BurmaNet News, May 24, 2007

[Editor]

May 24, 2007 Issue # 3211


INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Skepticism over North Korean ship’s mission
Irrawaddy: Junta reconsiders ban on social organizations
Mizzima: Junta frees two journalists detained for reporting arrival of
North Korean ship
DVB: Karen villages torched by Burmese troops

ON THE BORDER
Reuters: Myanmar junta "too scared" to free Suu Kyi

REGIONAL
Jakarta Post: Hume to seek Indonesian support on Iran, Myanmar
Irrawaddy: China OKs Naypyidaw move but uneasy about nuclear Burma
Xinhua: China, Myanmar pledge closer media cooperation

INTERNATIONAL
Reuters: Laura Bush joins Senate plea for Myanmar's Suu Kyi
The Economist: Myanmar: dirty dealings

PRESS RELEASE
Christian Solidarity Worldwide: Deaf villager shot dead, Karen woman raped
and murdered and thousands displaced in Burma Army offensive

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

May 24, The Irrawaddy
Skepticism over North Korean ship’s mission - Kyaw Zwa Moe

Observers in Burma reacted with skepticism on Thursday to a statement by
the country’s military government saying a North Korean ship that took
shelter from a storm near Rangoon carried no suspicious cargo. They said
they believed the ship was on “secret mission.”

A Burmese analyst said Burma and North Korea wanted to hide the purpose of
the ship’s presence in Burmese waters. Speaking in a phone interview from
Rangoon, the analyst requested anonymity, saying the issue was dangerously
sensitive.

Other observers agree with his assessment of the ship’s secret purpose. A
veteran local journalist said it was believed that the ship carried
military equipment or an even more sensitive cargo. A normal cargo could
be ruled out, he said.

Persistent reports over the past few years have suggested that Burma has
been seeking to buy missile technology from North Korea. Andrew Selth, a
military analyst and expert on the Burmese armed forces, wrote that in
early 2002 the Burmese government reportedly began talks with North Korea
on the purchase of one or two submarines.

The voyage of the North Korean ship follows last month’s resumption of
diplomatic ties, which were severed in 1983 after a Rangoon attack by
North Korean agents on a South Korean delegation headed by then-president
Chun Doo-hwan.

The ship incident is the second of its kind within the past six months. 
Last November, the Korean freighter MV Bong Hoafan docked in Rangoon amid
similar weather conditions. The Burmese military regime announced that it
had inspected the ship and found neither suspicious cargo nor military
equipment on board.

“Who knows if this latest ship brought that kind of stuff?” the Rangoon
analyst asked. “No third party can inspect it.” The visits of the two
North Korean ships were no coincidence, he said.

The analyst thought North Korea would probably get involved in Burma’s
search for uranium to fuel a nuclear reactor. The Burmese regime has
confirmed publicly that uranium deposits have been found in five areas:
Magwe, Taungdwingyi, Kyaukphygon and Paongpyin, in Mogok, and Kyauksin,
Residents of Thabeikkyin township, 60 miles north of Mandalay, and
southern Tenasserim Division, say searches are underway in those areas,
too.

Earlier this month, Russia’s federal atomic energy agency Rosatom
announced it would help Burma build a 10-megawatt nuclear reactor for
“research in nuclear physics, biotechnology, material science.” Last year,
a new nuclear physics department was launched in Rangoon and Mandalay
universities, and the Rangoon analyst said students had been enrolled by
the government.

The analyst said he believed Burma’s military leaders might be encouraged
by the North Korean example to use its nuclear program as a bargaining
chip in dealing with Western governments.

____________________________________

May 24, The Irrawaddy
Junta reconsiders ban on social organizations - Htet Aung

Burma’s Ministry of Home Affairs on Wednesday instructed social
organizations prohibited last week from renewing their registrations to
submit a letter of appeal if they wished to extend their registration,
according to one Rangoon-based social group.

“The ministry instructed us on May 23 to write an appeal letter to them
about the extension of the registration,” said an executive member of the
Free Funeral Services Society.

Ministry officials gave the same instructions to other social
organizations that were denied registration last week. The Myanmar
Engineers Association, one of some 24 banned organizations, can now
operate officially, said a source close to the group.

The decision last week not to renew registrations for selected social
welfare groups in Burma sparked international criticism that seems to have
prompted the Ministry of Home Affairs to backpedal on the issue.

Observers in Rangoon have suggested that Burma’s top generals may be
concerned about China’s reaction to the closures. One of the organizations
facing the ban was the Chinese Traders Association, founded in 1909.

Burma’s military regime in February 2006 imposed new restrictions on
international and domestic aid organizations that many say have hindered
the groups from serving the needs of Burma’s most vulnerable citizens.

Some social organizations have defied the ban on their activities. “Since
the Home Ministry denied the extension of our registration, we have
continued to run the organization according to the nature of our work,”
said the FFSS executive member.

Observers say the funeral service group will likely get an extension of
its registration, but only if they remove some of their executive members.

Two of the group’s most visible members—Vice President Kyaw Thu and Than
Myint Aung, the group’s secretary—are also close to prominent democracy
activists and may likely face expulsion if the organization is to continue
operating.

In recent months, local police forces in Burma have launched their own
free funeral services to counter the influence and success of the group.

____________________________________

May 24, Mizzima News
Junta frees two journalists detained for reporting arrival of North Korean
ship

Two Burmese journalists working for the Japanese television news agency
Nippon News Network (NNN) were released early last night after two nights
and three days in detention. They were detained for covering the arrival
of a North Korean ship supposedly carrying armaments to Burma.

Aung Shwe Oo and his daughter Sint Sint Aung, both journalists with NNN's
Bangkok bureau were arrested on May 21 by Burmese naval security after
they reported the arrival of a North Korean cargo ship, Kang Nam I which
docked secretly at the Thilawa port, 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of
Rangoon.

They were released by the Rangoon division police force.

Sources close to the Thilawa Port said their approaching the ship could be
the reason for their detention. Other foreign correspondents also covered
the arrival of the North Korean ship which supposedly carried weapons and
ammunition from one authoritarian regime to another.

The Paris based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders and the Burma
Media Association condemned the detention saying that it is a violation of
international rules protecting accredited correspondents.

In February, two Burmese correspondents working for Japanese news agencies
along with a local journalist of a monthly publication were detained for a
few days for covering a demonstration against the military government in
Rangoon.

____________________________________

May 24, Democratic Voice of Burma
Karen villages torched by Burmese troops

Five villages that were home to more than 540 internally displaced Karen
civilians have been fired on and burnt to the ground by the Burmese
military.

The Karen National Union told DVB today that Burmese light infantry troops
were behind the attacks that occurred earlier this month in the KNU’s
brigade three area.

Baw Htoo from Lehwah village, which was also destroyed, said he and the
other villagers were able to escape unharmed before their homes were
torched.

“They started launching their attacks in areas around Shwe Kyin and Tatkyi
townships on May 11. On the same day they burnt down the villages in the
Lehwah area,” Baw Htoo said.

“I want to tell [the military] not to shoot us civilians, burn down our
villages or our food supplies. It is more important for them to attack
their target, the KNU,” he said.

The attacks follow a high number of strikes also committed by the military
last month according to Saw Kyaw Bwe from the Committee for Internally
Displaced Karen People.

He said seven villages were fired on by Burmese troops in April and that
one villager, a 61-year-old man, had been shot and killed by the Burma
army. KNU general secretary Padoh Mahn Shar also told DVB that thousands
of people had been forced to flee military attacks in Pha-pon district.

“They burnt down villages in Khae Oo, an area located on the edge of
northern Pha-pon district. About 4200 villagers from 28 villages fled
their homes,” Padoh Mahn Shar said.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

May 23, Reuters
Myanmar junta "too scared" to free Suu Kyi - Ed Cropley

Mae Sot: A rare spate of protests in Myanmar means the junta is very
unlikely to release democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi when her latest year
of house arrest expires this weekend, former political prisoners say.

In what is becoming an annual ritual in the run-up to Sunday's deadline,
the White House, European Union, United Nations and fellow Nobel peace
prize laureates have issued urgent appeals to the generals running the
former Burma to set her free.

But the pleas for the release of the 61-year-old woman, who has been
behind bars or under house arrest since mid-2003, are even more likely
than usual to fall on deaf ears.

Two exiled dissidents said a prayer campaign for Suu Kyi last year and
protests this year against deteriorating living conditions in the main
city, Yangon, had sent shivers through the junta top brass -- even though
the demonstrations have been tiny.

"They are scared of her, especially at the moment," said 54-year-old
activist Khun Saing, who spent 13 years behind bars before fleeing to the
Thai border town of Mae Sot in 2006.

The last time Suu Kyi was released from house arrest, in 2002, she drew
huge crowds on a tour of the country, a reminder to the generals of the
huge sway the daughter of independence hero Aung San still held over
Myanmar's 54 million people.

"In 2002, the regime thought they could control the people not to support
her. They were shocked by the level of support -- people came out to greet
her in great numbers," Khun Naing said.

"SACRIFICE"

Suu Kyi, who has now been in detention for more than 11 of the last 17
years, is being held under an obscure security decree that has to be
renewed every 12 months, giving her supporters annual cause for optimism.

Quite why the junta, which ignored her party's massive election victory in
1990, makes such a show of observing the rule of law in keeping her in
isolation, without a telephone and requiring military permission to
receive visitors, is a mystery.

"They just make the laws for their own convenience," said Khun Saing,
standing beside a wall of black-and-white photographs of Myanmar's
estimated 1,100 political prisoners in the offices of the Assistance
Association for Political Prisoners in Mae Sot.

Near an image of Suu Kyi is journalist Win Tin, now 77, Myanmar's
longest-serving prisoner of conscience.

He was jailed for 20 years in 1989 for offences including subversion and
anti-government propaganda -- writing a critical human rights report and
sending it to the United Nations.

While there has been no progress under a junta "roadmap to democracy"
unveiled in 2003, former prisoner Bo Gyi, 42, said the recent protests
could be signs of a stirring public conscience.

"The people are doing something for their rights. We are seeing complaints
about living conditions," he said, taking a long drag from a dark green
cheroot.

The army crushed the last mass uprising against military rule ruthlessly
in 1988. Hundreds, if not thousands, were killed as troops machine-gunned
students in Yangon and elsewhere.

Those leading the current campaigns, many of them members of the "88"
uprising, were well aware of the risks, Bo Gyi said.

"Any struggle without sacrifice cannot succeed. They are sacrificing their
lives for the future generation," he said.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

May 24, The Jakarta Post
Hume to seek Indonesian support on Iran, Myanmar - Abdul Khalik

U.S. Ambassador-designate to Indonesia Cameron Hume promised in front of
the U.S. Senate on Tuesday to win Indonesia's support for key U.S. foreign
policy goals, including on the Iranian nuclear row, Middle East conflicts
and Myanmar problems.

Speaking in front of members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign
Relations, Hume said relations between the U.S. and Indonesia are of vital
importance.

"If confirmed, I will work to enhance Indonesia's support for our key
foreign policy priorities, including ensuring Iran does not develop
nuclear weapons, advancing the Middle East peace process and promoting a
democratic transition in Burma (Myanmar)," he said in his speech, a copy
of which was made available to The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

He cited Indonesia's more assertive role on the world stage to work as a
force for achieving international peace and stability, including
Indonesia's commitment of troops to UN forces in Lebanon and the recent
vote for UN Security Council Resolution 1747 to impose more sanctions on
Iran, as an example of how important Indonesia has become to the U.S.

While praising Indonesia's success in holding elections in Aceh, where a
former rebel became a governor, as a remarkable achievement in the areas
of democracy and human rights, Hume said the U.S. is still concerned about
the human rights situation in the country.

"Despite encouraging developments in Indonesia's efforts to build a strong
criminal case regarding the murder of human rights activist Munir, this
crime has not been fully resolved.

"If confirmed, I will make it a priority to continue to press the
government for a fair accounting of past human rights abuses committed by
security forces in East Timor and elsewhere," he said.

Hume said the U.S. should continue to channel funds into Indonesia's
education sector as well as assist in economic and justice sector reform
to enable the country to attract more investment, provide more jobs and
build institutions and respect for rule of law that "will provide
Indonesia's democracy with a rock-solid foundation".

He said in less than ten years, Indonesia has managed to travel an
astonishing distance, from the ruin of the Asian financial crisis and fall
of a dictatorship to a vibrant democracy with solid economic growth.

"In many ways, though, these gains are fragile. If confirmed, I look
forward to working with the Congress and a wide array of U.S. government
agencies to promote the success of our policies and of Indonesia's
democracy," Hume said.

Hume, a career diplomat, has undertaken numerous diplomatic assignments,
including four separate assignments as a member of the U.S. delegation to
the United Nations. He has also worked as a political counselor at the U.S
embassies in Damascus and Beirut.


>From 1997 to 2000, he was the U.S. ambassador to Algeria before becoming

the U.S. ambassador to South Africa between 2001 and 2004. He took up a
post as deputy inspector general at the Department of State from 2004 to
2005 and then became charge d'affaires in Khartoum, Sudan.

Hume, a father of three children, has written a number of books including
The United Nations, Iran and Iraq: How Peacemaking Changed (1994) and
Mission to Algiers: Diplomacy by Engagement (2006).

____________________________________

May 24, The Irrawaddy
China OKs Naypyidaw move but uneasy about nuclear Burma

Criticism of the Burmese government move to Naypyidaw, which appeared on a
Chinese embassy website, has been abruptly removed, informed sources in
Rangoon told The Irrawaddy on Thursday.

A Reuters report earlier said the criticism, posted by a Chinese diplomat
in Rangoon, “came as a huge shock to diplomats in Rangoon, including the
Chinese.”

The diplomat wrote critically about the difficulties of traveling to and
from Naypyidaw, which became Burma’s new capital in a surprise move in
2005. "If you are in a rush and unable to get a flight, you'll have to
drive, but the road is not good, and it takes about seven hours one way,"
his report said. "Many people can't stand it."

Chinese diplomats in Rangoon had no comment to make. But a well-informed
Chinese source in Thailand told The Irrawaddy that the account, posted by
a “young diplomat,” on the official web site was “unprofessional” and was
not in line with Beijing’s policy. The source said China did not really
care about the move to Naypyidaw.

China is considered to be Burma’s major political and military ally,
providing the regime with arms and also diplomatic support at the UN and
in other international arenas. Its support for the move to Naypyidaw
extended last year to the provision of 130 railway carriages for the train
service between Rangoon and the new capital.

The gift was a clear indication that China was not out of touch with the
planned move to Naypyidaw and had no complaint to make about the move.

One of the first official foreign visitors to Naypyidaw was China’s
Minister for Information Industry, Wang Xudong, who was welcomed there in
April 2006, six months after the relocation.

China’s ready acceptance of the relocation was in contrast to reactions in
other neighboring countries in the region, which were kept in the dark
about the plan and expressed shock and dismay when the move was announced.

While China uncomplainingly accepted the move, Western diplomats in
Rangoon publicly expressed reluctance to relocate their embassies to
central Burma. Eric John, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East
Asia and the Pacific, told The Irrawaddy in 2006 that the US, which had
embarked on the construction of a new embassy in Rangoon, had no plan to
designate the Rangoon mission now as a consulate.

John said Naypyidaw was no legitimate capital but merely an ego project of
Burmese military leaders.

Chinese diplomats have other things on their minds right now, following
the announcement that Russia is to help Burma build a nuclear research
facility. The Chinese source in Bangkok said China was watching
developments.

China has so far made no statement on the nuclear reactor project, which
will entail the construction by Russia's atomic energy agency Rosatom of a
10-megawatt nuclear reactor with low enriched uranium consisting of less
than 20% uranium-235.

China has actively participated in six-nation talks involving North Korea,
which recently successfully detonated a nuclear weapon. That development
and the move now by Burma to master nuclear technology have set alarm
bells ringing in Beijing. The Chinese source said that although China
wants to maintain its friendship with Burma and exert its influence in the
region, it certainly isn’t comfortable sharing borders with such
unpredictable nuclear neighbors as North Korea and Burma.

____________________________________

May 24, Xinhua General News Service
China, Myanmar pledge closer media cooperation

Beijing: Liu Yunshan, head of the Publicity Department of the Communist
Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, met here Thursday with Minister of
Culture of Myanmar Major-General Kyi Aung.

Liu, also a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee,
said the Chinese government supports media and cultural exchanges with
Myanmar in a bid to increase mutual understanding and friendship between
the two countries.

China hopes that media exchanges will become a bridge of friendship
linking the two peoples, said Liu.

Liu hailed sound China-Myanmar ties, saying the two neighboring countries
have deepened cooperation in various fields.

Kyi Aung said Myanmar is willing to enhance media cooperation with China
and looks forward to learning from China's experience in the media
industry.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

May 23, Reuters
Laura Bush joins Senate plea for Myanmar's Suu Kyi

Washington: U.S. first lady Laura Bush joined female senators on Wednesday
as they launched a fresh campaign to pressure the military junta in
Myanmar to release democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

In an unusual intervention in foreign policy matters, Laura Bush gathered
with the newly formed, bipartisan Senate Women's Caucus on Burma to call
for legislation and U.N. pressure on the Yangon government.

"We urge the people in Burma, the generals in Burma, to release Aung San
Suu Kyi on May 27th," said Laura Bush, using the poor Southeast Asian
country's former name and referring to the date Suu Kyi's latest detention
term is set to expire.

"I want everyone to realize that these are Republican and Democratic
senators, that this is a bipartisan issue, and that all the women who
signed this -- every single woman senator -- stand with all of our friends
in Burma, including Aung San Suu Kyi," she said in a meeting transcript
issued by the White House.

The letter signed by all 16 women in the U.S. Senate will be sent to U.N.
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to call for a binding Security Council
resolution on Myanmar, following a veto by China and Russia of a measure
in the council earlier this year, the transcript said.

Asked about China's close ties with the junta, Laura Bush said Beijing
should share the concern of fellow neighbors of Myanmar about drugs,
HIV/AIDS and other problems "that the regime has allowed."

"I urge China to stand with us, as well," she said.

Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for 11 of the
past 17 years. Her latest four-year detention is due to expire on May 27,
but, the generals in Yangon are expected to extend the term for another
year.

____________________________________

May 24, The Economist
Myanmar: dirty dealings

World powers suck up to the junta

THE paranoia, secrecy and all-round villainy of the generals who run
Myanmar (Burma) provide fertile ground for conspiracy theorists. Last
month Myanmar restored diplomatic ties with North Korea. On May 15th,
Russia said it was reviving a stalled plan to sell the country a small
nuclear reactor. A few years ago, Abdul Qadeer Khan, Pakistan's notorious
nuclear proliferator, reportedly visited the junta. Join the dots and a
scary picture emerges: they must be making nukes.

Entertaining though they are, such theories fall apart on closer
examination. A new paper by a Myanmar analyst, Andrew Selth, dismisses the
idea that the junta could produce nuclear bombs in the next decade. They
lack the resources, expertise and even desire to build them: for all the
regime's wickedness, it has been a consistent opponent of proliferation.
The small Russian research reactor may achieve little besides satisfying
the Burmese generals' desire for “prestigious” bits of technology. An
earlier paper by Mr Selth debunked claims that China is building military
bases along Myanmar's coast, from which to menace India and dominate the
Indian Ocean. The xenophobic Burmese regime is too suspicious of China to
give it a military presence on its turf.

What really is happening is that China, Russia and another would-be great
power, India, are scrabbling to do deals with Myanmar's regime. Like
vultures eyeing carrion, they are salivating over the benighted country's
rich natural resources. The Burmese generals are in the happy position of
setting competing powers against one another, while enlisting their help
in resisting pressure to restore democracy. In January, Russia and
China—both of which have signed big oil and gas deals with Myanmar—vetoed
America's proposed censure of the Burmese regime in the United Nations
Security Council.

India used to join the West in demanding democratic change. But the
rumours about Chinese military bases, plus India's own thirst for energy,
made it forget its principles and start wooing Burmese generals with guns
and money. This all takes place behind a figleaf of “constructive
engagement”. The junta was said to have been dissatisfied with cheap
Chinese arms, so India's sales of weapons, said to range from artillery to
reconnaissance aircraft, will have been most welcome.

The Chinese know they are unlikely to get to use Myanmar as a military
platform. But by developing the country's oil and gas fields, and by
building pipelines to Myanmar's Indian Ocean ports, they hope to reduce
their vulnerability to a blockade of the Malacca Strait, through which
they import much of their oil.

However, as India is learning, Burmese generals are unreliable. Two Indian
energy firms and a South Korean one have spent heavily on developing an
offshore gas field in Myanmar, only to be unceremoniously dumped now that
the Chinese have come along waving a larger cheque.

On May 27th the house arrest of Myanmar's pro-democracy leader, Aung San
Suu Kyi, is due to expire—but the regime is widely expected to extend it
instead. America and the European Union recently renewed sanctions against
the junta but neither the West's tough approach nor “constructive
engagement” has budged the regime. With so many big powers slavering to do
business with it, the chances of change look as bleak as ever.

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

May 24, Christian Solidarity Worldwide
Deaf villager shot dead, Karen woman raped and murdered and thousands
displaced in Burma Army offensive

Burma Army troops have reportedly shot dead a deaf man, raped and murdered
a woman, taken thousands of villagers for forced labour and displaced
thousands more people in their continuing offensive against Karen
civilians.

According to the Free Burma Rangers, a relief organisation working in the
area, soldiers from Light Infantry Battalions 542 and 544 attacked Ber Ka
Lay Ko village, northern Toungoo District in north-western Karen State on
12 May. They reportedly captured, raped and killed a woman.

Three days later, troops attacked again as villagers worked in their
fields. Many were able to flee due to the noise made by the Burma Army,
but one man, Saw Hsar Mee, aged 55, was deaf and was unable to hear the
attacking troops. He was shot and killed. Another man, Saw Mu Der, aged 36
was also shot dead, and Saw Kwa Kwa, aged 20, was captured and executed.
At least 14 other civilians from several villages in the area were
captured.

The Burma Army is continuing to force villagers to contribute labour. On
16 May, according to the Free Burma Rangers, over 2,000 civilians in
northern Toungoo District were forced to carry rations for the Burma Army.
On 7 May, over 1,000 villagers were forced to clear a new road between two
Burma Army camps in Nyaunglebin District.

In a separate incident, Burma Army troops attacked villages in Papun
District. A 27 year-old woman, Naw Bu Ru, was killed while working in the
fields. Her body was later burned by the soldiers.

These attacks are the latest in the Burma’s Army’s worst offensive against
the Karen in a decade.  On 5 April, Burma Army troops mortared Sha Zi Bo
village in northern Toungoo District, killing a two year-old girl and
injuring at least five people. In Nyaunglebin District, villages have been
shelled and burned, and farms destroyed.

Stuart Windsor, National Director of Christian Solidarity Worldwide, said:
“The continuing offensive against the Karen people, and the accompanying
gross violations of human rights including torture and killings, are
completely unacceptable. How much longer will the international community,
including Burma’s neighbours, allow this to go on? The evidence is
mounting, and efforts should be made to investigate crimes against
humanity and genocide.”

For more information, please contact Penny Hollings, Campaigns and Media
Manager at Christian Solidarity Worldwide on 020 8329 0045, email
pennyhollings at csw.org.uk or visit www.csw.org.uk.

CSW is a human rights organisation which specialises in religious freedom,
works on behalf of those persecuted for their Christian beliefs and
promotes religious liberty for all.

Notes to Editors:

1.      In 2006, the Burma Army began its worst offensive against
civilians in Karen State in almost a decade. Over 27,000 civilians were
displaced in Karen State last year, and several thousand have been
displaced so far this year.

2.      In 2006, over 86,000 were displaced in eastern Burma as a whole.

3.      Since 1996, over 3,000 villages in eastern Burma have been
destroyed by the Burma Army, and it is estimated that one million people
are internally displaced.