BurmaNet News, February 28, 2007

[Editor]

THE BURMANET NEWS
A listserv covering Burma
www.burmanet.org

............................................................
February 28, 2007 Issue # 3151


INSIDE BURMA
Inter Press News Service: Food prices spark open dissidence
Irrawaddy: Burmese journal highlights NGO pay and benefits inequities

ON THE BORDER
SHAN: Karenni commander: Offensive against Shans in April

BUSINESS / TRADE
Mizzima: Burmese trade delegation tours Indian states

INTERNATIONAL
Irrawaddy: Junta accused of 'state-sanctioned' sexual crimes
DPA: Activists call on Thailand to cancel Salween dam plans with Myanmar
DVB: UN leader lauds ILO pact with Burma
AP via IHT: U.S. angered that U.N. refuses to list panel on "mass rape in
Burma and Sudan"


____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

February 28, Inter Press News Service
Food prices spark open dissidence - Marwaan Macan-Markar

Bangkok: Crippling economic realities in military-ruled Burma may pose a
more formidable threat to the junta than the simmering political front,
say analysts in the wake of a rare public protest in Rangoon over a range
of domestic problems.

The arrests of people involved in peaceful protest against high prices of
food, failing social services and lack of reliable supply have elicited
wider public support since the hardships are being felt across the
country, they said.

Over the past week nine persons were taken into custody for demonstrating
outside a crowded market in downtown Rangoon. All nine were, however,
reported released on Tuesday. The protests involving a group of 25 people
were the first public demonstration in almost a decade against the
military government that has a record of treating dissidents brutally. In
1988, troops opened fire on pro-democracy demonstrators killing several
hundred people. ‘’The food shortages and the price hikes have become
unbearable for many people. This is the work of our military government,’’
a Burmese economist told IPS on condition of anonymity. ‘’Rising inflation
also helps to explain why these people took to the streets.’’

Officially, inflation for the 2006-2007 period was estimated to be around
26 percent, up from the nine percent inflation rate for the 2005-2006
period, he added. ‘’But unofficial estimates indicate that inflation in
Burma has now reached between 50-60 percent.’’

There have been months when people in Rangoon have been forced to make
drastic cuts in food they can buy due to price hikes that are sudden and
steep, says Aung Naing Oo, a Burmese analyst living in exile. ‘’Everything
is going up on a daily or weekly basis, like onions, rice, cooking oil.
There are more families having difficulty making ends meet.’’

‘’The demonstrators have touched a spot that places the military
government in a dilemma,’’ he explained in an interview. ‘’It shows that
the military has not been able to provide anything to the people, despite
saying that things are okay. And releasing any of those detained will only
encourage more protests on the worsening economy.’’

The official reaction, however, has been predictable. The junta’s
mouthpiece, ‘The New Light of Myanmar,’ accused the demonstrators, who had
held placards and distributed a statement to the regime, of trying to
incite the crowd and of violating the existing law. ‘’The demonstration
made the public dislike and disrespect the government.’’

The latest show of defiance follows similar rare displays of opposition
towards the junta since mid-2006 by respected former university students.
These efforts, which have included a signature campaign and a
letter-writing campaign, were largely political in nature. They mark a
break from the silence that has dominated Burma’s political landscape
since 1988 when a pro-democracy uprising on the streets was brutally
crushed by the military. The junta also refused to recognise the outcome
of a 1990 parliamentary election, won convincingly by the opposition
parties.

Last year saw a steady flow of complaints about the scale of economic
mismanagement by the generals, who have continued to rule the country with
an iron grip, crushing dissent, silencing the media and imprisoning
opposition figures. In January 2006 there were fears of increasing job
scarcity, followed by a 100 percent hike in the price of electricity in
May and an order in July by Rangoon’s mayor to control the sale and
distribution of rice, the staple dish in the country, to avoid a scarcity.
The year 2006 had begun with food prices having risen by 14 percent over
the previous year.

Against that was a decision by the State Peace and Development Council
(SPDC), as the ruling junta is officially known, to reward civil servants
and military officers with a salary hike that ranged between 500 percent
and 1,000 percent. The new wages came into effect from April last year.

According to the Alternative ASEAN (Association of South-east Asian
Nations) Network on Burma, a regional human rights lobby group, the scale
of military involvement in the Burmese economy is evident in the
regulations imposed on local farmers. In some agricultural areas,
‘’farmers were expected to provide 50 kg (of rice) per acre to local SPDC
authorities -- and were only paid one-third the market price,’’ it reveals
in a recent report. Across the country, ‘’restrictions were placed on the
transportation of rice to Rangoon, and sellers are required to have a
letter of permission from local authorities.’’

The impact, consequently, has been felt in child malnutrition and poverty
rates. Burma has nearly 22 percent of its over 50 million people living in
poverty, while malnutrition among children under five years is 32 percent,
states the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in its ‘Human
Development Report 2006.’ Burma’s public spending for health is 0.5
percent of gross domestic product (GDP), placing it among the governments
with the worst record for this service, adds the UNDP report.

What is more, the Burmese military regime’s absolute control of all state
institutions and its role as the chief policy maker of the economy have
given it little room to escape the charges of the crisis it has created.
‘’By any standard of a modern state, the economy of Myanmar has already
collapsed,’’ wrote David Steinberg in a 2005 issue of the ‘Burma Economic
Watch (BEW), an on-line journal published by the economics department of
Macquarie University, Australia.

‘’The implications of continued military rule and the extension of
macro-economy and social policies 
 means that the crisis will deepen,’’
he added of the country that has been renamed Myanmar by the ruling junta.
‘’Poverty will intensify in various areas.’’

The recent demonstrations have brought into focus a view that political
exiles from Burma should be gunning for the SPDC on the economic front in
addition to the usual campaigns about human rights violations and
political suppression.

‘’Everything is political in Burma. People cannot eat; people don’t have
food,’’ Soe Aung, foreign affairs spokesman for the National Council for
the Union of Burma, an umbrella body of Burmese political groups in exile,
told IPS. ‘’It has never been as bad before. It shows how the government
has badly mismanaged the country.’’

____________________________________

February 28, Irrawaddy
Burmese journal highlights NGO pay and benefits inequities - Yeni

Foreigners working in Burma for the UN and international NGOs are paid up
to 25 times more than local staff, according to a Rangoon journal article
that has won applause from Burmese readers.

The article, in the Burmese-language journal Ray of Light, was written by
Dr Saw Lwin, who claims to work for several international agencies in
Asia. He wrote that while local UN and NGO staff members are paid between
US $200 and $500, expatriate salaries range from $5,000 to $12,000.

Expatriates receive additional benefits such as housing, travel
allowances, health and other insurance, overseas retreats and the
reimbursement of school fees for their children. Many live in exclusive
areas of Rangoon, such as Golden Valley.

Saw Lwin said UN agencies and international NGOs were in Burma to help
development, but he accused them of behaving like “masters.” Instead of
“acting like masters, these foreign expatriates should take their
responsibilities with accountability, transparency, according to
international norms,” he said.

About 70 foreign and local NGOs and UN agencies are registered in Burma.
Senior local staff members can earn up to $700 per month.

Saw Lwin questioned the proportion of aid funds spent on salaries and
overheads compared with the amount reaching the grassroots, local people
and the needy.

He called for public participation to enable ordinary Burmese to become
actively involved in development projects. “It is the responsibility of
all—grass-root members, civil servants, government authorities, donor
countries and INGOs, and whoever wish for the development of the native
countries.”

Saw Lwin’s article received applause and endorsement from local NGO
members and staff. A senior editor at Ray of Light told The Irrawaddy by
phone, “The issue [raised by Saw Lwin] is exceptional and can hardly be
found anywhere [in Burma]. People like it and many people read it.”

International NGOs begun to flourish in Burma in 1993 when the UN launched
a project called the Human Development Initiative. Since then, a number of
INGOs have established themselves in Burma with sub-contracts from the UN,
while some have signed “memorandums of understanding” with the military
government and its ministries.

Most of the NGOs currently working in Burma are employed under
sub-contracts with the UN Development Programme.  Most of these are
involved in health and social welfare work.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

February 26, Shan Herald Agency for News
Karenni commander: Offensive against Shans in April

According to Maj Gen Bee Htoo, Chief of Staff of the Karenni Army, the
military arm of the Karenni National Progressive Party, the Burma Army
will be launching a dry season offensive against his army and the Shan
State Army (SSA) come April, reported the local Chiangmai News yesterday.

Kantarwaddy Times, based in Maehongson, has confirmed the news adding that
the information was given by Burma Army porters who had escaped to the
border. Other details are not available.

Kalaw-based Light Infantry Division (LID) 55 has been reinforcing its
units along the border west of Maehongson, the newspaper reported.

However, north of Maehongson and its neighboring provinces, Chiangmai and
Chiangrai, no unusual troop movements are being reported, according to
Shan and Thai sources.

So far, there are only a few indicators:

On 15-16 January, pro-military Lahu militia units in Monghsat district,
which covers three townships: Monghsat, Mongpiang and Mongton, opposite
Thailand's Maehongson, Chiangmai and Chiangrai provinces, attended a
meeting, where they were ordered by the Burma Army area commander to
prepare for a major operation against the SSA after their annual New Year
celebrations. The Lahu traditionally observe their New Year, which falls
on 18 February this year, for two weeks.

Another is the construction of a new bridge on the Maesai river, some 10
km north of the Burma Army's Maemaw base near the SSA's Loi Kawwan
stronghold since mid February. "They are also repairing and expanding the
motor road to Maemaw," Lt-Col Gawnzuen, Commander of the Kengtung Military
Region, based in Loi Kawwan. "Reports say heavier weapons will be brought
in."

The SSA has 4 major bases along the Thai-Burma border: Loi Taileng, Loi
Lam, Hsanzu and Loi Kawwan.

The Burma Army meanwhile is still going through a major reshuffle,
substituting its competent commanders with new blood, an undertaking that
might likely occupy it until the end of March, according to junta sources.

2006 was the only year when no major offensive was launched against the
SSA. "The Burma Army however was pretty much preoccupied with its
operations in Karen, Kayah (Karenni) and Sagaing areas," said a Thai
security official.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

February 28, Mizzima News
Burmese trade delegation tours Indian states - Subhachandra M

A 34-member trade delegation from Burma, including officials of its union,
has begun a tour of Indian states. They arrived in Imphal, capital of the
Indian state of Manipur bordering Burma on Wednesday morning.

The Burmese traders and officials are slated to visit Guwahati, the
capital of Assam state and Aizawl capital of Mizoram in India's north east
region. Before their trip to these towns, the team will visit important
historical sites in Manipur.

"We'll be visiting the historic Ima keithel (women's market), two war
cemeteries and the historic Kangla fort," T R Sharma, an official of the
Indo-Myanmar Traders' Union said. The Myanmar trade delegation is led by
three senior officials U Aung Min, Director Livestock Breeding, U Tha Ta
Ra, Deputy General Manager, Myanmar Economic Bank and U Thaung Kyaw, and
Deputy Director Border Trade. On their 10-day visit they are to interact
with people of the region, and witness cultural activities. They will
visit important historical places on February 28.

Following an interactive session with Indian officials, traders and other
social activists in Imphal on March 1, the visiting team will take a
flight to Guwahati to for an idea of trading activities in the region the
following day.

The team is to leave India on March 7 through Champhai in Mizoram. The
Burmese team also includes 16 members of the Saigaing Division Chamber of
Commerce and Industries.

"We're also trying to organize cultural programmes for our visitors," W
Nabachandra, President of the Indian traders union said. "We need to
improve bilateral relationship through our culture as well as other
traditional activities for the overall improvement of business and trade."

The Indo-Burma border trade was signed in 1994 but it was made operational
from April 12, 1995. Since then the volume of trade between Northeast
India and Burma has not been encouraging.

"To arrest the declining trend in trade, I think the Myanmar Government
has taken necessary measures to disseminate information so that our
traders in the region can explore the market," a local trader Surjit said.

The military government in Burma therefore may have sent the delegation
for direct interaction with Northeast India traders in order to cement
bilateral trade ties, he added. It may be worth mentioning here that
Indian traders had three rounds of meetings with their Burmese
counterparts for the proposed visit of the Burmese delegation.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

February 28, Irrawaddy
Junta accused of 'state-sanctioned' sexual crimes - Lalit K Jha

New York: Two ethnic women—one a US citizen and another fighting for the
cause from Mizoram— Tuesday urged the international community to save
Burmese women from “state-sanctioned” sexual crimes.

“The impunity with which rape is used as a weapon is made worse by the
racism and state-sanctioned ideology that allows the military in Burma to
justify any action that is interpreted—by the military—as defending and
unifying the country,” Maureen Aung-Thwin told a UN panel on “Gender
Violence in Burma and Sudan.” The discussion was held on the sidelines of
the 51st Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women conference.

Maureen Aung-Thwin, the director of the Burma Project/Southeast Asia
Initiative at the New York-based Open Society Initiative, told conference
participants: “Rape has been perpetrated by the Burmese army for years,
but only within this past decade have the increasingly empowered ethnic
groups living in relative freedom at the borders of Burma, started
documenting these abuses.”

The session was moderated by Ambassador Patricia Brister, the US
representative to the UN Committee on the Status of Women. US Ambassador
Grover Joseph Rees, who has just returned from a five-nation tour of
Association of Southeast Asian countries and Japan, during which he
discussed the issue of Burma, was also on the panel.

Cheery Zahau of the Women’s League of Chinland had traveled from the
northeast Indian State of Mizoram to the UN to attend the conference. She
said incidents of rape were much higher in ethnic areas and is "a part of
the regime’s strategy to punish the armed resistance groups or suppress
various ethnic peoples.”

Ethnic women and girls are raped with impunity, she said: “Ethnic women
and girls from Shan, Kachin, Chin, Karen, Mon, Karenni and Arakan states
have long suffered from state-sanctioned sexual crimes perpetrated by the
Burmese military.”

She said her organization has documented 38 rape cases in Chin State, but
the number "was merely the tip of an iceberg."

“Burmese ethnic groups demand equality, autonomy and self-determination."
she said. "But these demands are denied by the regime and met with
systematic human rights violations, which include forced relocation,
religious persecution, arbitrary arrest and detention, destruction of
thousands of ethnic villages and driving out hundreds of thousands of
ethnic civilians to neighboring countries.

"We are convinced that only a genuine political change to democracy, the
restoration of the rule of law, establishment of a civilian government and
a withdrawal of Burmese Army troops from ethnic areas will bring an end to
the systematic sexual violence in Burma.”

In their testimony, Cherry Zahau and Maureen Aung-Thwin urged the United
Nations Security Council to pass a binding resolution that would focus
world opinion on the Burmese government's abuses.

“Since Burma has ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child and is
obligated under UNSC Resolution 1325 to take affirmative steps towards
justice for crimes on women in a time of conflict, the de facto military
government of Burma should be held accountable to the international
community,” Maureen Aung-Thwin said.

Cheery Zahau urged two of Burma's allies, Russia and China, to use their
influence to protect women's rights, and she called for the Indian
government to reconsider its growing economic and military ties with
Burma.

A Karen Women’s Organization representative, Naw Zipporah Sein, said
Burmese women "constantly live under fear, and they need the support of
the international community.”

Rees criticized the Meeting Services department of the UN for forcing a
name change of the panel discussion from “State-Sanctioned Mass Rape in
Burma and Sudan” to “Gender Violence in Burma and Sudan.”

A letter from the Meeting Services department explained that it objected
to the title "because it would be perceived as offensive to named member
states," according to The Associated Press. It also objected to the name
Burma.

"Myanmar is the officially designated country name," the letter said. Rees
said the US insists on calling the country Burma, "because that's what
pro-democracy winners of the country's 1990 elections called it."

Rees said it was the understanding of the US that "member states decide
what to call their own panels."

“Rape has to be called by its right name," Rees said. "We would stop
talking about it, if you get these governments to stop raping women in
their countries."

The Sudanese government sent a representative to the conference to
challenge the panel's presentation. Burma did not send a representative.
The conference was sponsored by the US mission to the UN.

____________________________________

February 28, Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Activists call on Thailand to cancel Salween dam plans with Myanmar

Bangkok: Activists call on Thailand to cancel Salween dam plans with
Myanmar Bangkok
Thai and Myanmar villagers, backed by activists around the world, on
Wednesday appealed to the Thai government to end its collaboration with
military-run Myanmar in building five hydro-electic dams on the Salween
River.

"We want the authorities involved to halt the projects until proper
studies have been done on the impact on the people and environment in the
vicinity of the dams," said April Moe, a villager from the Karreni State
in Myanmar, one of a score of activists who presented their appeal to
Thailand's Ministry of Energy on Wednesday.

In May 2005 the Thai Energy Ministry and Myanmar Ministry of Electric
Power signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to build five
hydroelectric dams on the 2,800 kilometre Salween River that runs from
Tibet through eastern Myanmar and at one point defines the
Thai-Myanmar border.

In December 2005 another MOU was signed between the Electricity Generating
Authority of Thailand (EGAT) and Myanmar Department of Hydropower to build
the one billion dollar Hutgyi dam, on which construction is due to
commence in December 2007.

EGAT and China's Sinohydro Corporation will jointly invest in the
construction of the dam.

All the MOUs were signed under the government of Thailand's former prime
minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted by a military coup on
September 19 on charges of corruption.

"The entire decision making process for the planning and implementation of
the Salween hydropower development projects has been shrouded in secrecy,"
said a protest letter delivered to the Thai Energy Ministry on Wednesday
by NGOs and villagers from northern
Thailand.

While the planned dams will undoubtedly displace tens-of-thousands of
Myanmar villagers living in the Karen, Karrenni and Shan territories, they
will also have an unknown impact on Thai villagers living near the Salween
River in Mae Hong Son province.

"I have been living on the banks of the Salween all my life and I still
have no idea what the impact of these dams will be," said Nu
Chamnankiripai, a village headman from Mae Sariang district.

"The authorities told us we could get jobs in the tourism industry after
the dams are built but maybe we will just become refugees," said Nu.

The five Salween dam projects will be built in areas that are now claimed
by Myanmar minority groups, some of whom are waging guerrilla wars against
Myanmar's ruling junta.

Fighting in the area has already displaced more than 500,000 ethnic Karen,
many of whom are now living in refugee camps along the Thai-Myanmar
border.

With the dams likely to displace up to 100,000 people in Myanmar's eastern
provinces, Thailand is likely to be burdened with an influx of even more
refugees in the future, Karrenni villager Moe warned.

Activists in various cities around the world were planning on Wednesday to
submit similar protests letters against the Salween dams to Thai embassies
and consulates in Washington DC, Sydney, New Delhi, Essen, Vancouver,
Paris and New York.

____________________________________

February 28, Democratic Voice of Burma
UN leader lauds ILO pact with Burma

United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-Moon yesterday hailed a new
agreement between the Burmese government and the International Labour
Organization on a mechanism for processing forced labour claims.

The ILO announced on Monday it had reached an agreement with Burma for the
establishment of a complaints mechanism for victims of forced labour.

“The establishment of such a mechanism has been a longstanding request of
the International Labour Conference and the ILO Governing Body,” Ban said
in a statement yesterday.

“. . . the importance of such a step was underlined by
Under-Secretary-General Ibrahim Gambari during his recent visit to [Burma]
in the context of the Secretary-General’s good offices,” the secretary
general said.

The ILO agreement with Burma—the result of more than three years of
intermittent negotiations—allows for citizens to freely submit complaints
to the ILO office in Rangoon without fear of retaliatory legal action.

The ILO office will then be allowed to independently assess forced labour
cases, “in order that such cases can be investigated by the [Burmese]
authorities”, the labour rights group said on Monday.

The ILO’s liaison officer in Rangoon, Richard Horsey, told DVB yesterday
the agreement marked a significant step forward in Burma’s relationship
with the group.

“Well this is obviously a very significant and a very positive step that
we have been able to agree on a mechanism to deal with complaints. This is
something we have been pushing for for some time and we do think it is
very important,” Richard Horsey said.

Burma has for years been criticised by international groups for failing to
adequately tackle forced labour. Prior to news of the agreement, the ILO’s
Governing Body had been preparing to lodge a question on Burma with the
International Court of Justice by March with respect to Burma’s failure to
address the issue.

____________________________________

February 27, The Associated Press via the International Herald Tribune
U.S. angered that U.N. refuses to list panel on "mass rape in Burma and
Sudan"

United Nations: The United States criticized the United Nations for
refusing to list a panel it organized Tuesday entitled "State-Sanctioned
Mass Rape in Burma and Sudan" on a U.N. Web site.

The U.S. Mission to the United Nations arranged to hold the panel on the
sidelines of the annual two-week meeting of the Commission on the Status
of Women which this year is focusing on discrimination and violence
against women. It will include presentations about rape and sexual
violence in both countries.

But the U.N.'s Meeting Services branch objected to the title, which was
published in the U.N.'s daily journal last Thursday, because it "would be
perceived as offensive to named member states," according to a letter to
the U.S. Mission obtained by the Associated Press.

The letter from Sylvie Cohen, deputy director of the Division for the
Advancement of Women which helped organize the commission meeting, said
Meeting Service noted that "it is not customary to name member states
without their endorsement in the titles of United Nations parallel
events."

"In addition, the name of one member state concerned is not mentioned in
accordance with its official country name (Myanmar is the officially
designated country name)," Cohen wrote.

U.S. Ambassador Grover Joseph Rees, the State Department's special
representative for social issues who heads the U.S. delegation to the
commission's meeting, said the United States had protested to various U.N.
officials.

"I think what this comes down to is there is only one building where you
can't say the words rape, Burma and Sudan in the same sentence — and
apparently you can't say Burma at all," he said in an interview.

Rees said the United States insists on calling the country Burma — not
Myanmar — because that's what the pro-democracy winners of the country's
1990 elections called it.

Myanmar's junta took power in 1988 after crushing the democracy movement
led by Aung San Suu Kyi. In 1990, it refused to hand over power when Suu
Kyi's party won a landslide election victory.

Rees said it was U.S. understanding "that the member states decide what to
call their own panels."

"Obviously, we knew that the governments in question would not be happy
about the title of the panel, and we were not seeking gratuitously to
offend them, but we just thought rape was something that should be called
by its right name," he said.

Rees said the U.S. held talks with a number of U.N. officials and thought
the matter was settled, but found out that the panel was not on the Web
site listing events sponsored by U.N. missions on the sidelines of the
commission meeting.

U.N. associate spokeswoman Marie Okabe said the panel was inadvertently
listed in the U.N. journal and then withdrawn "because side events are
usually not listed by event — there is a link to them on the journal
website."

As for the web site of conference events, she said, that was run by the
commission.

"The important thing is the event is still going on and there's been no
blockage of the event," Okabe said.