BurmaNet News, April 25-26, 2007

[Editor]

April 25-26, 2007 Issue # 3191


INSIDE BURMA
DVB: Bashed activists speaks out against USDA
Narinjara News: Solo protester arrested in Rangoon
Irrawaddy: KHRG report 'doesn’t reflect the reality,' UN says
Irrawaddy: Prison sentences given in wedding VCD case

ON THE BORDER
Mizzima News: KHRG responds to UN criticism
Independent Mon News Agency: Migrant dies, 17 jailed in Thailand after
vehicle hits electric pole

INTERNATIONAL
European Report: Pressure on Burma
AFP: Secretive Myanmar, NKorea to restore ties
AFP: Rights groups concerned at Myanmar, NKorea ties
AFP: UN condemns brutal attack on activists in Myanmar
Mizzima News: Irish minister urges Burmese junta to stop human rights
violations
Comox Valley Recorder (Canada): Plight of Burmese discussed

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

April 25, Democratic Voice of Burma
Bashed activists speaks out against USDA

Rights activist Ko Myint Naing, who was bashed by a crowd of people in
Irrawaddy’s Henzada township on April 18, has confirmed that
government-backed officials were involved.

Ko Myint Naing, from Henzada, and Ko Maung Maung Lay, from Rangoon’s Kyi
Myint Taing township, were in Oak Pon village last Wednesday with several
other activists as part of a human rights awareness-raising campaign.

As they were leaving the town, the pair were attacked and brutally bashed
by a large group of people wielding sticks and slingshots filled with
metal bolts.

In an interview with DVB today, Ko Myint Naing, who suffered severe head
injuries as a result of the attack, said that as he and Ko Maung Maung Law
left the village, they saw Union Solidarity and Development Association
leader Ko Nyunt Oo on a walkie-talkie preparing to intercept them.

“Then he ordered his people to beat us up while he started to hit me with
a stick. I got hit on right side of the back of my neck. Then he yelled,
‘Kill them!’ and a group of about 50 people armed with sticks and
slingshots chased us,” Ko Myint Naing said.

“We tried to escape on our motorbike but the road was so bumpy that we
couldn’t drive fast. A member of the Village Peace and Development Council
named Satku and a guy named Ko Thang Aung dragged me off the bike and
started hitting me,” he said.

The two men tried to run away from the group but were unable to escape.
They were savagely bashed until a car carrying a monk passed, scaring the
attackers away, according to Ko Myint Naing.

He and Ko Maung Maung Lay were then taken to a local hospital before being
transferred to the neurological wing of Rangoon General the same night.

“I’m still suffering a terrible headache and chest pains due to the sling
shot wounds. Other parts of my body where I was beaten are also still
painful,” Ko Myint Naing said.

Ko Maung Maung Lay told DVB that about 100 people were involved in the
attack.

“They chased us . . . They caught up with us . . . and the mob split up
into two groups to beat up each of us,” Ko Maung Maung Lay said.

A variety of Burma lobby groups, human rights organisations and activists
have condemned the attacks this week and have called on the Burmese
military to punish the people involved.

The 88 Generation Students said in a statement that the attack proved
there was no rule of law in Burma.

“We seriously urge the authorities concerned to carry out investigations
into who allowed people to gather for the purpose of committing violence
rather than solving problems according to the rule of law, and to reveal
the culprits, and to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the
future.”

____________________________________

April 26, Narinjara News
Solo protester arrested in Rangoon

A solo protester was arrested by police in Rangoon yesterday afternoon as
he was staging a demonstration against the Burmese military junta, stated
a report.

The solo protester was identified as U Own Than, a former politician who
was also arrested in a similar demonstration in February of this year. His
protest started in front of Thein Gyi Zee market in downtown Rangoon
around 1pm yesterday.

U Own Than held a poster during the demonstration that demanded reform of
political systems throughout the country in bold Burmese lettering.

On the poster U Own Than had written, "Today people desire", with a list
of several demands written below. Those demands are: To recognize the 1990
election result, to convene parliament under UN supervision, to have the
opportunity of self-determination for all individuals, and to remove the
military dictator.

A witness said U Own Than was arrested by plainclothes police just five
minutes after his solo demonstration began.

U Own Than has been arrested by the Burmese military five times since 1988
for his political work in Burma.

It has also been learned that this is the second arrest of protesters this
week in Rangoon. Last Sunday eight people were arrested by the military
authority as they were protesting against the prevailing economic hardship
in the country.

____________________________________

April 26, Irrawaddy
KHRG report 'doesn’t reflect the reality,' UN says - Yeni

The release of a report by the Karen Human Rights Group this week
suggesting that UN agencies working in Burma in oppressed rural
communities are helping to keep the military regime in power was
challenged by the UN yesterday.

The United Nation's Office of the Humanitarian Coordinator in Myanmar said
in a press statement the conclusions concerning the UN's work are
incorrect and do not reflect reality.

“It is regrettable that, prior to publication, the authors of the report
were not able to review or discuss with UN agencies, or even with the UN
Humanitarian Coordinator on some of the assertions in the report
concerning UN agencies," the statement said. “The UN response to
alleviation of the suffering in Myanmar [Burma ] is defined by a strict
adherence to basic humanitarian principles.”

However, the KHRG claims that, "Given the restrictive environment in which
international aid agencies operate, it is questionable how effectively
these principles, which requires input from local peoples regarding their
needs and concerns, can actually be adhered to."

The KHRG report, titled “Development by Decree: The Politics of Poverty
and Control in Karen State,” claims that development programs initiated by
the military government with support by NGOs, including UN agencies,
“become tools of oppression and generators of poverty.”

The KHRG says such humanitarian aims also augment development implemented
under the Burmese regime and is “synonymous with control.”

The KHRG said it was not making a blanket statement against all aid, but
that aid should be implemented in a way that “minimizes its harm and
maximizes its benefit.”

“We believe that debate has to move beyond 'to aid or not aid',” said
Kevin Heppner, the founder of the KHRG. “Debate should be about how these
agencies are operating.”

The report claims, for example, that funds for a compulsory castor and
jatropha agriculture scheme are being diverted from the UN Food and
Agriculture Organization and the project has been the source of widespread
forced labor and extortion. The project aims to produce biofuel for
military use, the report said.

In addition, the report says the United Nations Economic and Social
Council for Asia Pacific (UNESCAP) support of the SPDC in the development
of the “Asian Highway”—a transnational network of roads—in Karen State has
“involved land confiscation and the forced labor of local villagers, all
without compensation.”

Bangkok-based ESCAP officials appeared to be unaware of such human rights
violations.

“We have not received any reports or even claims that forced labor is
being used anywhere in the development of the Asian Highway,” Barry Cable,
the director of ESCAP's transport and tourism division, told Inter Press
Service.

Heppner, however, told The Irrawaddy that some UN agencies failed to
respond to the KRHG's query on how their funds were utilized and if they
were aware of any abuses by the country's junta.

The KHRG also has concerns that UN agencies and international NGOs have
become increasingly eager to engage with the regime despite widespread
rights abuse by the Burmese army.

Stephen Hull, the author of the report, said at a press conference in
Bangkok that “some UN agencies like UNDP are talking about engagement with
the regime...addressing poverty without talking about politics.”

Last December, the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think
tank, argued that groups that were critical of international aid to Burma
"considered efforts to help the country's poor futile or even detrimental
to the greater objective of regime change.”

The authors of the ICG briefing, titled “Myanmar: New Threats to
Humanitarian Aid” cited the European Commission as stating: “The
international community needs to be able to continue humanitarian
operations without conditions.”

But the ICG, the European Commission and the British government have
consistently opposed cross-border humanitarian aid from Thailand to
displaced villagers in Karen State, the KHRG said.

“Only very recently has the British government via the Department for
International Development (DFID) released a small amount of funds for
cross-border assistance in response to prolonged criticism of their
traditional policy of refusing such aid.”

On the other hand, the UN has worked to build bridges with the regime in a
bid to help the country’s most vulnerable people. In early April, the UN’s
assistant secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, Margareta Wahlstrom,
met with several military officials in Burma’s new capital Naypyidaw.

____________________________________

April 26, The Irrawaddy
Prison sentences given in wedding VCD case

Two men were given stiff prison sentences on Wednesday in a court in
Nyaungdon Township of Irrawaddy Division for possessing a video of a
private wedding of the daughter of Burma's top leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe.
The court sentenced Than Htun to four years and six months and Tin Htay to
two years, according to a daughter of Tin Htay.

“It wasn't red-handed, and there were no firm witnesses," she said. "It's
unfair to punish them with such sentences with one-sided accusations.” The
men were sent to Maubin prison in Irrawaddy Division.

Than Htun and Tin Htay were arrested in late March after officials from
Military Affairs Security searched the residence of Than Tun in Nyaungdon
and reportedly found the unauthorized VCD.
Tin Htay was later arrested in connection with the case. Copies of a
wedding VCD of Than Shwe's youngest daughter, Thandar Shwe, and Maj Zaw
Phyo Win were leaked to the press late last year. The lavish ceremony and
the bride's expensive jewelry raised criticism within the country and
among exile groups.

The Burmese authorities banned the wedding VCD following worldwide media
reports on the video. Locally, the VCD is known as “Diamonds-full Night.”

____________________________________

April 27, Mizzima News
Irish minister urges Burmese junta to stop human rights violations - Nem
Davies

Mr. Conor Leniham T. D, Ireland's Minister of State has demanded that the
Burmese military regime put a stop to serious human rights violations
against its civilians. On Tuesday he met representatives of Burmese in
exile in Dublin.

Following a briefing on the current political situation in Burma by Dr.
Thaung Htun and Dr. Sein Win, representatives of the National Coalition
Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB), Leniham talked of his commitment
to supporting political change and peaceful reconciliation in Burma

"I am horrified by reports of the use of rape as a weapon by the military
regime in their ongoing campaign against civilians in conflict areas. The
regime in Burma must immediately put a stop to this utterly reprehensible
practice, as well as other serious human rights violations," Leniham said.

He called for the release of Burma's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and
urged the junta to give her absolute freedom, provide liberty to civilians
and free all political prisoners in Burma.

Meanwhile, Dr. Sein Win, the Prime Minister of the government in exile
accepted Irish Aid assistance for Burmese refugees in Thailand, support
for human rights and democratization in Burma.

____________________________________

April 25, Comox Valley Recorder (Canada)
Plight of Burmese discussed

Imagine having to flee your home country and live in a refugee camp for
years, maybe even decades.

And then imagine getting a chance to leave the camp and resettle in a
country when you don’t speak the language and haven’t ever seen an
elevator, a toilet or even a door.

For most in the Western world, this kind of situation is beyond
comprehension, but for the Karen people of Burma it has become a common
occurrence, says Amnesty International Comox Valley (AICV).

One of the world’s most secretive countries, Burma (officially called
Myanmar) is ruled by a military junta that AICV says has created camps
that contain more than 20,000 refugees who need to be resettled. The
Canadian government is in the process of admitting more than 2,000 Karen
refugees from those camps and relocating them across the country, says
AICV.

Voices from Burma, a live presentation sponsored by Amnesty International
Comox Valley, will give local residents the chance to hear Karen refugees
tell their stories about life in Burma and the obstacles they encounter as
they try to fit into a new country.

The presentation will take place April 28 at 7 p.m. in the Filberg
Centre’s Rotary Hall. There will be an hour’s presentation and then a
chance for questions and discussion. Admission is by donation. Light
refreshments will be served.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

April 26, Mizzima News
KHRG responds to UN criticism - Christopher Smith

Responding to reaction from the United Nations Office of the Humanitarian
Coordinator in Burma critical of a recent publication, the Karen Human
Rights Group (KHRG) has issued a statement defending the method and
validity of its report.

The report, entitled "Development by Decree: The politics of poverty and
control in Karen State" and released on Tuesday, contests that development
projects inside Burma are used by the military regime as a means of
further militarization while placing local communities in a position of
heightened vulnerability to human rights abuses. The KHRG believes that
the international community too often overlooks the potential for abuses
when considering development projects.

The report calls into question the merits of certain development projects
partly facilitated by UN agencies, specifically citing the UN Economic and
Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific in its support toward the Asian
Highway Project, alleging that the project has directly led to land
confiscation and incidences of forced labor.

Additionally, the report warns that the UN Food and Agricultural
Organization (FAO) risks abetting in rights violations through its
assistance toward agricultural programs. The FAO is stated to have already
awarded the government with $14 million in financial aid for an Oil Crop
Cultivation Programme.

In the UN statement issued on Thursday, the KHRG report is brought into
question for the incorporation of supposedly inaccurate and dated
statistics, while critiquing the KHRG for not discussing the content and
accuracy of its material with the UN prior to publication.

The response from the KHRG to the UN position states that the KHRG did
"communicate with various UN agencies regarding some of the issues raised
in the report including the Office of the UN Humanitarian Coordinator and
the Food and Agricultural Organization."

The KHRG goes to lengths to make it clear that the main focus of their
report is to give voice to the local villagers most affected; a voice the
KHRG believes is "very seldom heard."

With respect to the claim of inaccurate and dated material, the KHRG
stands by the information accumulated from local villagers. They do,
however, welcome the UN to forward specific examples of what they believe
to be factually incorrect information, to which the KHRG says it will
respond "with relevant information from the local villagers targeted by
development projects."

Additionally, the KHRG response is highly critical of the capacity of the
UN to adhere to its stated position of delivering aid only with strict
attention paid to basic humanitarian principles. The KHRG argues that such
a position is untenable from the onset, as any such adherence must
automatically include the voice of the people. The basic parameters
established by the ruling junta for the delivery and logistics of
assistance are deemed to make the truthful involvement and empowerment of
the local population impossible.

Further, "the principle of neutrality, which requires aid to be provided
based on need rather than political considerations, is violated by UN
agencies' inability to deliver aid cross-border from neighbouring
countries or from central Burma to anyone living in areas not under firm
SPDC control."

To give additional weight to its concerns over the role of the FAO, the
KHRG notes the connection between those purported to have engaged in
rights abuses and those with whom UN agencies are obliged to work.

Specifically, the KHRG challenges the UN to justify its working
relationship with figures such as U Htay Oo, Union Solidarity and
Development Association (USDA) Secretary General and Minister for
Agriculture and Irrigation. By means of his former affiliation he is
implicated in rights violations allegedly orchestrated and carried out by
the USDA, including violent attacks on rights activists and pro-democracy
campaigners. By virtue of his latter title, he is a crucial implementing
partner with the FAO in their Oil Crop Cultivation Programme.

The KHRG does reiterate that it recognizes and appreciates the
complexities of trying to deliver assistance inside Burma, and simply
urges that the international community give priority to "devising an
effective means of conducting human rights impact assessments", an
approach which of necessity must incorporate the voices of the local
population.

____________________________________

April 25, Independent Mon News Agency
Migrant dies, 17 jailed in Thailand after vehicle hits electric pole

One woman migrant died and 13 women from among 18 migrant workers were
sent to prison in Takuapa, southern Thailand after the vehicle they were
travelling in hit an electric pole on Sunday. The migrants included three
men, and two children, a girl and a boy from Karen State.

They will be sent back to Burma after about two or three days after
spending a week in prison, said Ko Htoo Chit director of a workers support
group, the Grassroots Human Rights Education.

They entered Thailand following an arrangement with touts from Chaung-zone
Township Mon State and the Thai police. The vehicle was driven by a Thai
policeman.

Ko Htoo Chit said "One woman migrant died after she jumped from the
vehicle when it hit the electric pole. Three were injured."

They were imprisoned after being treated in Takuapa hospital for a few
days because some workers had broken their hands and legs in the accident,
a Mon monk said "The police tried to stop the vehicle but the driver did
not stop and drove away. After which the vehicle hit an electric pole when
Thai police fired to frighten the driver three days ago".

According to the Mon monk, the tout is a Mon and the Thai police is yet to
arrest him.

Some times these things happen if the touts do not bribe and negotiate
with local policemen, he added. Most migrant workers who enter Thailand
work in rubber plantations.

Migrant workers entering Thailand are not only from Ranong in Tenneserim
Division but Three Pagoda Pass (TPP) in Karen State near the Thai border.

About 2,000 migrant workers have entered Thailand from Three Pagoda Pass
after the water festival. Currently about 1,000 migrant workers are still
waiting to enter Thailand and most of them have already paid the local
authorities such as cease-fire groups, police, immigration office, the
Burmese Army, and touts according to a survey by local authorities.

TPP residents observing migrants said some migrant workers entered
Thailand by influencing the immigration office through the touts. Some
enter on their own while some enter by negotiating with cease-fire groups.

Most of those remaining rest in the village in the border including in TPP
town, Ci-pyah-mon (Tom-dot-poit) village, Palaing-Japan (Japanese well),
and Gu-bowl village. Some enter by walking through the forest while some
enter in special police vehicles.

They can enter Thailand in many ways but it is easier from Ranong than
from other places to enter and come out of Thailand, the monk said.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

April 26, European Report
Pressure on Burma

The EU is continuing to exert pressure on the junta in power in
Burma-Myanmar by renewing its sanctions during the External Relations
Council held on 23 April in Luxembourg. The EU foreign ministers have
condemned the lack of tangible progress in the transition promised to a
legitimate civil government and the serious human rights violations. The
EU is demanding that all ethnic groups and parties be involved in a
national reconciliation process as well as the rapid liberation of all
political prisoners. Nevertheless, the EU has welcomed UN and ASEAN
efforts to promote reforms.

____________________________________

April 26, Agence France Presse
Secretive Myanmar, NKorea to restore ties - Hla Hla Htay

Yangon: Two of the world's most secretive nations, military-run Myanmar
and communist North Korea, agreed here Thursday to restore diplomatic ties
in a move analysts say may help them bypass Western sanctions.

The countries have both been branded "outposts of tyranny" by the United
States but have had no formal relations between themselves for more than
two decades.

That changed Thursday after the North's deputy foreign minister Kim
Yong-Il met with his Myanmar counterpart Kyaw Thu for about an hour in
Yangon.

China's ambassador to Myanmar, Guan Mu, was seen with them as they left
the meeting and headed to a Yangon hotel.

About two hours later, Kyaw Thu announced a deal had been reached.

"This morning we signed an agreement to restore diplomatic ties," Kyaw Thu
told reporters.

"We have to notify the United Nations, according to their procedures, and
then the UN will do some formalities and announce to the international
community that our two countries will resume diplomatic ties," he added.

Myanmar had indicated a year ago that it wanted to restore relations.

The United States has in the past warned of warming military ties between
the two, and in 2004 accused North Korea of seeking to sell
surface-to-surface missiles to Myanmar's military government.

Both countries are international outcasts in their own way -- Myanmar has
been under military rule in various guises since 1962 and is widely
accused of rights abuses.

Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy
party won 1990 elections but has never been allowed to take office, has
spent more than a decade under house arrest.

As for North Korea, its people are impoverished but the hardline Stalinist
regime led by the unpredictable Kim Jong-Il stunned the world with its
first ever nuclear weapons test last October.

Myanmar severed ties with North Korea in 1983, after Pyongyang staged a
deadly bomb attack in a failed assassination attempt on South Korea's then
president Chun Doo Hwan, who was on an official visit to Yangon.

Chun survived the blast but it killed 17 of his entourage, including four
cabinet ministers, while 17 others were wounded. Four Myanmar officials
also died.

One of the North Korean agents is still detained in Insein Prison outside
Yangon.

The attack took place near one of Myanmar's most cherished landmarks, the
Martyr's Mausoleum near the famous Shwedagon pagoda -- a site Kim Yong-Il
made a point of visiting shortly after his arrival here Wednesday.

Analysts said the two nations may have felt drawn together in recent years
due to a shared perception they have a common foe in the United States and
the West more broadly, analysts said.

"These countries are at odds with the US and the West. All countries that
are odds with the US should work together, that is their idea,"
Thailand-based analyst Aung Naing Oo said.

"It's not a secret that the Burmese military admires North Korea for being
able to square off with the United States with the nuclear issue," he
said.

"Beyond that, Burma needs friendship and North Korea is isolated and needs
friendship as well," he added, referring to Myanmar by its former name.

Closer ties could also provide more practical benefits, with both
countries under a raft of sanctions -- North Korea over nuclear weapons
and Myanmar for rights abuses.

"There is an arms embargo on the Burmese military, so maybe the Burmese
military is looking for (North Korean) arms systems using Burmese
resources -- like rice. You don't have to pay with hard currency, you
could barter," Aung Naing Oo said.

The two countries may also believe that teaming up will provide them with
better leverage in dealing with Washington, Myanmar military analyst Win
Min said.

"For Burma, having North Korea will give some leverage in dealing with the
US, so they can continue somehow to deal with their weapons systems," Win
Min said.

____________________________________

April 26, Agence France Presse
Rights groups concerned at Myanmar, NKorea ties

Seoul: Human rights campaigners cautioned Thursday that an agreement by
Myanmar and North Korea to restore diplomatic relations must not lead to
further repression in their secretive nations.

Kay Seok, Seoul-based researcher for the Asia division of Human Rights
Watch, expressed fears for the future of North Korean refugees fleeing via
Myanmar.

The countries "are among the most repressive states in the world," she
told AFP.

She said there was particular concern about the possible effect on those
refugees who enter Myanmar from China in the hope of travelling on to
another country and eventual settlement in South Korea.

"If the Burmese (Myanmar) government agrees to arrest and repatriate them
to North Korea, that would be a terrible thing -- leaving the country
without permission carries heavy punishment," she added.

Military-run Myanmar and communist North Korea, two of the world's most
secretive nations, agreed earlier Thursday in Yangon to restore diplomatic
relations after more than two decades of severed ties.

South Korea's foreign ministry had no immediate comment on the move.

Tens of thousands of people have fled the North to China in recent years,
with most travelling on to Southeast Asia hoping eventually to reach Seoul
or other destinations.

In a report last October, the International Crisis Group said those who
are caught by Myanmar authorities faced up to one year in jail, but none
had been sent back to China -- which has a much-criticised policy of
returning them all to their homeland where they face prison and sometimes
torture.

Human Rights Watch, in a report last month, said North Korea has toughened
its punishments for people caught trying to flee -- including imposing
longer prison terms during which inmates face beatings and starvation.

Takehiko Tsukushi, chief secretary of the Foundation for Human Rights in
Asia, a Tokyo-based public awareness group, also voiced concern.

"We hope that the tie-up of the two countries, both criticised for their
human rights records, will not stall any progress in improving human
rights conditions," he said in Tokyo.

"We'd rather wish that the two countries expand their relations with the
international community and learn more about what the world is thinking
regarding human rights standards."

_____________________________________

April 26, Agence France Presse
UN condemns brutal attack on activists in Myanmar

Yangon: The United Nations Thursday condemned last week's brutal assault
on rights activists in military-run Myanmar, saying it was reminiscent of
a 2003 attack on pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

"We express our deep concern over the brutal attack against human rights
defenders" on April 18, Paulo Serghio Pinheiro, the UN special rapporteur
on human rights in Myanmar, said in a statement.

According to Human Rights Watch, some 100 men carrying clubs and other
homemade weapons beat rights activists Myint Naing and Maung Maung Lay
last Wednesday in Hinthada, some 100 kilometers (60 miles) northwest of
Yangon.

Both men sustained head injuries and one remained in serious condition,
the US-based rights group said.

UN's Pinheiro said the latest attack "highlighted the level of violence"
in Myanmar and reminded him of the attack by junta-backed militias on Aung
San Suu Kyi and her traveling convoy in the country's central region in
May 2003.

Her latest period in detention began after the 2003 attack. The
61-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner has been under house arrest at her
rambling lakeside home in Yangon for most of the last 17 years.

In November 2003, Pinheiro met with Aung San Suu Kyi at her residence but
has since been denied entry to Myanmar, which has been ruled by the
military since 1962.

The UN has estimated there are some 1,100 political prisoners in Myanmar.