BurmaNet News, July 27, 2007

[Editor]

July 27, 2007 Issue # 3255

INSIDE BURMA
DVB: Burma cracks down on visits to political prisoners
Kantarawaddy Times: Civilians forced to work in army camp revamp
DVB: Magwe residents file complaint with ILO
Irrawaddy: Junta, private company seize land in Kachin state
Mizzima News: Burma bans popular internet telephony, Mediaring Talk
Xinhua: Myanmar ethnic peace group surrenders weapons to government

BUSINESS / TRADE
Irrawaddy: Rangoon businessmen forced to donate to National Convention

ASEAN
AP: Myanmar opposes human rights body in Southeast Asia, diplomats say
AFP: Charter eyed for ASEAN bloc, but problems persist

REGIONAL
Narinjara News: Twenty four Bangladeshi fishermen abducted by Burmese force

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: US sanctions policy on Myanmar has failed: business chief
Mizzima News: Conflicting views on Burma policy voiced in D.C.
Irrawaddy: Rohingyas win right to seek asylum in Australia

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy” Gambari should go to the Burmese people - Kyaw Zwa Moe

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

July 27, Democratic Voice of Burma
Burma cracks down on visits to political prisoners

The Burmese authorities have reportedly cracked down on visits to
political prisoners, increasing restrictions on food and medicine parcels,
the families of several detainees told DVB.

Ma Thandar, the wife of political prisoner Ko Khin Kyaw detained in
Insein, said that when she visited him yesterday she was ‘thoroughly’
searched by prison officials.

“The checked every piece of food brought in. They wouldn’t allow cooked
food to brought in. Some officials said they were expecting some
superiors,” Ma Thandar said.

The mother of Mandalay political prisoner Ko Bo Bo said he appeared
extremely thin when she visited him on Wednesday and that prison officials
had imposed heavy restrictions on the amount of food allowed into the
prison.

Ko Bo Bo’s mother Daw Myint Myint Kyi said that only small packets of
instant coffee mix were allowed to be brought in for political inmates.

“They won’t let us bring food in but they can’t afford to feed the inmates
themselves . . . the government has said in the newspapers that they are
giving them bottled water but reality of the situation is the completely
opposite,” Daw Myint Myint said.

Political prisoners Ko Aung Htun, U Kyaw Min and U Win Htein were also
transferred to the Tharawaddy, Myingyan and Katha prisons respectively
this month.

____________________________________

July 27, Kantarawaddy Times
Civilians forced to work in army camp revamp - Daily Htet

About 80 villagers from three villages in De Maw So Township, Karenni
State are being made to undergo forced labour to reconstruct a Burma Army
camp in Daw Ta Ma Gyi village.

The villagers forced to work are from Daw Ta Ma Gyi, Daw Nyaw Khu, and Daw
Saw Phya villages. The orders relating to the forced labour was issued by
Thet Pai, Second Commander of the Light Infantry Battalion 509.

"The camp has been there for a long time. They ordered 80 villagers to
work on the revamping of the camp. The work force included 30 villagers
from Daw Ta Ma gyi, 30 villagers from Daw Nyaw Khu, and 20 villagers from
Daw Saw Phya. Soldiers ordered them to dig bunkers, reconstruct barracks,
erect fences and clean the camp, right through the day," said a source
from the Karenni Social Welfare and Development Committee.

The workers had to take along food, knives, chopping hoe, mattocks and
pickaxes when they went to work in the army camp.

"They are used to calling us. They have summoned villagers to work ever
since the army camp was set up. One villager, from every village, has to
turn up for daily duty in the camp. In addition, villagers have to provide
one barrel of water to the battalion by rotation," said a local.

In earlier months, about 200 locals had to work for many months for a new
army camp belonging to the Karenni Nationalities Solidarity organization,
which has a ceasefire agreement with the Burmese military junta, located
in Lo Khar Lo village, Maw Chi area, Karenni State.

____________________________________

July 27, Democratic Voice of Burma
Magwe residents file complaint with ILO

A group of 20 villagers from Pwint Phyu township in Magwe division told
DVB yesterday that they filed a forced labour complaint with the
International Labour Organization.

Ko Kyaw Khine Shwe, one of the signatories to the complaint, said that the
local authorities had forced them to work on a five-acre castor crop owned
by the Burmese military.

“There were about 100 men and 75 women who had to dig 800 cubic-foot holes
in the ground from 7am in the morning until about noon. They didn’t even
let us have a break for water. They told us we would have to come back the
next day also,” Ko Kyaw Khine Shwe said.

The authorities then forced the group to work for four more days on the
site or pay 1200 kyat as a fee, the villagers told DVB.

“We only earn about 800 kyat a day and can't afford to pay the 1200 kyat
so we had to agree to work,” Ko Kyaw Khine Shwe said.

The group of villagers reportedly sent the letter of complaint to the ILO
on June 31, also sending copies to the township peace and development
council and the Magwe Division Peace and Development Council.

Since sending the letters, Ko Kyaw Khine said that he and other villages
had been questioned five times by local officials.

Another village who also signed the letter said that the government’s
interrogations were starting to take a toll on some of the forced labour
complainants.

“We are getting scare because they have been calling on us and pressuring
us. We can’t even mind our daily duties anymore,” Ko Aye Lwin Oo said.

But officials with the Pwint Phyu Township Peace and Development Council
denied the claims yesterday, saying that they were not guilty of forcing
the villagers to work because tending the castor plants was the peoples’
legal responsibility.

Ko Kyaw Khine Shwe rebutted the government’s statements saying that each
household in the village had fulfilled their duty of growing seven castor
oil plants long before they were forced to work in the field.

“That is a different issue. It has nothing to do with what we have said in
our complaint,” he said.

____________________________________

July 27, Irrawaddy
Junta, private company seize land in Kachin state - Khun Sam

Burma’s ruling junta and a private company have confiscated thousands of
acres of land from farmers in western Kachin State in the name of a new
agricultural project, according to sources in the area.

Yuzana Co Ltd, owned by Burmese tycoon Htay Myint, has reportedly amassed
hundreds of thousands of acres over the last few years in Hugaung Valley
in Kachin State to implement what it calls “the development of wild lands
into farmland.”

Yuzana has been granted ownership of the land by the junta, but sources in
the area say that the land was taken from local residents with help from
the Burmese army.

“They simply seized my farmland and my house, saying it extended beyond
their project areas,” a resident of Naung Mi told The Irrawaddy by
telephone on Friday.

He added that he and other farmers who lost their land received no
compensation and have no way to lodge complaints, since the Burmese army
was involved in the seizures.

“The company said my village headman would arrange for replacement land,
but that has not happened and I’ve already lost my house,” the Naung Mi
resident said. “Even the village headmen have no right to complain about
the company’s abuse.”

An administrative staffer at Yuzana confirmed to The Irrawaddy on Friday
that the company does own hundreds of thousands of acres for the purpose
of agricultural projects but said Yuzana has not received any complaints
from area residents.

“Yes, we have agricultural projects in that area in cooperation with the
government, but I have not heard of any complaints,” the staffer said.

Local sources have reported that Yuzana now owns all land within ten miles
of either side of the historic Ledo Road from Tanai Township to Naung Mi
village—a stretch of about 45 miles—for the alleged purpose of converting
fallow land to workable farmland.
Yuzana, founded in 1994, is known for its heavy investments in Rangoon’s
residential and commercial property markets, as well as a growing interest
in agricultural and fishery ventures across Burma.

The company is said to employ thousands of workers for their agricultural
projects, while bulldozers and other heavy machinery have been used to
clear land for the planting of paddy, sugar cane, rubber plants and
cassava nuts.

Some area residents have also complained that company employees have
slaughtered their cattle when they strayed into the company’s project
areas.

Hugaung Valley was the scene of heavy fighting in the early 1990s between
armed ethnic Kachin groups and the Burmese army.

The Ledo Road, a two-lane highway linking India and China that runs
through the Hugaung Valley, was built during World War II. The local
population is sparse and the ownership of land is loosely enforced, say
residents, because the area is poorly administered by local officials.

____________________________________

July 27, Mizzima News
Burma bans popular internet telephony, Mediaring Talk - Nem Davies

The Burmese military junta has banned the use of the popular internet
telephony, Mediaring Talk, an online telephone enabled overseas
telecommunication system, which was available at cheap rates, sources in
Rangoon said.

Mediaring Talk was banned by Burma's Ministry of Communication, Post &
Telegraph as of mid-July, said an official working at one of Rangoon's
internet cafes, the Cyber World.

"Earlier customers were able to use Mediaring Talk. But it is banned now,
it has been about a week or two that it can no longer be used," the
official added.

Mediaring Talk, which allowed free phone calls to Australia, Canada, China
Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, UK and USA and provided low rates to call
other countries, was introduced in Rangoon about six months ago. It became
popular among users who wished to communicate with people abroad, said an
official of an internet café the popular 'Junction 8' shopping centre in
Rangoon.

"Now we have no customers using Mediaring Talk. And it has been about a
month that our internet connection has become very slow. And if internet
is slow Mediaring Talk does not work. Even though we made enquiries about
the ban no specific reasons were given," she added.

"Mediaring Talk might have been banned because it is cheap. In cyber cafés
they only need to pay the internet usage charges to call overseas. Here
all voice chats are banned," the official at Cyber World told Mizzima.

According to observers, banning the popular free voice calls, and slowing
down of the internet connection since early July, before the opening of
the National Convention and Burma's Martyr's Day, could have been a step
by the government to prevent dissidents from communicating in and outside
Burma.

While it is extremely difficult to use internet telephony, currently
customers are found widely using VZO Chats and Google talk.

"At present customers mainly use the VZO and G talk but it has been only
about three days that people could start using Gtalk again," the official
added.

____________________________________

July 27, Xinhua General News Service
Myanmar ethnic peace group surrenders weapons to government

A former anti-government Shan ethnic armed group, which returned to the
legal fold 13 years ago, has surrendered their weapons to the government,
according to Friday's report of the state-run newspaper New Light of
Myanmar.

The 137-member Shan State Nationalities People's Liberation Organization
(SSNPLO), led by Chairman U Chit Maung, " unconditionally exchanged arms
for peace" with the government forces in Hsihsang township, southern part
of Shan state on Thursday, the report said.

These weapons include launchers, mortars, pistols, revolvers, various guns
and assorted ammunition and grenades, the report added.

The SSNPLO made peace with the government in 1994.

Meanwhile, a 300-member splinter group of the Kayin National Union (KNU),
led by Brigadier-General Htein Maung, laid down their arms in Kawkareik,
Kayin state in February this year, according to earlier official report.
The splinter group named themselves as Kayin National Liberation Army
(KNLA)-Peace Council.

Besides, in the first four months of this year, a total of 29 other
individual members from some anti-government armed groups, namely the Shan
State Army-South (SSA-S) led by Ywet Sit, Kayin National Union (KNU) and
Kayinni National Progressive Party (KNPP), laid down their arms to the
government forces, bringing along with them a total of 171 rounds of
ammunition among others, the earlier reports also said.

KNU, which fought with the government for more than five decades since the
country's independence in 1948, remains as the largest anti-government
ethnic armed group which has not made peace yet with the government.

Since the government adopted a policy of national reconciliation in 1989,
17 anti-government armed groups have made peace with the government,
returning to the legal fold under respective cease-fire agreements.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

July 27, Irrawaddy
Rangoon businessmen forced to donate to National Convention - Htet Aung

Burma’s military regime has forced businessmen and merchants in Rangoon to
donate cash and commodities to cover the cost of the National Convention,
according to business sources in the former capital.

“We are now facing forced donations to the National Convention,” a member
of the Myanmar [Burma] Paddy and Rice Merchants Association told The
Irrawaddy on Friday. “We are also facing increasing tax collection from
the government while our businesses are not doing well.”

Some businessmen from the Hlaing Thar Yar industrial zone said the regime
has pressured businessmen to donate from 100,000 kyat (US $80) to 1
million kyat ($800) to the convention, depending on the size of a
business.

The forced donation have contributed to rising basic commodity prices as
businesses increase prices to cover donations, said o­ne merchant.

More than 100 businessmen and merchants have donated cash and commodities,
such as rice, cooking oil, o­nions and stationery valued at 53,265,500
kyat ($42,000), The New Light of Myanmar reported on Thursday.

A confidential expense report obtained by The Irrawaddy in late June
listed expenses totaling 300 million kyat (US $240,000) for one 2-month
session of the convention which began on December 5, 2005

____________________________________
ASEAN

July 27, Associated Press
Myanmar opposes human rights body in Southeast Asia, diplomats say - Jim
Gomez

Myanmar has objected to a proposal to create a regional human rights body
under a landmark charter being drafted by Southeast Asian countries, two
diplomats said Friday.

The proposal, backed by more liberal countries such as the Philippines, is
among the few remaining contentious issues holding up completion of a
charter for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the diplomats
said.

The Southeast Asian diplomats, who were helping draft the charter, spoke
on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to
reporters.

ASEAN, formed in 1967, has decided to draft a charter to become a more
rules-based organization with better bargaining power in international
negotiations. It hopes the charter can be signed at an annual ASEAN
leaders' summit in November.

A high-level ASEAN task force has completed about 95 percent of the work
and plans to submit a final draft to the region's foreign ministers at a
meeting in Manila on Monday.

"We're working on it," ASEAN Secretary-General Ong Keng Yong said.

Enshrining human rights protection in the charter has been a touchy issue
because some ASEAN countries have spotty rights records, such as
military-ruled Myanmar.

Diplomats have agreed to guarantee the protection of human rights in the
current draft charter, but Myanmar rejected a proposal to specifically
mention creation of a rights commission, the two diplomats said.

A draft of the charter, seen by The Associated Press on Wednesday, calls
for the "respect of fundamental freedoms, the promotion and protection of
human rights and the promotion of social justice" but made no mention of a
human rights body.

Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo said Thursday his government
wanted the creation of such a body guaranteed by the charter to give ASEAN
"more credibility in the international community."

Aside from the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia have raised the need
for such a rights body in the past but other ASEAN members have opposed
it.

Some ASEAN members fear such a commission could allow scrutiny of rights
conditions in one country, possibly violating the group's cardinal policy
of noninterference in each other's affairs.

Human rights groups complain that ASEAN's noninterference principle has
fostered undemocratic regimes in the region.

ASEAN consists of fledgling democracies, communist countries,
authoritarian capitalist states, a military dictatorship and a monarchy.

Indonesia proposed a regional rights commission with investigative powers
in 2003 but ASEAN failed to reach a consensus on it.

Two years later, ASEAN agreed to set up panels to protect the rights of
women, children and migrant workers and to promote human rights education
pending establishment of a commission.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. It admitted Myanmar in 1997
despite strong opposition from Western nations.

____________________________________

July 27, Agence France Presse
Charter eyed for ASEAN bloc, but problems persist - Jason Gutierrez

Southeast Asian nations are close to agreeing on their first-ever charter,
a landmark move diplomats say could turn the ASEAN bloc into an EU-style
rules-based grouping.

But there appears to be one problem -- the 10 ASEAN members cannot quite
agree over sanctions to be imposed on members who break the rules.

One campaigner said she feared the charter would not go far enough, saying
failure to set a tough sanctions framework in place will mean decades more
inaction on human rights from ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations).

The first working draft is to be submitted to foreign ministers of ASEAN
members Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam when they meet in Manila next
week.

The document is nearly complete, with diplomats and experts working hard
since December on the delicate wording that seeks to codify ASEAN
objectives and norms, officials say.

After the foreign ministers add their own comments and revisions, the
final document will be submitted to the ASEAN leaders in November at their
annual meeting in Singapore.

"In addition to giving the organisation a legal personality and some
measure of promoting compliance, the ASEAN charter is expected to set
certain norms in political governance," said MC Abad, who heads the ASEAN
Regional Forum (ARF) unit in ASEAN's Jakarta-based secretariat.

The charter, he said, will also "set a standard of behaviour in
inter-state relations, but also in how they govern internally."

"It will prescribe the way forward with the consent of all ASEAN members
upon adoption," Abad told AFP.

But while the charter is seen to help transform the bloc into a European
Union-style organisation 40 years after it was created in 1967, analysts
and critics say it remains to be seen whether it would lead to changes in
errant member states such as Myanmar.

The military-ruled country has repeatedly given the bloc a black eye,
refusing to introduce democratic reforms and to release Nobel peace prize
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi despite widespread economic sanctions from the
west.

Deborah Stothard, coordinator of the Bangkok-based Alternative Asean
Network on Burma (Myanmar), said civil society groups which had held
consultations with drafters of the charter had hoped it would go beyond
the bloc's policy of not interfering in each others' internal affairs.

She noted that there seemed to have been a complete turnaround from an
earlier statement on sanctions, and warned that watering down provisions
of the document could doom the organisation.

"We are very disappointed now that the ASEAN leadership does not have the
courage and backbone to implement recommendations," earlier made on
possible sanctions, Stothard said.

"This will probably doom ASEAN to yet another 40 years of going nowhere in
terms of human rights."

ASEAN Secretary General Ong Keng Yong said in Singapore recently that
about 90 percent of the text of the charter's first draft was already
complete.

However, he said it would likely exclude punishment for erring members,
even though the group has repeatedly been criticised for its soft approach
on Myanmar.

"I don't think we will have a provision for voting or sanctions on any guy
who did not measure up," said Ong.

"Even if you provide a paragraph for sanctions and nobody follows it, what
does it mean? It's even worse... we come across as more hypocritical," he
said.

Diplomatic sources said members of a special taskforce ASEAN created to
draft the charter have included a provision that would call for the
setting up of a commission to tackle the issue of human rights.

It remains unclear if the proposed commission would have enforcement
powers to introduce change in Myanmar.

The "terms of reference" for the commission were being finalised, although
it has met with some opposition from Myanmar, which early this year
extended Suu Kyi's house arrest, triggering international outrage.

Egoy Bans, a spokesman for the regional advocacy group Free Burma
Coalition - Philippines, welcomed the rights commission, calling it a
small step forward for ASEAN, which in the past repeatedly sidestepped the
issue of rights abuses.

"Hopefully, once we have this rights organ under the charter, ASEAN
countries can begin engaging Myanmar on the issue of human rights," Bans
told AFP.

"It's all about political will. When they (ASEAN members) engage the
junta, they should do so by pushing for complete reforms because the
constructive engagement policy has failed," he said.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

July 27, Narinjara News
Twenty four Bangladeshi fishermen abducted by Burmese force

Twenty four Bangladeshi fishermen were abducted and two fishing boats were
seized by personnel of the Burmese border security force, the Nasaka on
Tuesday, from the mouth of the Naff River near St. Martin Island a
fisherman said.

A fishing boat owner said a section of the Burmese Nasaka intruded into
Bangladesh territorial waters on Tuesday morning and seized two of the
three fishing boats from Bangladesh territorial waters. One fishing boat
managed to evade capture by the Nasaka forces.

The Nasaka took the 24 fishermen to the Burmese side and detained them at
a Nasaka outpost south of Maungdaw Township, a border source said.

The captured Bangladeshi fishermen will face trial for illegally intruding
into Burmese waters to fish.

A Nasaka official in Maungdaw yesterday confirmed the arrest of the
Bangladeshi fishermen from the Naff River, but denied that the Nasaka
arrested them from Bangladesh territorial waters.

The official said, "We arrested them because they were illegally fishing
in our waters."

Bangladesh security forces complained about the arrest to Nasaka and
demanded the immediate release of the Bangladeshi fishermen.

It is learnt that the maritime boundary along the border between
Bangladesh and Burma is disputed, and such incidents often occur in the
area.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

July 27, Agence France Presse
US sanctions policy on Myanmar has failed: business chief - P. Parameswaran

US sanctions on military-ruled Myanmar have failed and the next American
administration may change tactics to bring about reforms in the Southeast
Asian state, according to the head of a top US business lobby group in the
region.

"We can't escape the conclusion that our policies have simply not moved
Myanmar in the right direction nor do they have any reasonable prospect of
doing so," said Matthew Daley, president of the US-Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Business Council.

"The simple truth is that no country, not even the UK, supports current
American policy in its entirety," he said at a forum organized by the
Washington-based, conservative Heritage Foundation.

Daley, the former Southeast Asia head in the US State Department, said US
policy did not have the backing even within ASEAN, of which Myanmar is a
member together with Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

"I don't think that the government in Hanoi, the government in Vientiane,
the government in Phnom Penh are going to take or permit ASEAN to take
drastic action against Burma (Myanmar)," he said.

"This is an unpleasant reality, it's inescapable and I think increasingly
recognized and acknowledged by the Burmese community in exile," he said.

"I think people probably see a change in approach in the future
administration" -- irrespective of whether it is led by a Republican or
Democratic president, he said.

Daley also highlighted what he called the seldom discussed "cost" of US
sanctions policy, including "strategic gains" made by Myanmar ally China.

His comments came just two days after the US Congress overwhelmingly
passed resolutions maintaining a ban on imports from Myanmar as part of
sanctions for repressing democratic opposition and for human rights
abuses.

Two months earlier President George W. Bush renewed sanctions that
prohibited new investments and exports of financial services and deny
visas to top junta officials.

Eric John, Daley's successor in the State Department, defended the
sanctions policy at the forum when asked whether Washington's move last
month to hold its first high level direct dialogue in many years with the
Myanmar junta leaders in Beijing stemmed from policy failure.

"I won't say that our sanctions policy has failed in Burma ... it's still
a policy that the administration still strongly supports," he said, citing
near unanimity in the administration and strong bipartisan support in
Congress for sanctions.

He chided some countries for undercutting US sanctions by pursuing a
"combination of engagement in isolation" policy with Myanmar by involving
very extensively economically with the gas-rich state.

"We are not going to settle the debate with the international community of
engagement versus isolation. What we try to settle is at least going in
with the same basic message to the (junta) about the very basic steps it
should take if it wishes to engage with the international community," John
said.

Myanmar's military rulers continue to hold under arrest democracy icon
Aung San Suu Kyi -- a Nobel Peace prize laureate whose National League for
Democracy (NLD) political party won 1990 elections but was never allowed
to take office.

She has spent most of the past 17 years under house arrest.

A senior US lawmaker, Tom Lantos, said this week that Congress' renewal of
import sanctions on Myanmar was aimed both to pressure directly the
military junta and influence nations "currently asleep at the wheel of
justice and human rights.

"Oppressive power can only be de-legitimized when it is fully isolated,"
he said, regretting that "too many other nations -- India and China in
particular -- continue to prop up the government through shockingly direct
deals, including arms trading, with this cruel junta."

____________________________________

July 27, Mizzima News
Conflicting views on Burma policy voiced in D.C. - Christopher Smith

U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in charge of Southeast Asia, Eric
John, and the predecessor to his position, Matthew Daley, delivered
strikingly divergent views on U.S. policy toward Burma during a panel
discussion Thursday in Washington. The current holder of the position
remains confident in Washington's continued hard-line position, with the
latter predicting an inevitable change in direction.

John, recently returned from meetings with Burmese representatives in
Beijing, described U.S. policy as one of continuing bilateral and
multilateral approaches toward Burma, utilizing channels established
through regional nations and organizations.

The purpose of his recent direct talks with junta officials in June, John
said, was to deliver, in a face-to-face setting, the administration's
recurring demands if sanctions are to be lifted and relations revisited.

John sited four primary preconditions driving U.S. policy: to see the
junta enter into a direct dialogue with the National League for Democracy,
the release of all political prisoners, permission for international
non-governmental organizations and the United Nations to work unrestricted
inside Burma, and an end to ethnic violence.

Unfortunately, according to John, the inevitability of engaging partners
such as China in the process has diluted efforts toward achieving the
goals by forcing an approach whereby goals are lowered to a "least common
denominator" between the disparate parties.

China's influence, in his opinion, can be largely counterproductive, as
China adheres to a different standard of social and political
responsibility while being accountable for at least a degree of the
corruption within Burmese society.

Calling Burma "an impediment to ASEAN integration," he accused the
military government of disrespecting the other nine ASEAN countries and of
effectively holding ASEAN policy hostage to its own narrowly defined
interests.

Overall John does not foresee an imminent need for, or political will to,
change U.S. policy toward Burma.

____________________________________

July 27, Irrawaddy
Rohingyas win right to seek asylum in Australia - Violet Cho

Seven Rohingya refugees from Burma held in a camp on a Pacific island have
won a precedent-setting legal battle to have their applications for
refugee status in Australia considered by the Canberra government.

The Australian government dropped its opposition to the Rohingyas’ case
for recognition as asylum seekers in a ground-breaking decision at the
Australian High Court on Thursday.

The Rohingyas’ lawyer, David Manne, of Australia’s Refugee and Immigration
Legal Centre, said in a phone interview with The Irrawaddy: “Our clients
have got what they wanted and what they're entitled to under Australian
law”.

The seven Rohingya refugees, he said, now had “the right to have their
visa assessed according to long established Australian visa rules. So
they've been vindicated and the government has conceded their case”.

The Rohingyas have been held in an offshore detention center in Nauru
since last October, after beaching their boat on Ashmore Reef, off the
northwest Australian coast two months earlier.

Under a widely criticised Australian policy called the “Pacific Solution,”
asylum seekers who are caught attempting to enter Australia illegally by
boat are detained at offshore detention centers such as Nauru. According
to Amnesty International, Australia's offshore detention centers “severely
restrict and in some cases prohibit asylum seekers from access to basic
needs and rights”.

The Rohingyas on Nauru applied on October 15, 2006 for refugee status
visas, but Australian authorities refused to accept their applications.

Manne said immigration officials tried to persuade them to make for
Malaysia, where they “are not granted any form of status and are treated
as illegal immigrants by Malaysian police and local militia, and are
repeatedly arrested, detained and deported, as well as being subjected to
physical and psychological abuse and mistreatment of a serious nature.”

Manne said the Australian government had tried to “dodge its legal
obligations by seeking to impose a refugee assessment process o­n them
that was fundamentally inferior, had no legal basis, no legal
accountability or safeguards at all under any legal system, let alone the
Australian one”.

Manne said he was seriously concerned about the well-being of asylum
seekers detained in Nauru. “Everyday in Nauru is another day of damage to
them. They remain in an extremely precarious situation lessening their
ability to rebuild their shattered lives.
“[Living in] limbo in Nauru has been taking a serous toll o­n their
health, causes profound damage and compounds their trauma. It is
absolutely fundamental that there is a prompt processing of their case.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

July 27, Irrawaddy
Gambari should go to the Burmese people - Kyaw Zwa Moe

One diplomat, at least, is putting in overtime to break the ice of Burma’s
lingering political impasse—Ibrahim Gambari, the UN Secretary General’s
special rapporteur on Burma. He deserves special praise for taking his
search to Moscow o­n a mission never attempted by any of his predecessors.

Gambari’s trip to Moscow, for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin
that were expected to include Burma, followed a swing through Asia for
meetings with the leaders of China, India and Japan.

The same mission will take him to Paris, Brussels, London and Geneva,
according to UN spokeswoman Marie Okabe.

His talks in Europe will find sympathetic ears. What he needs is to score
breakthroughs in Moscow, Beijing and New Delhi, the seats of governments
that have nurtured close relations with the Burmese regime.

Gambari’s mission took him to Burma twice last year, in May and November.
He looked in at the National Convention, where he would have learnt
something from the participants, despite their allegiance to the regime.
He also reportedly met with representatives from the pro-government Union
Solidarity and Development Association. And, of course, he met opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

In order to keep his lines of communication in Burma open, Gambari has to
follow the whims of the generals to some extent. But he shouldn’t allow
himself to be dictated to.

There are taboos he inevitably has to follow. An over-emphasis of demands
for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, for example. Meetings with leaders of
the 88 Generation Students group, including the leading activist Min Ko
Naing, also have to be avoided.

He shouldn’t follow the card played by the generals, however, but
concentrate on finding his own best play. And that means approaching the
Burmese people themselves. Gambari should not forget to visit places like
the Thailand-Burma border areas and the junta’s prisons. Some 150,000
ethnic Burmese refugees are currently living in nine camps along the
Thai-Burmese border, while an estimated o­ne million internally displaced
persons live under terrible conditions.

If Gambari does his homework by reading publications describing the plight
of these people, he might be persuaded to visit the camps in which they
live. If he watches the BBC, Aljazeera or CNN, he can see extensive
coverage of the appalling living conditions of internally displaced
persons in Burma and ethnic refugees in Mae La refugee camp, the biggest
camp among the nine.

The junta’s prisons also demand to be visited. Across the country, about
1,100 political prisoners are incarcerated, some of them members of the
opposition National League for Democracy, whose leader he was allowed to
meet in Rangoon last year.

He should press for a meeting with the country’s longest-serving political
prisoner, the  renowned journalist and NLD co-founder Win Tin, 78, who has
been locked up for 18 years.

UN special and human rights envoys and diplomats who visited Burma tried
to visit Win Tin to hear the views of this former NLD policy maker and
confidant of Aung San Suu Kyi. They included former UN expert Paulo Sergio
Pinheiro and the American politician Bill Richardson, Governor of New
Mexico and a US Democrat Party presidential candidate.

It was recently reported that Gambari is preparing to pay a third visit to
Burma. He should avoid exploitation by the regime and concentrate o­n
meeting the people and hearing their views.

People along the border and in prisons would definitely have important
things to say to Gambari, and he would get a better picture of what the
real situation is like in Burma.

After his first trip to Burma, Gambari claimed the visit had turned a “new
page.” But no new chapter can yet be discerned. To achieve that, Gambari
should go to the people.