tour,
according to the Chinese Embassy in Yangon.

The delegation has already visited Nepal and Cambodia.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

January 23, Associated Press via International Herald Tribune
EU says Myanmar slowing down ASEAN, welcomes bloc's efforts to impose
sanctions

European Union officials criticized Myanmar's slow progress toward
democracy and welcomed on Tuesday efforts by Southeast Asia's main bloc to
create rules that would allow sanctions against errant members.

The officials also deplored a spate of unsolved killings of activists and
journalists in the Philippines.

"As far as Burma, or Myanmar, is concerned, we all see clearly that it's
not very helpful what the government there is doing as far as ASEAN is
concerned," said Ambassador Axel Raimund Weishaupt of Germany, which
currently holds the EU presidency.

Myanmar has been internationally criticized because of its failure to
democratize and release political prisoners.

Weishsaupt said the attitude of Myanmar's junta was slowing down the
process of integrating the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian
Nations.

He described Yangon's recent release of some political prisoners as "a
small gesture," and urged Myanmar's fellow members in ASEAN to be firmer
with the junta.

"I can only hope that internally the discussions go on and the attitude of
all the other nine states (in ASEAN) will be firmer," he told a news
conference.

Ambassador Alistair MacDonald, the head of the European Commission
delegation in the Philippines, welcomed a decision by ASEAN leaders at a
summit in the Philippines earlier this month to start the process of
drafting the bloc's charter that would adhere to the principles of
democracy and human rights.

Government-appointed advisers have said that members that breach ASEAN's
principles should have their rights and privileges suspended — or even be
expelled in extreme cases.

"For ASEAN to follow on that path would give ASEAN a stronger capability
in addressing the issues of democracy, governance and integration,"
MacDonald said.

Weishaupt expressed hope ASEAN could establish in the future a body
similar to the EU's Court of Human Rights, where citizens can seek
redress.

Weishaupt also called for an end to a string of killings of left-wing
activists and journalists in the Philippines, the current chairman of
ASEAN. He said EU officials have relayed their concern to Philippine
officials.

"All EU member states ... and the European Union itself deplores what we
read in the newspapers," he said. "We really hope that measures are taken
to bring it to an end."

Military and police officials have denied activists' allegations the
killings were done by security forces, challenging accusers to produce
evidence and file charges in court.

Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been in prison or under house
arrest for 11 of the last 17 years. Myanmar's military junta regularly
calls her a threat to national unity and says she and her party are trying
to undermine the government by collaborating with foreign powers.

____________________________________

January 24, Agence France Presse
Failed UN resolution has hardened Myanmar, says Malaysia

Malaysia slammed a failed UN Security Council resolution against Myanmar
Wednesday, saying it had hardened the resolve of authorities in the
military-ruled state.

Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said Myanmar had been open to letting
detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi meet with a United Nations
envoy, but the US-led draft resolution had "closed that window of
opportunity."

"We are back to square one," Syed Hamid told reporters after meeting with
Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller.

"Myanmar has to be brought on track again to discuss. Now they do not even
discuss on the release of Aung San Suu Kyi," he said.

The international community "has forced them into a situation and we are
not succeeding," he said.

The United States earlier this month introduced a draft resolution at the
Security Council urging Myanmar's rulers to initiate democratic reforms.

But China and Russia used a rare double veto to sink the resolution, which
would have called on the junta to free the estimated 1,000 political
prisoners in the impoverished country.
Myanmar claimed victory after the veto, and Syed Hamid said the show of
support from China and Russia could embolden the repressive junta.

"It just simply means to Myanmar that they are very strong. I believe
Myanmar will be hardened towards external influences," he said.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) earlier this month
bridled at Washington's manoeuvres and said the regional bloc should take
primary responsibility for handling fellow member Myanmar.

"We thought that it is not right for the resolution to be brought to the
Security Council," said Syed Hamid.

"The United Nations Security Council is not an appropriate venue ...
Myanmar is not a security threat to international peace," he said.

____________________________________

January 24, Associated Press
Bush urges democratic progress in Cuba, Myanmar, the Middle East and
Belarus – Foster Klug

President George W. Bush used his State of the Union address to signal the
United States' continued support for "the cause of freedom" in Cuba,
Myanmar and Belarus, countries the administration has labeled "outposts of
tyranny."

Most of Tuesday's speech was devoted to the war in Iraq and domestic
issues, and Bush made no major foreign policy announcements. He did speak
of several familiar international themes, including the need to confront
the nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea, to stop the violence in
Sudan's Darfur region and to encourage Middle East peace and democracy.

"We will continue to speak out for the cause of freedom in places like
Cuba, Belarus and Burma (Myanmar) and continue to awaken the conscience of
the world to save the people of Darfur," Bush said in the speech delivered
to the full Congress, one of the most watched political events of the
year.

The State of the Union provided a chance for Bush to lay out his plans for
the future and to push for democracy in authoritarian countries. Those
democracy efforts have been largely overshadowed by fierce debate over
U.S. involvement in the war in Iraq.

The speech came as Bush faced his lowest approval ratings in polls and the
first Democratic-controlled Congress in 12 years. Democrats wrested
control from Bush's Republican Party in elections last November.

The United States often condemns Belarusian President Alexander
Lukashenko, who has been accused of quashing dissent, harassing opponents
and maintaining power through illegitimate elections. Myanmar's ruling
junta and Cuban leader Fidel Castro are regularly criticized for human
rights abuses and for imprisoning political opponents.

In his speech, Bush took note of the war in Afghanistan, where "NATO has
taken the lead in turning back the Taliban and al-Qaida offensive, the
first time the alliance has deployed forces outside the North Atlantic
area."

He also mentioned joint efforts by China, Japan, Russia, the United States
and South Korea to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons.
"We are pursuing intensive diplomacy to achieve a Korean peninsula free of
nuclear weapons," Bush said.

The United States has taken up the fight against AIDS and malaria in
Africa, he said.

"American foreign policy is more than a matter of war and diplomacy. Our
work in the world is also based on a timeless truth: To whom much is
given, much is required," Bush told lawmakers.
Bush also spoke of the need to encourage democracy in the Middle East and
"remove the conditions that inspire blind hatred, and drove 19 men to get
onto airplanes and come to kill us" a reference to the Sept. 11, 2001,
terrorist attacks on the United States.

"What every terrorist fears most is human freedom societies where men and
women make their own choices, answer to their own conscience and live by
their hopes instead of their resentments," Bush said. "The great question
of our day is whether America will help men and women in the Middle East
to build free societies and share in the rights of all humanity. And I
say, for the sake of our own security, we must."

Two years ago, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice named six countries as
"outposts of tyranny": Cuba, Myanmar, Belarus, North Korea, Iran and
Zimbabwe. Bush called Iran, North Korea and Iraq an "axis of evil" in his
2002 State of the Union address.

____________________________________

January 24, Mizzima News
Need for united front on Burma: Former Norwegian PM – Mungpi

Former Prime Minister of Norway, Mr Kjell Magne Bondevik said today that
the international community should form a united front on Burma and
explore new ways to speed up democratization in the Southeast Asian
nation.

The former Norwegian Premier, in an exclusive interview with Mizzima, said
the United Nations should not be upset with its failure to have the draft
resolution passed at the Security Council and should not "give-up" on
Burma but try to come up with plans on how the international community
could act.

On January 12, South Africa along with the two veto-wielding countries,
Russia and China vetoed the United States sponsored Burma draft resolution
at the Security Council.

"The split in international communities on Burma makes it easier for the
junta to play," the Norwegian Prime Minister who held office twice, said.

While acknowledging the importance of the role of neighbouring countries
in political reforms in Burma, Bondevik said India being a democratic
country, in particular, should re-consider its policy towards Burma.

Meanwhile, Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who recently visited
Nay Pyi Taw, Burma 's new jungle capital, agreed to supply Burma with
military hardware in exchange for the Burmese Army's cooperation on a
joint operation against Indian insurgents along the Indo-Burmese border.

"I am really concerned about that [India supplying arms to Burma], because
that would really strengthen the junta," said Bondevik.

Bondevik, who is visiting New Delhi on a separate mission, is also
scheduled to meet the Indian Minister of State for External Affairs Mr
Anand Sharma. The former Norwegian premier said during the meeting, he
would also highlight India's policy towards Burma .