BurmaNet News, April 7-9, 2007

[Editor]

April 7-9, 2007 Issue # 3179

INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Two men on trial for possession wedding VCD
Indo-Asian News Service: Villagers forced to clear land mines: Myanmar
trade union
DVB: Woman kicked by drunk Mandalay policeman

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: Splinter rebels overrun KNU battalion headquarters
AP: Myanmar military offensive drives 250 ethnic minority Karen to flee
into Thailand

BUSINESS / TRADE
Times of India: Myanmar ditches India for China in gas deal

HEALTH / AIDS
Global Insight: New private healthcare law in Myanmar

REGIONAL
Mizzima: Burma-North Korea set to normalize relations
Irrawaddy: Chinese firms to build Burmese hydropower plant

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: Myanmar meets with UN humanitarian official

OPINION / OTHER
Reuters: Myanmar learns to live with the lights out - Aung Hla Tun

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

April 09, Irrawaddy
Two men on trial for possession wedding VCD

A court trial continued in Nyaungdon Township, Irrawaddy Division, on
Monday involving two men charged with possessing a video of a private
wedding of the daughter of Burma’s paramount leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe.

In late March, officials from Military Affairs Security  searched the
residence of Than Tun in Nyaungdon and arrested him after finding an
unauthorized VCD.

A second man,Tin Htay of Nyaungdon was arrested later in connection with
the case.

Video footage of the wedding of Than Shwe’s youngest daughter Thandar Shwe
and Maj Zaw Phyo Win was leaked to the press last year. The wedding was
held in Rangoon. An elaborate reception took place in the new capital
Naypyidaw and attendees included top junta leaders and business tycoons.

In the video clip and photographs, Thandar Shwe and her mother Kyaing
Kyaing outshined their guests with heavy strings of precious gems and the
opulence of the ceremony and festivities in Rangoon and Naypyidaw sparked
outrage within Burma and outside the country.

Following worldwide media reports on the video, the authorities have
reportedly cracked down on unauthorized circulation of the VCD, which is
now locally known as “Diamonds-full Night.”

The trial started Thursday. Four persons have testified, including local
police chief Kyaw Mya Than, according to the defendant’s lawyer, Khin
Maung Shein.

Than Tun testified on Monday.

____________________________________

April 7, Indo-Asian News Service
Villagers forced to clear land mines: Myanmar trade union

Despite signing a pact that pledges not to use forced labour, Myanmar's
military junta is continuing to compel villagers to clear land mines, a
Myanmar trade union said.

The Federation of Trade Unions Kawthoolei, an exiled Myanmarese labour
group operating from Thailand, said people of five villages in Toungoo
district were forced to clear a strip of road from Kler La to Baw Ga Li in
February.

Troops from the Kler La military base ordered the villagers of Kaw Thay
Der, Klay Soe Kee, Ler Ko, Kler la and Kaw Soe Koh to undertake the
hazardous job, the union said in the report released this week.

Though the villagers were afraid of land mines, they had to execute the
order, it said.

The villagers were to go ahead of trucks carrying army rations to clear
the road. While villagers were clearing land mines between Tha Pan and the
Htee Lone river, a bomb exploded killing two villagers.

In 2006 alone, four people were killed by land mines while 13 were injured.

In 2006, the report said 136 people had been shot to death in Toungoo, 16
in Nyaung-lay-bin, 11 in Papun and three in Doo-pla-ya.

Hundreds were arrested and security forces torched farms, orchards and
houses.

The report comes after a trade union meet on Myanmar held in Kathmandu
this week condemned the repression of trade union activities in Myanmar.

"Labour activists, family members, friends and associates are commonly
arrested, tortured and sentenced to heavy prison terms," the Burma
Conference declaration said.

Trade unions are collecting reports of forced labour practised by the
junta to table them before the International Labour Organisation, which in
turn will raise the issue of the violation of the Forced Labour Convention
at the International Court of Justice.

Myanmar has been under the control of the military since 1988, when an
army general, Gen Saw seized control of the government.

Though in 1990 the junta allowed the first multi-party election in three
decades, it has refused to hand over power to the National League for
Democracy (NLD), the opposition coalition that won a landslide victory.

NLD leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest
while 34 of her MPs are in exile and 13 in prison.

Two were assassinated outside Myanmar and over 100 MPs living in Myanmar
were forced to resign.

Published by HT Syndication with permission from Indo-Asian News Service.

____________________________________

April 09, Democratic Voice of Burma
Woman kicked by drunk Mandalay policeman

A woman from Chan Aye Tharzan township in Mandalay Division was kicked by
a drunk policeman on April 1, according to the police and local residents.

Private Naing Linn Htun from the Pathein Hyi police battalion was
reportedly on security duty when he became drunk and started verbally and
sexually harassing a woman who ran a nearby drinks stand. He then started
kicking the woman’s mother, according to witnesses.

A large crowd gathered and several people demanded that Naing Linn Htun
stop kicking the woman. He then pointed his M-16 in the air and fired two
bullets in an apparent attempt to scare the crowd away.

An officer on duty at the Chan Aye Tharzan police station told DVB that
the case was being investigated and that Naing Linn Htun would be charged
if he was found to have broken the law.

“We can’t tell yet what charges he will face. Maybe harassment charges. If
he did beat someone or used profanities then he will be charged with these
offenses,” the officer said on condition of anonymity.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

April 8, Associated Press
Myanmar military offensive drives 250 ethnic minority Karen to flee into
Thailand

An offensive by Myanmar pro-junta forces against ethnic minority Karen
separatist rebels drove about 250 Karen civilians to flee into neighboring
Thailand, officials said Sunday.

The pro-junta Democratic Karen Buddhist Army or DKBA launched attacks
against the Karen National Union rebels on Saturday, said Police Lt. Col.
Thawal Patanachareon, field commander of Thailand's border patrol police.

Thawal said the DKBA fired several mortar shells into mobile Karen
National Union camps.

"More than 50 mortar shells hit three KNU camps, where about 80 KNU
fighters were based," Thawal said.

He said Thai authorities did not immediately know if there were casualties.

The offensive prompted at least 250 Karen civilians, mostly women and
children, to flee into Thailand early Sunday via the Moie river to seek
refuge in Mae Ramat district, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) northwest
of Bangkok, he said.

Public affairs officials for the junta ruling Myanmar, also called Burma,
could not immediately be reached for comment.

Mae Ramat's district chief, Pantip Chantindong, said the refugees would
likely return home when the latest fighting ends.

The DKBA has sided with Myanmar military since defecting from the Karen
National Union in 1995.

The Karen National Union, which has been fighting for half a century for
greater autonomy from Myanmar's central government, is the largest group
representing Myanmar's Karen ethnic minority.

Cease-fire talks between the government and Karen National Union broke
down in 2004, and the army launched a major offensive in eastern Myanmar's
Karen State in 2005. It has since repeatedly tried to bring Karen National
Union members to the bargaining table in an effort to split the group.

____________________________________

April 09, Irrawaddy
Splinter rebels overrun KNU battalion headquarters - Shah Paung

KNU Battalion 101 abandoned its headquarters Monday after three days of
skirmishes with splinter rebel groups, which forced hundreds of villagers
from Karen State in Burma to flee to Thailand, border sources said on
Monday.

Fighting between rival armies took place Saturday, Sunday and Monday
between Karen National Union troops and the junta-backed Democratic Karen
Buddhist Army, which is allied with other splinter groups. The infighting
drove hundreds villagers to Thailand, observers said.

The headquarter base was located opposite Mae Ramat District of Tak
Province, Thailand. More than 200 Burmese villagers have arrived in Mae
Ramat and an estimated 300 other villagers have left their homes,
according to the KNU General-Secretary Mahn Sha.

Reuters reported that recent clashes killed at least 17 people and wounded
19 others, citing Thai military sources. Confirmation of causalities from
both sides was not available on Monday. However, KNU battalion 101
soldiers on the front line told The Irrawaddy on Monday that their unit
killed one soldier and four others were injured.

Border-based relief groups, including the Karen Refugee Committee and the
Thailand-Burma Border Consortium, are providing assistance to newly
arrived refugees.

Since Saturday, Karen ceasefire groups, including the KDBA and other Karen
ceasefire groups, have engaged the KNU's 7th Brigade's Battalion 101 and
Battalion 24.

A Burmese trader who arrived in Myawaddy from Kawkareik on Sunday said,
“All of the trucks, passenger buses and cars have to stop along the road.
Many army trucks are carrying wounded or dead soldiers.”

According to a DKBA source, in the KNU 6th Brigade area opposite Umphang
District in Tak Province, fighting has not occurred, but villagers are
moving toward the border because the DKBA has sent more troops into the
6th Brigade area. The DKBA broke away from the KNU in January, 1995.

The Free Burma Rangers, a relief group, reported on Saturday that in early
April the Burmese Army lunched an attack on a Karen village in Kyauk Kyi
Township, killing at least one villager. More than 900 people were
displaced.

On Saturday night, traders in Three Pagodas Pass said a hand grenade
exploded at a Burmese Army camp opposite Sangkhlaburi District in
Kanchaburi Province, Thailand, injuring a civilian and a Burmese soldier.

____________________________________


April 9, Thai Press Reports
Myanmar (Nurma)/ Thailand traders hope fighting near Thai-Myanmar (Burma)
border will subside

Traders hope skirmishes between the Burmese junta and ethnic minorities
will not result in the border being closed / CNS generals unhappy with the
PM are said to be considering whether to approach Anand Panyarachun /
Minister Paiboon is working very hard these days, trying to solve many
social problems, the Bangkok Post reports.

The recent haze crisis in the North may have a negative impact on the
region, particularly on the health of local people, but an imminent
closure of the Thai-Burmese border as a result of conflicts between the
Burmese government and ethnic minorities, may prove gloomier than the
smog.

The haze that has devastated the northern provinces has come mainly from
forest fires and slash-and-burn farming practices in the neighbouring
country, over which Thailand has no authority.

The issues of haze and border conflict were raised recently at a meeting
of the Thai-Burma Township Border Committee (TBC) in the Burmese border
town of Tachilek, opposite Chiang Rai's Mae Sai district, in a bid to
improve cooperation between local authorities.

The efforts to put out the forest fires and curb slash-and-burn farming
practices has paid off, but the meeting at the local level could not
guarantee that the border will not be closed due to "the looming flames of
war." In fact, bilateral relations became touchy again when a Thai ranger
was killed by a grenade coming from the Burmese side, where Burmese troops
clashed with ethnic minority fighters opposite Chiang Rai's Mae Fa Luang
district.

The incident was followed a few days later by the kidnapping of a border
patrol policeman by another ethnic minority group at the border in
Kanchanaburi.

The incidents subsequently led to border closures in Mae Hong Son and Tak.

As for Tachilek, no order on the closure has been issued yet but there is
widespread speculation that a sealing may be unavoidable as fighting
between the Burmese and ethnic groups intensifies.

The Burmese junta has mobilised troops to strategic mountainous areas in
Tachilek town. The mass mobilisation of 758 and 751 rapid deployment
forces included more than 500 armed troopers.

Their target of attack was a base of the Shan ethnic group located
opposite Chiang Rai's Mae Fa Luang district.

But the smog delayed the attack. It shrouded the area and caused the
Burmese forces to put its military action on hold.

Shan ethnic forces, based on Doi Kor Wan, Doi Kor Hom and Doi Kor Muang
mountains, are well aware of the Burmese army's movement which is common
in the dry season. They prepared for the attack a month ago.

The Burmese troops have to make careful decisions about their military
strategies, as any attack against the Shan forces now might aggravate
border problems with Thailand.

And if that is the case, it will definitely affect border trading at Mae
Sai district - as has happened in the past, particularly at the time when
Gen Surayud Chulanont was army chief and Gen Wattanachai Chaimuenwong was
Third Army commander.

Now local traders are keeping their fingers crossed that the Burmese
suppression against the minority ethnic groups will not result in another
border closure, because that would hammer another nail in the coffin of
the local economy, which was badly affected by the recent haze crisis.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

April 9, Times of India
Myanmar ditches India for China in gas deal  - Sanjay Dutta

India has lost the match to China for getting natural gas from Myanmar.

Despite India's efforts at pampering the ruling junta with increased
military aid, Yangon has chosen Beijing over New Delhi for selling the gas
to come out of the two undersea fields where two Indian state-owned firms
together hold 30% equity.

According to official reports from Yangon, a March 14 MoU with Beijing
says "the entire natural gas" from A-1 and A-3 blocks in the Rakhine
offshore area will be sold to China. It will be wheeled through a 2,380-km
pipeline connecting Myanmar's Kyakphyu in the Bay of Bengal to Rili in
China's Yunan.

In return, China will pay Yangon an annual transit fee of $150 million for
30 years for the pipeline's 990-km stretch in Myanmar. The MoU was signed
during the visit of a Chinese delegation led by PetroChina president Wang
Lihua.

The MoU seals the fate of efforts by flagship overseas explorer ONGC
Videsh and gas utility Gail - which hold 20% and 10% respectively in the
blocks - to bring even their share of Myanmar gas to India. The reaction
of South Korea's Daewoo, which is in charge of operations in the two
blocks and the main suitor for gas, will be interesting to watch.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

April 9, Global Insight
New private healthcare law in Myanmar - Milena Izmirlieva

According to the Xinhua News Agency, the Myanmar State Peace and
Development Council (SDPC) has passed a new law aimed at expanding private
healthcare services. The new law lays down guidelines for the running of
private clinics, private hospitals, nursing homes, mobile healthcare
services and home maternity services. The law, published in the official
New Light of Myanmar newspaper, also gives the government the authority to
form a central body to determine private healthcare-service policy, which
will be chaired by the Minister of Health.

Significance: The new law's stated objective was to promote the spread of
private healthcare, but within a controlled environment. The latest move
comes in the context of the government's so-called Health Vision 2030 ,
which aims to provide comprehensive healthcare coverage for the entire
population. Other elements of the strategy include expanding and upgrading
public hospitals and health centres. According to official statistics, in
2006 Myanmar had 832 hospitals, 1,456 health centres, 19,766 doctors and
20,429 nurses.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

April 09, Mizzima News
Burma-North Korea set to normalize relations

North Korean Vice-Foreign Minister Kim Young-Il is scheduled to call on
Burma later this month in order to conduct talks with Burmese officials
regarding the normalization of relations between the two internationally
ostracized countries.

Following the October 9, 1983 assassination attempt in Rangoon of then
South Korean President Chun Doo Hwan by North Korean agents, the Burmese
government quickly severed diplomatic relations with Pyongyang. The attack
led to the death of seventeen South Korean officials.

Japan's Yomiuri Newspaper reports that the talks come at the urging of
China. China is long since held to be a key player in the North Korean
question and a growing force on the Burmese scene.

North Korean interest in, and covert relations with, Burma has been
noticed and speculated on for several years, with North Korea being
implicated in the building of a Burmese nuclear reactor.

In 2003, the Far Eastern Economic Review reported North Korean technicians
and aircraft spotted operating in central Burma. North Korean laborers are
even reported to be involved in the construction of Burma's new capital
city of Naypyidaw.

At a United States Senate Hearing last year, a representative from the
National Security Council warned of a looming security threat from a
Burmese-North Korean relationship. Michael Green, then Asia Director at
the NSC, stated, "They (Myanmar) have food, they have things that North
Korea wants, and it's a connection that I think we should be watching
very, very carefully."

Meanwhile the Yomiuri Newspaper states that Burma will look for
normalization in relations to ease its international isolation, while
North Korea will hope it impacts on the United States decision to include
it on its list of state sponsors of international terrorism.
The countries had looked to initiate the normalization procedure a year
previously, but North Korean missile and nuclear tests forced a
postponement of plans.

____________________________________

April 09, Irrawaddy
Chinese firms to build Burmese hydropower plant -  Khun Sam

The Burmese regime has signed a memorandum of understanding with two
Chinese firms to build a hydropower plant on the Salween River in
northeastern Burma, according to newspaper reports.

The deal to build the 2,400 megawatt Upper Salween Hydropower project was
signed on Thursday between the Burmese junta and China’s Farsighted
Investment Group Co Ltd and Gold Water Resources Co Ltd, The New Light of
Myanmar reported on Saturday.

Burma’s Minister for Electric Power No-1, Col Zaw Min, and Zheng Yuewen,
vice president of All China Federation of Industry and Commerce of the
People’s Republic of China, attended the MoU signing ceremony in the
capital of Naypidaw.

The hydropower plant in northern Shan State will be jointly built by the
junta’s Hydropower Implementation Department and Chinese Farsighted
Investment Group, the government newspaper said. The paper provided few
details on the deal.

Burma has signed several contracts with neighboring China and Thailand
over the last year to build hydropower plants.

The plan to place dams on the Salween, Southeast Asia’s longest
free-flowing river, has drawn protests from environmental groups who say
it will damage the region’s delicate ecosystem and encourage more human
rights violations in the military-ruled country.

Sai Sai, a spokesperson of The Shan Sapawa Environmental Organization
(Sapawa), said that at the Ta Sang dam site on the Salween, now under
construction, the junta forcibly relocated residents of Kengkham and
Kenglom villages and villagers suffered abuse from the increased military
presence, which tripled from 10 battalions to 30 battalions.

“These areas are regarded as conflict zones where Burmese and ethnic
troops operate, and the dam projects bring more suffering to local
people,” Sai Sai told The Irrawaddy on Monday.

“When Burmese troops arrive at villages, they ask villagers about rebel
movements and no matter if they answer or not, they face abuse—at least a
punch.”

Early this month, construction began on the 7,110-megawatt Ta Sang
hydroelectric power plant on the Salween in northeastern Shan State amid
strong criticism from environmentalists.

The Ta Sang project includes a concrete dam 2,848 feet (868 meters) long
and 746 feet (227 meters) high—the largest of several planned dams—in a
joint venture between the government and Thai power producer MDX Group.
The dam is scheduled to be completed within 15 years.

Most of the electricity generated from the Ta Sang hydropower plant will
be sold to Thailand, while Burma will be supplied with an unspecified
amount of free power.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

April 7, Agence France Presse
Myanmar meets with UN humanitarian official

Myanmar's military government has met with a top UN humanitarian official
in their new administrative capital Naypyidaw to discuss cooperation with
the world body, official media said Saturday.

The UN's deputy chief for humanitarian affairs Margareta Wahlstrom met
with Lieutenant General Thien Sein, the junta's fifth-most powerful man,
as well as the health minister and other officials, the state-run New
Light of Myanmar said.

The government mouthpiece newspaper gave no details of the meeting, which
came amid increased pressure on aid groups from the military.

The International Committee of the Red Cross last month closed two of its
field offices, saying that its humanitarian work in Myanmar was at
"near-paralysis" because of obstruction by the authorities.

The group has been barred from visiting prisons for more than a year.
Police say they stopped the visits because the ICRC had favoured political
prisoners.

In August 2006, the UN-initiated Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis
and Malaria withdrew from Myanmar due to the junta's restrictions on
relief efforts.

But a group of European-led donors set up a new fund to fight deadly
diseases among Myanmar's 54 million people. The 100-million-dollar Three
Diseases Fund launched operations in October.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

April 9, Reuters
Myanmar learns to live with the lights out - Aung Hla Tun

Chronic power shortages in Myanmar are leaving cities in the former Burma
shrouded in almost permanent blackout, driving its citizens to despair and
crippling an economy reeling from decades of military misrule.

"We've had only nine hours of electricity in the last three days,"
lamented Yi Yi Soe, a resident of the leafy colonial-era capital, Yangon.
"Some of our neighbours have completely run out of water."

As with other problems in the once-prosperous ex-British colony, there is
little explanation in the state-controlled media, which abound with
pictures of generals inaugurating new hydropower projects and promising
sufficient power "next year".

Few people believe them.

Instead, with a stoicism born of 45 years under military rule, they have
learnt to live with the privations.

"We haven't been able to use the washing machine for ages as the power
never lasts long enough. It now serves as a laundry basket," said Yangon
housewife Hla Myint, adding that all her other electrical goods were
virtually worthless.

"We recently decided to retire the rice cooker and we use the fridge as a
cupboard. We've unplugged the cable and keep the crockery and glassware
inside."

DIESEL FUMES

According to official data, in 2006 Myanmar could generate 1,775 megawatts
of electricity for a population of 53 million. By contrast, neighbouring
Thailand produces 26,000 MW for its 65 million people -- more than 12
times the power per capita.

Small businesses such as photo-processing shops or Internet cafes need
portable generators to get by and have to hike prices to reflect the high
cost of diesel, nearly all of which is imported.

"I now charge two different prices for photocopying: 20 kyat per page with
government-supplied power and 50 kyat with own generator," photocopy shop
owner Kyi Aung said.

But the use of generators comes with hidden costs for the wider
population, mainly in the form of noise and air pollution.

"With all the blackouts, generator noise, diesel fumes and flash floods in
the rainy season due to the choked drains, life here has become horrible,"
said Ba Tin, a retired civil servant.

"My whole family has developed a sort of migraine. We often get headaches
and nausea, especially when the big diesel generators in the restaurants
next door are running," he said.

Doctors and psychiatrists say they are having to treat an increased number
of respiratory ailments and stress-related conditions, which they
attribute to the noise and fumes.

The situation grew so acute in February with the start of the hot season,
when temperatures soar to 40 degrees centigrade (104 F), that a small
group Yangon residents staged a rare anti-government protest.

"Our cause is for 24-hour electricity" the protesters chanted before they
were arrested.

The widespread use of generators also creates a massive fire hazard, and
local papers are full of reports of neighbourhoods or blocks burnt to the
ground due to an unattended generator overheating.

GAS RICH, POWER POOR

Beyond the southeast Asian nation's commercial centre, conditions appear
to be even worse.

Residents of Sittwe, the capital of the northwestern state of Rakhine
which is home to Myanmar's vast off-shore natural gas reserves, say they
have not received any state electricity for a decade.

Private companies sell power at 300 kyat ($0.24 at black market rates) a
unit, compared with 25 kyat in Yangon, and even then the lights are only
on from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. -- just long enough for the junta's propaganda
blitz on state-run MRTV.

"As soon as MRTV's evening news ends, the blackout starts," Sittwe
resident Ko Aung Khine told Reuters.

The only place not suffering is Nay Pyi Taw, the secretive junta's brand
new administrative capital, purpose-built in hills and scrubland about 240
miles (385 km) north of Yangon.

Many in Yangon believe the blackouts are a deliberate ploy to make the
port city in the Irrawaddy delta so insufferable that government workers
and others will be happy to move to the Nay Pyi Taw, which remains little
more than a building site.

"It's very strange that all the roads are brightly lit even though they
are almost deserted day and night, while the crowded roads in Yangon have
no lights," economics student Saw Lwin said.

"You can't help wondering if the government is forcing all of us to go and
settle in Nay Pyi Taw," added his father, Ba Tin. "With the daily
blackouts here every day, we can't do anything."