BurmaNet News, October 16, 2007

[Editor]

October 16, 2007 Issue # 3321

INSIDE BURMA
The Australian: Burma says 500 people still held
Reuters: Red Cross seeks access to Myanmar protest detainees
Irrawaddy: Where have all the monks gone?
DVB: Three Mandalay NLD members arrested
Mizzima News: Burmese junta rebuff int'l pressure, vow to 'march on'
Narinjara News: Father and son jailed
Irrawaddy: Fears grow for fate of detained activists - Violet Cho
Mizzima News: Junta appeases monks with offerings
IMNA: Army officers accept 2 million Kyat bribe; refuse to free detainee
The Australian: A monument to junta's fear

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: More dissidents flee to Thai-Burmese border - Saw Yan Naing

BUSINESS / TRADE
AP: In Myanmar, rivers, forests suffer
DVB: Wage increase for Rangoon municipal workers

ASEAN
AP: UN envoy to Myanmar wins Malaysia's assurance of ASEAN's full support

REGIONAL
AFP: Japan slashes aid to Myanmar over crackdown
Xinhua: China welcomes visit by UN special envoy on Burma "as soon as
possible"
The Nation: PM suggests 6-party talks: Follow N Korea model: let Asean
troika, US, India and China take part, Surayud tells UN's Gambari

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: UN envoy tells Myanmar to halt arrests at once
AP: US urges China, Southeast Asia to act on Myanmar
Irrawaddy: Burmese activist writes open letter to Ban Ki-moon
International Trade Union Confederation: Burma: EU falls short on sanctions

STATEMENT
NLD: Special Announcement
AIPMC Statement supporting a Global Arms Embargo on Myanmar

PRESS RELEASE
Burma Campaign UK hails EU sanctions breakthrough

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

October 16, The Australian
Burma says 500 people still held

Burma's military government still holds nearly 500 people in detention
nationwide following the junta's bloody crackdown on peaceful protests,
state television said today.

Of the 500, about 190 were detained in Rangoon, Burma's main city, where
authorities used force in late September to crush pro-democracy
demonstrations, killing at least 13 people including a Japanese
journalist.

The junta updated the number of people arrested during the protests, which
became the biggest challenge to the iron-fisted regime in nearly two
decades, saying that nearly 3000 people were detained in total.

Earlier, the government said more than 2100 people had been arrested
nationwide, while diplomatic sources in Rangoon estimated thousands of
people were arrested for joining the anti-junta marches.

Burma is under global pressure over its violent clampdown on peaceful
protests, led by Buddhist monks, and the UN Security Council last week
unanimously adopted a statement condemning the regime's violent crackdown.

But the junta overnight shrugged off international steps to punish the
regime for its suppression of protests, vowing to "march on" even as
Japan, one of the largest donors to Burma, cut aid and European nations
widened sanctions.

Burma, has been ruled by the military since 1962, and the United Nations
estimates there are some 1100 political prisoners in the South-East Asian
country.

The regime has also restricted the country's opposition leader and Nobel
Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi to home detention in Rangoon for most
of the past 18 years.

____________________________________

October 16, Reuters
Red Cross seeks access to Myanmar protest detainees - Stephanie Nebehay

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Tuesday it was
seeking access to thousands of people detained during the recent crackdown
in Myanmar, though authorities there had not yet agreed to talks.

Pierre Kraehenbuehl, the ICRC's director of operations, said the
humanitarian agency has not yet been able to re-establish a meaningful
dialogue with the ruling generals that have restricted its activities over
the past two years.

At least 10 people were killed and many were arrested during last month's
suppression of pro-democracy protests led by Buddhist monks. Myanmar
police are still raiding homes and arresting activists.

"The ICRC is deeply worried about the fate of thousands of people who have
reportedly been arrested in connection with recent events in Myanmar,"
Kraehenbuehl said in a statement.

The Swiss-based agency wants access to the detainees "to assess their
conditions of treatment and detention" and to help them contact loved
ones.

Dozens of Myanmar families have contacted the ICRC for help finding
relatives thought to have been detained or missing.

"We regret that our efforts have not yet produced any tangible results but
we remain determined to pursue them," Kraehenbuehl said.

In late June, the neutral ICRC issued a rare public censure on Myanmar,
accusing the junta of serious violations against civilians and prisoners
who were forced to serve as army porters walking ahead of soldiers through
minefields.

The agency said at the time that it had been unable to visit any of
Myanmar's estimated 1,100 political prisoners since late 2005 because the
authorities refused to allow its staff to conduct prison interviews in
private.

The junta hit back, publicly accusing the ICRC of having secret ties to
guerrillas seeking autonomy or independence.

The ICRC continues its physical rehabilitation services for amputees and
mine victims in Myanmar and facilitates some family visits to detention
centres, spokeswoman Carla Haddad said.

Two weeks ago, the United Nations Human Rights Council asked Myanmar to
let its investigator, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, to visit the country for the
first time in four years. Pinheiro, who also wants full access to prisons
and detention centres, has yet to be granted a visa.

____________________________________

October 16, Irrawaddy
Where have all the monks gone? - Shah Paung

Until a few weeks ago, Burma had a very visible community of about 400,000
monks. Now they are a comparatively rare sight in the streets of Rangoon,
Mandalay and other cities. Residents are asking: where have all the monks
gone?

Unknown numbers were rounded up in the recent demonstrations that rocked
Rangoon and elsewhere. Many are still in detention, and others are
confined to their monasteries. The authorities say they have released
several hundred. But large numbers are very evidently still missing.

A resident of Mandalay, the historic heart of Burmese Buddhism, said:
“Mandalay is now a city without monks.”

At the height of the demonstrations, the authorities banned the monks of
Mandalay’s monasteries from continuing with their daily alms rounds, and a
resident told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that the groups of monks who had
resumed their early morning tours of the city had shrunk from more than 50
to fewer than 10.

“When we asked the monks where the others were they didn’t dare answer,”
she said. “We don’t know whether they still alive or not.”

A Rangoon monk contacted by The Irrawaddy was also reluctant to talk about
the missing clergy. “We can not say anything about the situation, nor
anything about the monks of Maggin monastery.”

Maggin monastery is in Rangoon’s Thingangyun Township, where the abbot,
three monks and four other people were arrested on September 26. Two monks
and two of the other arrested people have since been released.

An abbot at a monastery in Sittwe said that before the crackdown the
number of monks in his monastery had shrunk from more than 260 to 20.
Other Sittwe monasteries had lost about one third of their monks, he said.

On October 1, the Burmese authorities also arrested an Arakanese monk, U
Kawwidda, abbot of Thatka Thila Zaya Thidi Pati Pahtan monastery in
Rangoon’s North Okkalapa Township. He is a former president of the Rakhine
[Arakan] Young Monks Union.

Some monks returned to their homes during and after the crackdown on
demonstrations, and others fled to the Burmese-Thai border. Four monks
crossed into Thailand in recent weeks, but two have since returned to
Burma.

____________________________________

October 16, Democratic Voice of Burma
Three Mandalay NLD members arrested

Three members of the youth wing of the National League for Democracy in
Mandalay were arrested on Sunday evening, according to an NLD party
member.

Ko Wunna Aung, Ko Ye Min Zaw (also known as Ko Pho Zaw) and Ko Soe Khine
Win were arrested by authorities in Sagaing division, close to Mandalay,
where they were hiding at an unknown location.

Forty-one NLD members from Mandalay division have so far been arrested in
connection with last month’s public demonstrations against the military
regime.

Among these are Daw Win Mya Mya, chairperson of Mandalay NLD who was
arrested on 29 September, and five other members of the organizing
committee.

____________________________________

October 16, Mizzima News
Burmese junta rebuff int'l pressure, vow to 'march on' - Mungpi

The Burmese military junta on Tuesday made clear its determination to
'March on' with its planned roadmap to democracy, despite increasing
international pressure on the regime to hold a dialogue with pro-democracy
opposition.

The junta, in an article published in its mouthpiece, New Light of Myanmar
newspaper, on Tuesday criticized last week's 'Presidential Statement' of
the UN Security Council which deplored the regimes' brutal crackdown on
protesters and called for the immediate release of political prisoners,
saying the statement can not derail their plan.

"The situation in Myanmar [ Burma] does not constitute a threat to the
regional and international peace and security," the article said.

The junta also flatly rejected that there are no political prisoners in
Burma and reiterated that it will continue with its planned seven-step
roadmap to democracy despite pressure by the international community.

"We will March On," said the article written under a pseudonym -- Banya
Aung. "There is no reason to change the course. We warmly welcome those
who join us with genuine goodwill. We will remove all the hindrances and
obstacles that may lie ahead."

The junta's response came as Japan, one of the junta's biggest donors of
aid, announced to cut-off US $ 4.7 million funding for a human resources
centre in Burma as a reflection of its stance on the military-ruled
country after the brutal crackdown on monk-led protests last month that
killed several people including a Japanese photojournalist Kenji Nagai.

The Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura on Tuesday told reporters
that Japan cannot support Burma this time around and will persuade the
junta to move towards democratic reforms.

Meanwhile on Monday, foreign ministers of European Union approved a new
set of sanctions against the junta including an embargo on the export of
wood, gems and metals. The EU also imposed import and an investment ban on
the sectors of wood, gems and metal.

However, the EU confirms that it will continue with humanitarian aid
assistance aimed at the most vulnerable population of Burma and Burmese
refugees living in neighboring countries.

The EU also called on all concerned countries to put in place further
restrictive measures, including a ban on new investment.

George Bush, President of the US, which imposed targeted sanctions on the
Burmese regime, similarly called for more international pressure, to make
it clear to the Burmese generals that they will be completely isolated and
not accepted into the international community.

Meanwhile, the Burmese junta, trying to show that normalcy has returned to
the country eased the imposition of curfew and reopened internet accesses.
But, contrary to its claims, the junta during the weekend arrested six
more activists including two prominent 88 generation student, who led some
of the protests in August.

Ibrahim Gambari, the UN Secretary General's special envoy to Burma, who is
currently in the region to hold consultations with key Asian nations on
Burma, said the unabated arrest of activists by the junta "would have
detrimental effects on the process of national reconciliation and on the
peaceful and prosperous Myanmar [ Burma]."

The Nigerian diplomat, after consulting Thai officials on Burma, left for
Malaysia on Tuesday and will continue to Indonesia, India, China and
Japan. He told reporters that he plans to revisit Burma in mid-November
after concluding his consultation trip.

Gambari said he has received confirmation at the level of the head of
state from Myanmar to grant him permission to visit the country again in
mid November 2007, adding that "the situation in Myanmar [ Burma] could
move in the right direction," if efforts are made.

____________________________________

October 16, Narinjara News
Father and son jailed

U Indri Ya, a 23-year-old monk, was arrested from Myo Ma monastery in
Maungdaw in Arakan state, Burma on September 29 for leading the recent
protests by monks. He is now facing charges in the Maungdaw district
court, said a relative.

Relatives of the young monk were not allowed to attend any of the hearings
or examine the authority's case against him because the judge held court
inside the police lockup rather than in a courtroom, the relative added.

The family of the monk has not received a legal suit for his case in the
Maungdaw courts.

The Maungdaw police prosecuted him under a section of Act 6, 143, and 505
(Kha) for creating instability and organizing the people in protesting
against the regime, a lawyer in Maungdaw said.

U Indri Ya was forced by authorities to discard the robes of monk hood
after his arrest. He was arrested in Maungdaw when he was trying to flee
to Bangladesh.

U Indri Ya was living at the Sita Thukha monastery in Sittwe and many
monks from the monastery were involved in leading the recent protests in
the city.

U Indri Ya's father U Aung Ban Tha, was also arrested for working with the
National League for Democracy two years ago.

Aung Ban Than is the General Secretary of the Sittwe Township NLD and is
currently in Sittwe prison after he was  sentenced to a long prison tern
for  refusing to resign from the NLD at the government's behest.

A rumor is doing the rounds in Maungdaw that the authorities may sentence
the young monk to a long jail term as he is the son of U Aung Ban Tha, a
senior member of the NLD in Arakan State.

____________________________________

October 16, Irrawaddy
Fears grow for fate of detained activists - Violet Cho

Fears are growing for the lives of pro-democracy activists arrested during
the recent demonstrations and now held incommunicado in high-security
prisons and interrogation centers.

Several of them have a history of illness, often caused by earlier,
prolonged stays in prison, and maltreatment and torture could kill them,
human rights groups warn. One activist, 42-year-old Win Shwe, a member of
the opposition National League for Democracy, has died in a police
interrogation center, a Burmese rights group reported last week.

One of the latest to be arrested, Htay Kywe, 39, a leader of the 88
Generation Students group, had a stomach operation during a previous,
15-year term of imprisonment, and his health is reportedly still not good.

Bo Kyi, Joint Secretary of the Thailand-based Assistance Association for
Political Prisoners, said he was worried that Htay Kywe could come in for
particularly brutal treatment because of his role in informing world media
about the bloody events in Burma from his hiding place. Htay Kywe’s life
was in danger, Bo Kyi said.

Speaking from her own hiding place to the BBC Burmese service, Nilar
Thein, a woman activist on the regime’s wanted list, also said the lives
of those arrested in recent roundups would be at risk.

Htay Kywe, who escaped arrest when security forces broke up the start of
demonstrations in August, was seized at his hiding place in Rangoon on
Saturday morning, together with two other activists, Aung Thu and Mie Mie.

Htay Kywe was first arrested in 1991 and was incarcerated in Rangoon’s
notorious Insein Prison for 15 years. He was transferred to Tharrawaddy
Prison in 1995 and although his jail term officially ended in July 2001,
he was continually detained under the “Protection of the State from
Threat” Act 10 A, which allows the military authorities the right to
detain suspects indefinitely and arbitrarily. He was finally released in
October 2004.

Amnesty International has also expressed its concern about the fate of
detained activists, saying torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman and
degrading treatment were common in pre-trial detention.

Other detained activist leaders said to be in danger include 88 Generation
Students group leaders Min Ko Naing and Ko Ko Gyi, who have each spent
more than 15 years behind bars. Min Ko Naing is reported to have been
admitted to hospital in Insein prison with unspecified injuries.

A third leading activist, Min Ze Ya, who was arrested together with Min Ko
Naing and Ko Ko Gyi in August, is suffering from acute high blood pressure
problems. Amnesty International says he has been denied proper medical
treatment.

Min Ze Ya also has serious back problems and other medical conditions
which are linked to the torture he suffered during an earlier term of
imprisonment.

Thirteen leaders of the 88 Generation Students group were arrested during
an overnight operation on August 21, after they had led a demonstration
against massive increases in fuel prices.

The UN Special Envoy on Burma, Ibrahim Gambari, has now added his voice to
those demanding the release of Burma’s political prisoners. Beginning a
tour of Asian capitals before undertaking another visit to Burma, Gambari
called for the release of all political detainees, including those who
were arrested during the recent protests.

Speaking in Bangkok, he also asked for access by the International Red
Cross to those in detention. The work of the Geneva-based International
Committee of the Red Cross has been severely restricted by the Burmese
regime in recent years.

____________________________________

October 16, Mizzima News
Junta appeases monks with offerings

In an attempt at appeasing Buddhist monks after ill treating them, the
Burmese military junta has started offering Swan and other things in
different monasteries in Rangoon and other parts of the country.

The State-run newspaper, New Light of Myanmar, today carried several
photographs and information on the junta's generals offering Swan and
other valuables including money to at least 66 monasteries in Rangoon and
across the country.

However, monks in Burma said they maintained a numb-sense in accepting the
offerings of the generals, who had last month come down heavily on monks,
protesting peacefully.

"We monks eat only when any one offers us. And whenever anyone wants to
offer, we cannot refuse. But we maintain a numb-sense and accept the
offerings," said an abbot in Thayetthaw monastery in Rangoon.

The junta last month cracked down on monk-led protests that posed a direct
challenge to its rule, and killed several monks and civilians. The junta
launched midnight raids in several monasteries and residence of activists.

The junta claimed that 10 people had died and over 2,000 were arrested but
activists said the number is higher with at least 200 killed and several
hundreds if not thousands arrested and put into prisons and interrogation
centres.

"There is nothing like we forgive for what they [the junta] have done to
us. We don't hate them nor do we love them, we just maintain a numb-sense.
We believe that people doing good will get good returns and for evil doers
the same will come back," said another abbot from a monastery in Rangoon.

Meanwhile, residents in Rangoon said, while some monasteries accepted the
offerings by military generals, a few rejected them and piled up the
offerings on the monastery ground.

While the information could not be independently verified, a local
resident, who is close to monasteries, said, "I heard that some
monasteries accepted the offerings but there are some that did not want
any offerings from the generals and they piled up the offerings in the
middle of the monastery ground."

But an abbot in New Delhi, India said the junta's act of offering Swan and
other materials after severely violating the Buddhist religious rules by
insulting and dishonoring revered monks [considered as sons of Lord Buddha
in Burma], the junta is trying to drive a wedge in the unity of monks in
Burma.

"By giving offerings, the junta is creating fissures in the monks' unity.
Because if the monks do not accept they might be arrested and by doing so
they are dividing the monks into two – monks who refuse the junta's
offering and monks who accept the offerings," U Pinyawara, chairman of the
All Burma Young Buddhist Monks Union told Mizzima.

"In Buddhism, there are five major sins, and the junta is now committing
the biggest sin," U Pinyawara added.

____________________________________

October 16, Independent Mon News Agency
Army officers accept 2 million Kyat bribe; refuse to free detainee

A Thai cordless telephone owner arrested on suspicion of passing
information to groups in exile, was not released even thought the family
paid Kyat 2 million to a military commander for his freedom.

The owner, Nai Aung Khin and four women from Khaw-zar sub township, Ye
township, Mon State in Burma are being detained since the second week of
September in the police station in Ye town.

"They (authorities) produced them in court for passing information to
groups in exile," sources close to Nai Aung Khin said.

The families of the detained people paid money to the Military Operation
Management Command and other officers in Ye for their release. Nai Aung
Khin's family has already spent about Kyat 2 million for his freedom,
according to a family source.

They wasted the money because he was not released even after the officers
were bribed, he added.

The families of the detained, however, are being allowed to meet them in
the police station, the source said.

When the local authorities seized the phones they also confiscated other
equipment from the owners.

According to the family, they were not passing on information to exiled
groups as has been alleged. They were only hiring out the phones to family
members who have relatives working in Thailand .

Residents in Khawzar alleged that the military officers have set up the
people to extort money.

____________________________________

October 16, The Australian
A monument to junta's fear - Kenneth Denby, Naypyidaw, Burma

Even before you have arrive in Naypyidaw, it is obvious the world's newest
capital is a place like no other in Burma.

It is not just the isolation, in a jungle 320km from the sea; it's not
just the active discouragement of foreigners, which is circumvented easily
enough.
It is the road leading into it.

Ten lanes wide, cut flat and straight through hills and forests, it is the
grandest and fastest stretch of road in a country where potholed tracks
qualify as major highways.

Occasionally, a cement lorry or a rickety open-backed minibus drives past.
But otherwise, the traffic consists of sputtering motorbikes, horse-drawn
carts and lines of women carrying baskets on their heads.

The grandiose public buildings and shopping centres, like the broad roads,
are meant as a model of the advanced Asian city, but many of them stand
empty and unused. Unknown millions have been lavished on the new capital's
construction, in a country where most people live on less than a dollar a
day.

Its inaccessible location is intended to protect the junta of Senior
General Than Shwe, but many believe the Government's increased isolation
is hastening its downfall.

I am the first Western journalist to visit the capital since the junta's
crackdown on pro-democracy protests last month. Foreigners should have
permission to visit, and travel agents refuse to sell train tickets to
Pyinmana, the closest town. But no one stopped me getting off the train.

The port of Rangoon had been Burma's capital since the British conquest of
the country in 1885, and remains its greatest city - a seething stew of
extreme poverty, lively commerce and rich culture. So it came as a
surprise in 2005 when the junta announced the new capital and the
relocation of all government functions. Over months, long convoys made the
10-hour journey to Naypyidaw, carrying entire government departments and
their civil servants.

"I miss Rangoon," one man, an employee of the Planning and Economic
Development Ministry, said. "I miss my life there, my parents and
friends."

In structure, Naypyidaw is hardly a city at all, but rather a series of
zones carefully dispersed to isolate the different parts of the city from
one another.

The hotel zone is where foreigners stay, in places with names such as the
Royal Kumudra, the Golden Myanmar and the Aureum Palace. For $77 a night,
I enjoyed foreign cable TV and airconditioning in a self-contained
bungalow. I saw not a single other guest.

The civilian heart is a town of white, blue and pink four-storey flats. A
shopping complex contains scores of premises, all unfinished or
unoccupied.

But not all of Naypyidaw is a building site. The city hall has high white
walls and curving tiled roofs, like the palace of Ming the Merciless.

North of here are the identical ministry buildings. The one I entered had
manual typewriters instead of computers and the silvery-blue glass at the
front was already showing cracks.

The first sign of life comes at the city's market and bus station, the
only place in Naypyidaw where messy human reality impinges on Than Shwe's
sterile folly.

The telephone directory is 12 pages long, compared with 470 for Rangoon,
but according to the Government almost a million people live here.

Members of Burma's Muslim minority are excluded, and there are almost none
of the monks who turned against the Government last month. But the most
surprising thing is the absence - except for a few unobtrusive policemen -
of the armed forces.

The generals live in yet another zone, where soldiers parade before
titanic statues of Burma's ancient kings.

The obvious question is: why?

The most plausible explanation is that the generals are escaping from the
increasingly clamorous people. Rangoon, after all, is a city of protest
and opposition, of the democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who remains a
threat to the junta even under house arrest.

By removing the Civil Service, it can at last avoid a repeat of the 1988
uprising, when government workers took to the streets alongside students.

"The move to Naypyidaw will be the undoing of the generals," one foreign
diplomat in Rangoon said. "Their isolation from the population makes them
less intimidating ... and it's a death blow to their intelligence
gathering."

So perhaps this is the irony of the retreat to the jungle: far from being
a demonstration of strength, it is a symptom of fear.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

October 16, Irrawaddy
More dissidents flee to Thai-Burmese border - Saw Yan Naing

A group of six Burmese dissidents, including one monk and two members of
the 88 Generation Students Group, became the latest newcomers to Mae Sot
on the Thai-Burmese border.

As the military authorities in Rangoon continue their crackdown through
nighttime raids on those they suspect of taking part in the monk-led
protests last month, more activists are fleeing for safety to the
Thai-Burmese border.

The latest six protesters were taken in by exiled Burmese dissident
groups. Up to ten demonstrators, including monks, have fled to Thailand in
recent weeks, according to dissident groups, adding that a Burmese
official who refused to attack protesting monks had also fled and was
seeking asylum in Norway with his son.

A 31-year-old monk who recently fled from a monastery called State
Pariyatti Sasana University in Kabar Aye in Rangoon’s Mayangone Township
told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday, “The soldiers raid homes, especially at
nighttime. They compare suspects with photos of those who were involved in
the protests. Also, they employ an increased number of soldiers when they
raid monasteries.”

“In the daytime, it is fine,” he said. “But at night the monks are living
in fear. They worry that the troops will raid their monasteries. Some
people are afraid of accepting monks in their homes.”

The security forces also patrol the streets with loudspeakers, announcing
that homeowners should not take in monks and that, if found out, the
authorities will take action against the homeowner, said the monk who
requested anonymity for his family’s safety.

He added that if the security forces do not find the suspects they are
looking for, they often arrest family members in their place. Authorities
have been using members of the United Solidarity and Development
Association to gather information about the protesters and the monks.

Some monks have even left the sangha (monkhood) in fear for their lives,
he said, adding that he was also personally checked at border checkpoints
during his trip to Thailand.

Meanwhile, Ye Htun Kyaw and Nay Win Hlaing, members of the 88 Generation
Students Group, finally decided to leave for the Thai-Burmese border after
being continuously hunted down by the Burmese authorities.

On learning that the security forces were planning to raid them, the two
88 Generation members changed location within Rangoon. “However,” Ye Htun
Kyaw said, “We didn’t feel safe any more. We thought about giving
ourselves up, but in the end we chose to come to the border.”

Nay Win Hlaing said that he worried for those who were being held in
isolated detention. “The security forces acted brutally in public,” he
said. “So, behind closed doors, the detainees will have it much worse.”

Also, police are trying to put names to faces from the video footage of
the protests, according to local sources.

The sources said that after security forces brutally cracked down on the
protesters in Rangoon the small monasteries that line both sides of the
road were mostly locked and empty, while wooden blockades and bales of
rusted barbed wire that police used to block off Shwedagon Pagoda are
heaped on the street. Police and soldiers with armed weapons have been
positioned outside the mostly silent monasteries, they added.

On October 12, prominent activists Mie Mie, Aung Thu and 88 Generation
leader, Htay Kywe, as well as their friend Ko Ko, were arrested by
authorities in a hiding place.

Meanwhile, sources say that the detainees, including monks, were tortured
in detention centers and given insufficient food, water and medication.
Some of those hospitalized including well-known 88 Generation Students
Group leader Min Ko Naing. Some detainees died in detention in Rangoon,
claimed the sources.

According to Burma's state-run newspaper, the New Light of Myanmar, raids
on 18 monasteries resulted in the arrests of more than 2,000 protesters.
The paper added that 10 people were killed.

However, diplomats and dissidents say the death toll is likely much higher
and that up to 6,000 people were seized, including over 1,000 monks who
led the rallies.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

October 16, Associated Press
In Myanmar, rivers, forests suffer

Truckloads of illegal timber cross the Myanmar border to sawmills in
China, while markets along the Thai border openly sell bear paws, tiger
skins and elephant tusks.

Further inland, the repressive military regime plans to dam one of Asia's
purest rivers, and allows gold and gem mines to tear up hillsides and
pollute groundwater for quick cash.

Myanmar has become notorious in the region for ignoring international and
its own environmental laws in a single-minded effort to make the money
that environmentalists say helps keep the regime in power.

"They may have laws on the books but they mean extremely little," said
Sean Turnell, an expert on the Myanmar economy with Macquarie University
in Sydney, Australia. "I would say environmental considerations mean zero
to them. It wouldn't even enter their heads."

After decades of self-imposed isolation, the junta in the late 1980s began
courting foreign investors with offers of stakes in gem mines, forest
tracts and hydroelectric projects. Foreign investment allowed the regime
to double its military to 400,000 soldiers while offering neighbors like
China and Thailand access to cheap raw materials and energy to feed their
growing economies.

A Myanmar government spokesman did not respond to a request for comment on
its environmental record. Chinese government officials could not be
reached for comment and Thailand denied its investment in Myanmar
contributes to the country's environmental destruction.

Hardest hit in the rush to develop the country formerly named Burma have
been its rivers and forests, environmentalists say.

Over the past decade, they say, two dozen dams have either been built or
are scheduled to be built mostly with the help of Chinese and Thai firms.
They accuse the government of uprooting tens of thousands of villagers to
make way for the dams to provide electricity mostly to Thailand and China.

Among the planned dams are at least five on the Salween, which rises in
Tibet and is considered one of Southeast Asia's last untamed rivers. A
first dam is also planned on the Irrawaddy, which activists fear will
result in the forced relocation of 10,000 villagers and the decimation of
its shoreside fishing communities.

"This region is one of the world's biodiversity hot spots," said Naw La of
the Kachin Development Networking Group, a coalition of environmental
groups watching Myanmar. "If this dam is built on the Irrawaddy, the fish
populations will decrease. A lot of people will be suffering because their
livelihoods will disappear."

Along Myanmar's border with China, illegally felled timber is transported
to China, according to the Britain-based group Global Witness. From there,
it becomes flooring and furniture for European and American homes.

Global Witness said most of the logging takes place in an area described
as "very possibly the most biodiverse, rich, temperate area on earth,"
home to red pandas, leopards and tigers.

About 95 percent of Myanmar's total timber exports to China are illegal,
Global Witness said, costing its treasury $250 million a year. Much of the
profits go to Chinese firms as well as regional military commanders and
ethnic guerrilla groups, it said.

The borders along China and Thailand also are host to massive, unregulated
markets that sell everything from illicit gems to animal parts. At the
Tachileik market on the Thai border and Mong La market on the Chinese
border, vendors openly sell tiger and leopard skins, bear paws, ivory and
live turtles.

The markets are filled with Western tourists looking for souvenirs and
Asia businessmen supplying traditional medicine and food markets in China
and other Asian countries, activists said.

"Given the high demand and extent of the trade in Myanmar, many species
will be lost," said Chris Shepherd, a senior program officer for
conservation group Traffic. "Rhinos in Myanmar are probably already
extinct due to trade. Tigers are on a huge decline. Elephants are in huge
decline. The list goes on and on."

Even the few environmental success stories in Myanmar seem to have a dark
side.

The junta in 2001 created the world's largest tiger reserve in Hukaung
Valley with help and funding from the U.S.-based Wildlife Conservation
Society. It contains as many as 150 tigers -- about a third of the total
in Myanmar.

But the Kachin group says the junta has allowed widespread gold mining in
the reserve. Three gold mines are polluting the rivers through the valley
with mercury, cyanide and other chemicals, the group said in a report
released this year.

____________________________________

October 16, Democracy Voice of Burma
Wage increase for Rangoon municipal workers

The Burmese government has more than doubled the daily wage rate for
municipal refuse collectors in Rangoon, according to town sources.

The daily payment given to the workers has been increased from 700 Kyat to
1,500 Kyat a day.

One Rangoon municipal worker, speaking on condition of anonymity, told DVB
that officials had said the pay rise was aimed at helping garbage
collectors make a better living in the face of rising commodity prices.

"We were paid 500 Kyat a day before last year when they raised the pay to
700 Kyat. Now it has been raised again to 1,500," he said.

"However, as commodity prices have more than doubled this year, we are
still unable to make a living even after the pay rise." There are around
1,000 refuse collectors on the Rangoon municipal payroll.

____________________________________
ASEAN

October 16, Associated Press
UN envoy to Myanmar wins Malaysia's assurance of ASEAN's full support

Southeast Asian nations will fully support U.N. envoy Ibrahim Gambari's
mission to coax Myanmar's military government to reconcile with the
pro-democracy opposition, a Malaysian minister said Tuesday, but ruled out
imposing sanctions against the junta.

On his second stop in a six-nation Asian tour, Gambari met with Malaysian
Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar, who told him that the 10-member
Association of Southeast Asian Nations wants to "see the success" of his
negotiating work.

"ASEAN is supporting him fully in all his efforts," Syed Hamid told a news
conference. "At present, we must leave it to the United Nations. ASEAN's
most important role is to give its encouragement and support."

Gambari declined to take questions from reporters, but said he was
delivering a message to Malaysia about "the support that the United
Nations needs from ASEAN and neighboring countries so that we can address
the crisis in Myanmar at the moment, but more importantly, the long term
issues _ peace, stability, democratization, human rights in Myanmar."

At least 10 people were killed when troops fired into crowds of peaceful
protesters during a Sept. 26-27 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations.
Several thousand people are believed to have been arrested, and there have
been many reports of brutal treatment in custody.

The U.N. envoy is scheduled to meet Malaysia's Prime Minister Abdullah
Ahmad Badawi on Wednesday. He travels next to Indonesia and Japan,
followed by India and China, which are two of the Myanmar junta's biggest
allies.

Gambari, who visited Myanmar earlier this month, has previously said he
had an invitation confirmed by high-level authorities to return in
mid-November but that he hoped to go back "sooner rather than later."

Malaysia wants Myanmar's rulers to allow Gambari to return as quickly as
possible, noting that "any delay will cost a confidence gap among the
international community," Syed Hamid said.

The minister added that ASEAN will not consider suspending Myanmar as a
member, stressing that the grouping "would never take that route." He also
rejected any proposal for economic sanctions.

"Dialogue and negotiations are still the best process," Syed Hamid said.
"Nobody can talk when you are threatening all sorts of things."

World powers should also not demand overnight political change in Myanmar,
Syed Hamid said.

"You can't just simply put what is Western democracy into Myanmar without
taking into account their own position," Syed Hamid said. "We don't
believe that overnight, you can change everything. It can create more
problems. We have seen the examples in Afghanistan ... in Iraq."

Gambari met with Myanmar junta leader Gen. Than Shwe during his visit
earlier this month. He also met twice with pro-democracy leader Aung San
Suu Kyi, but his efforts have failed so far to bring about a dialogue
between the two sides.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

October 16, Agence France Presse
Japan slashes aid to Myanmar over crackdown - Miwa Suzuki

Japan on Tuesday cancelled nearly five million dollars in aid to Myanmar
in its first action to protest against the junta's bloody crackdown on
demonstrations in which a Japanese journalist was shot dead.

Japan, however, stopped short of saying it would end all assistance to
Myanmar, keeping its position at odds with its Western allies who have
demanded global action to isolate the military regime.

Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said Japan was cancelling grants of up to
552 million yen (4.7 million dollars), equivalent to around 18 percent of
the total grants and technical assistance Tokyo gave Myanmar last year.

"The Japanese government needs to show our stance. We cannot take action
that would effectively support the military regime at this moment," Komura
told reporters.

Japan, in a rare break with the United States and the European Union, has
been one of the largest donors to Myanmar, although since 2003 it has said
it only provides humanitarian aid to the country.

Japanese officials had earlier expressed caution about punishing Myanmar,
fearing it would push the junta further into the arms of China, which has
close economic and political ties with the military regime.

Japan and China have increasingly jostled for influence overseas,
particularly in Southeast Asia.

The cancelled grants had been intended to finance the construction of a
human resources centre in Myanmar. It was the only concrete grant aid
project for which Japan was exchanging notes with the Myanmar government.

It was unclear whether Japan would stop aid to future projects.

"We presume there will be some requests in the future. We will make a
judgement on each case by looking at the situation at that point of time,"
said a government official who declined to be named.

Buddhist monks led last month's protests, which posed the biggest
challenge to the regime in nearly 20 years. Troops and riot police
unleashed force to end the demonstrations, leaving at least 13 people dead
and more than 2,000 locked up.

The dead included Kenji Nagai, a video journalist for Tokyo-based APF
News, who was killed on September 27 as he filmed the crackdown in
Myanmar's commercial hub Yangon.

Television footage showed him apparently being shot at close range by
security forces.

The state-run New Light of Myanmar on Monday said Nagai's death was an
accident but complained that Nagai "dishonestly" entered the country on a
tourist visa.

"He met his tragic end due to the fact that he was together with the
protesters at an improper site at an improper time," it said, adding that
Myanmar had a "magnanimous" attitude towards Japan.

Japan occupied the country formerly known as Burma in World War II but has
carefully distanced itself from Western nations, including former colonial
power Britain, demanding a tough line on the regime.

"At a time when even China and South Korea are demanding an apology for
atrocities of Japan during the war, we Myanmar people have been in a
position of forgiving it," the newspaper said.

It said foreign media alleged Nagai was killed on purpose "with the
intention of undermining Japan-Myanmar relations, of terminating the aid
provided by Japan and of getting foreign countries to impose sanctions on
Myanmar."

Japan in 2003 suspended low-interest loans for Myanmar's infrastructure
projects to protest the continued detention of Nobel laureate and
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

But it has continued what it calls humanitarian aid.

Japan's grants to Myanmar totalled 1.353 billion yen in the last fiscal
year to March 2007. The sum reached three billion yen including technical
assistance, such as dispatches of engineers.

____________________________________

October 16, Xinhua via BBC Monitoring
China welcomes visit by UN special envoy on Burma "as soon as possible"

[Report on foreign affairs by reporters Sun Xia and Ma Wenbo: "China
welcomes Special Adviser on Burma issues to the UN Secretary General To
Conduct a Visit to China as Soon as Possible"]

Beijing, 16 Oct (Xinhua) - Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao
said at a regular press conference on 16 October that the Chinese side
welcomes Gambari, special adviser on Burma issues to the United Nations
[UN] secretary general, to conduct a visit to China as soon as possible.

Liu Jianchao said: The Chinese side noticed that Gambari has begun
conducting visits to relevant countries in Asia, to communicate and
exchange views on the Burma issue. The Chinese side welcomes him to
conduct a visit to China as soon as possible. The Chinese side is
arranging details of the visit with the UN side.

Gambari previously visited Burma from 29 September to 2 October. UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced on 11 October that he has decided
to send Gambari to the Asia region, to carry out consultations on the
situation in Burma with relevant countries, in preparation for another
visit to Burma. Gambari arrived in Bangkok on 14 October, and began a
two-day visit to Thailand. Thereafter, he will also visit another five
countries including Malaysia, Indonesia, India, China, and Japan.

____________________________________

October 16, The Nation
PM suggests 6-party talks: Follow N Korea model: let Asean troika, US,
India and China take part, Surayud tells UN's Gambari

Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont yesterday suggested his own version of
the six-party talks with Burma in response to the Untied Nation's plea for
Asean nations to make more of an effort to change the behaviour of the
Burmese military junta.

A core working group should be set up to deal with Burma, he said,
consisting of all the Asean members, plus China and India.

Surayud discussed the idea yesterday with visiting UN special envoy on
Burma Ibrahim Gambari, who said he would discuss the initiative with UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

The prime minister was referring to the efforts made by China, the United
States and South Korean to engage North Korea in talks.

"We think that's a good model we will be able to use to solve the problems
in Myanmar [Burma]," Surayud said after meeting Gambari.

Asked if Asean would activate the "Asean Troika" to solve the Burma
problem like it did with the 1997 coup in Cambodia, the premier said the
Asean leaders might discuss the idea during the summit in Singapore next
month.

Gambari is visiting Thailand on the first leg of an Asian tour to raise
concerns about the junta's alleged human rights violations in the wake of
recent demonstrations.

"The purpose of the UN secretary general's 'good office' role is to change
the behaviour of the regime and we believe that all those with influence
in the process ought to engage," Gambari said.

"Not just Thailand but all the countries that I am visiting, India, China,
Indonesia, Malaysia and the UN, we could do more."

"We will not rest until the goals that we all share, which is peace,
prosperity, democratisation and full respect of human rights are attained
in Myanmar [Burma]," Gambari said after a meeting with Foreign Minister
Nitya Pibulsonggram.

The envoy said he brought a special message from UN chief Ban Ki-moon to
Surayud to urge Thailand to help facilitate his long stay in Burma by
engaging all concerned parties to get his mission done.

Surayud responded by saying he would write another letter to Burma's
leaders urging them to extend Gambari's stay in Burma to facilitate a deal
for political dialogue between the junta and opposition leader Aung San
Suu Kyi.

"Just open a dialogue, start the dialogue. There should not be any
precondition or any conditions before that. Just try to start the
dialogue," Surayud said.

The letter would be sent to Nay Pyi Taw by this week, he added. Gambari
was scheduled to visit Burma by the middle of November.

Meanwhile, a group of human rights activists led by the Campaign for Human
Right Committee submitted an open letter to Surayud and Gambari urging
Thailand to stop investing in the military-ruled country and seek ways to
stop the violence.

For his part, Gambari urged the Burmese junta to stop arrests,
interrogation, and acts of intimidation that are "extremely disturbing"
and against the spirit of mutual engagement between the UN and Burma.

"These actions must stop at once. Let me reiterate here, the UN calls on
the Burmese government to release all political detainees including those
arrested during the demonstrations and to allow access by the
[International Committee of the Red Cross] to those in detention," he said

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

October 16, Agence France Presse
UN envoy tells Myanmar to halt arrests at once

UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari on Monday demanded that Myanmar's ruling junta
immediately stop arresting pro-democracy activists and targeting
dissidents, calling the crackdown "extremely disturbing."

Kick-starting a regional tour to push Asian nations to pressure the
regime, Gambari said he hoped to return to Myanmar for more talks by
mid-November, or earlier if possible.

The move came as European Union foreign ministers approved new sanctions
against the junta, including an embargo on the export of wood, gems and
metals, and threatened further penalties.

In the United States, President George W. Bush called for "enormous
international pressure, to make it clear to the generals that they will be
completely isolated and not accepted into the international community."

Despite worldwide condemnation of its deadly crackdown launched during
mass street protests led by Buddhist monks last month, the regime arrested
six more key dissidents over the weekend, according to Amnesty
International.

"The reports of arrests of the remaining student leaders, interrogation
and acts of intimidation are extremely disturbing and run counter to the
spirit of mutual engagement between the UN and Myanmar," Gambari told
reporters.

"These actions must stop at once."

The UN envoy met with top Thai officials at the start of an Asian tour
aimed at winning support among Myanmar's neighbours and allies for tougher
action against the junta.

Last month's protests were the biggest challenge to the regime in nearly
20 years, but were put down by troops and riot police in an operation that
left at least 13 people dead and more than 2,000 locked up.

The US, Britain and France have led efforts through the United Nations to
condemn the regime and urge the release of political prisoners.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown reiterated demands that the junta
"start a process of reconciliation with the opposition" including Nobel
peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been in detention for 12 of the
past 18 years.

Her National League for Democracy (NLD) party said Monday that such
dialogue would be jeopardised if the regime continued to hunt down and
detain pro-democracy activists, including its members.

The EU's approval of sanctions against the Myanmar regime may be followed
by other measures, with an all-out ban on new investments being
considered.

"In view of the seriousness of the current situation and in solidarity
with the people of Myanmar, the EU deems it necessary to increase direct
pressure on the regime through stronger measures," ministers said in a
joint statement.

The EU also confirmed the continuation of "substantial humanitarian aid
programmes aimed at the most vulnerable populations."

If the Myanmar regime creates "a political process involving all the
parties in Burma ... then there will be economic incentives and economic
support for the people of Burma," said David Miliband, foreign secretary
of former colonial ruler Britain.

"If the regime refuses then obviously there will be further sanctions," he
added.

Myanmar's state media however accused Western nations of trying to install
a puppet government due to its "geographically strategic" location.

"It is important for the leaders of western nations (that Myanmar) become
their stronghold," the official New Light of Myanmar said.

Analysts believe only Myanmar's closest allies and trading partners --
such as China, India and Thailand -- have any chance of convincing its
reclusive generals to change course.

Thai Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont proposed to Gambari that the United
Nations organise multi-party talks modelled on the North Korean nuclear
disarmament process to defuse the crisis in Myanmar.

Surayud said the talks would bring together officials from the military
regime, China and India as well as the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN), which counts Thailand and Myanmar as members.

ASEAN chief Ong Keng Yong said in Singapore that the best outcome would be
to thrash out a consensus between the military and Aung San Suu Kyi, using
the example of Iraq to warn against the dire consequences of sudden regime
change.

Gambari was due to fly Tuesday to Malaysia and then carry on to Indonesia,
India, China and Japan.

____________________________________

October 16, Associated Press
US urges China, Southeast Asia to act on Myanmar

China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations should use their
influence to help fix the "atrocious situation" in Myanmar, one of
Washington's top diplomats in Asia said Tuesday.

"It's an atrocious situation. No one country can solve this problem, we
have to work together on this," U.S. Assistant of State Christopher Hill
told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio during a trip to Sydney.

The military junta in Myanmar, also known as Burma, has been at the center
of international ire since it launched a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy
protesters last month. A U.N. special envoy returned to Asia this week to
urge countries to take the lead in resolving the crisis.

Hill, whose area of responsibility is the Asia-Pacific region, said China
should tell Myanmar's isolated ruling generals they cannot expect
protection from Beijing, one of the junta's chief backers.

"China increasingly understands that in the long run its not good for
China, not good for the region, China's reputation, that it has a
situation like Burma," Hill said.

"So one hopes that in working with the Chinese, we can make the Burmese
understand that they can't go hiding behind the Chinese and ignore
everyone else," he said.

ASEAN, a mostly trade grouping that allowed Myanmar to join in 1997, has a
policy of not interfering in the internal affairs of its 10 members. But
Hill said that ASEAN is beginning to get involved in the situation in
Myanmar.

"But ASEAN cannot do this without China getting into the mix as well,"
Hill said. "So we need to work on ways to work with China."

____________________________________

October 16, Irrawaddy
Burmese activist writes open letter to Ban Ki-moon - Lalit K. Jha

A senior Burmese activist, based in Washington, wrote an open letter to
the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on Monday, bringing to his notice the
arrest and subsequent torture of members of the 88 Generation Students
Group inside Burma.

Providing a list of 26 members of the group who have been arrested and are
now being tortured by the junta, activist Aung Din urged Ban Ki-Moon to
telephone Burma’s Snr-Gen Than Shwe to demand the immediate cessation of
the ongoing torture, hunting and arresting of those leaders.

Aung Din is policy director of the US Campaign for Burma and was recently
invited by a key congressional panel to testify on the current situation
in Burma.

“Than Shwe is currently carrying out a dragnet, arresting and imprisoning
thousands of democracy activists inside the country,” he alleged and
referred to the numerous credible reports received by him about those
arrested and the ongoing cruel and severe torture.

Observing that the cruelty of the military regime also directly
contradicts calls from the UN Human Rights Commission, the UN General
Assembly and the Secretary General himself, Aung Din asked: “How can there
be negotiations in Burma when the military regime continues to arrest and
torture those with whom they should be talking?”

Welcoming the statement of Ibrahim Gambari, the UN Envoy on Burma, that
condemned the military rulers, Aung Din said that the severity and
immediacy of the torture inside Burma necessitates a call for action by
the UN Secretary-General.

“We are calling on you to immediately and personally intervene with Than
Shwe to call for a cessation of the ongoing torture and arbitrary arrests.
We greatly fear for the lives and well-being of the 88 Generation Students
members,” he said.

He alleged that the security forces use beatings, electric shocks to all
parts of the body, “water torture”, running iron rods up and down the
shins, and the cutting and burning of flesh as torture methods.

Aung Din feared that the military government appears to be offering the
possibility of talks with Aung San Suu Kyi in order to buy time to torture
and murder other activists.

____________________________________

October 16, International Trade Union Confederation
Burma: EU falls short on sanctions

The ITUC and the European TUC have described the European Union's new
sanctions policy on Burma, announced today, as a step in the right
direction, but falling well short of what is needed to put the Burmese
military junta under real pressure.  The exclusion of oil and gas from the
scope of the new sanctions means that the major source of foreign finance
for the junta will remain basically intact.  The previous EU bans have
been extended to include a ban on European exports to Burma of equipment
for the metal, timber, minerals and gemstone sectors, as well as import
and investment prohibitions covering these sectors.

"These new restrictions are welcome, but they don't go far enough.  The
oil and gas sector is the single largest source of revenue for the
military regime, and we are extremely disappointed that the EU has left
this huge revenue stream untouched," said ITUC General Secretary Guy
Ryder.

With some 400 foreign companies having business links to Burma, European
companies in the oil and gas sector have come under particular pressure to
sever their links as part of the global campaign for all companies to
disinvest.  While those in the new sectors covered by the revised EU
sanctions will need to sever their links, the international trade union
movement will continue to press for comprehensive global sanctions
covering all sectors.

"People in Europe might rightly wonder why the European Union, having
rightly extended sanctions to some products, has failed to do so for
others, especially given the importance of oil and gas income to the
junta", said ETUC General Secretary John Monks.

Founded on 1 November 2006, the ITUC represents 168 million workers in 153
countries and territories and has 305 national affiliates.
Website: http://www.ituc-csi.org

For more information, please contact the ITUC Press Department on: +32 2
224 0204 or +32 476 621 018.

____________________________________
STATEMENT

October 15, National League for Democracy
Special Announcement

UNSC has now issued its Presidential Statement with consensus of all UNSC
members for the national reconciliation and democratization process in
Burma.

Despite of this Presidential Statement, the concerned authority is
continuing their arbitrary arrests at any time anywhere elsewhere in Burma
on the peaceful protesters who expressed their desire peacefully.

Though some have been released from their detention, we heard that
thousands of monks, nuns, people, political party leaders, MPs, NLD party
members, students and youths are still in these detention centres, prisons
and interrogation centres, and languishing in these places.

Such unlawful arrests, interrogation, and persecution determine the
national reconciliation process.

Thus we called for the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) to stop
immediately the arrests on these peaceful protesters of monks, lay
devotees, students and the people. And also we called for the
unconditional and immediate release of those who expressed their desire
peacefully.

By the meeting resolution reached at CEC meeting held on 12-10-07

Central Executive Committee
National League for Democracy
No. 97/B, West Shwegondaing Road
Bahan Township, Rangoon
4th Waxing day of Thadingyut, 1369 BE
Rangoon

____________________________________

October 16, ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus
AIPMC Statement supporting a Global Arms Embargo on Myanmar

AIPMC: Global Arms Embargo on Myanmar necessary

The ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) firmly supports the
call of former world leaders for a global arms embargo on Myanmar . A
United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution on an arms embargo will
serve to protect civilians in the conflict-stricken country.

The embargo is necessary immediately, given the recent use of violence by
the Myanmar military junta during its brutal crackdown on peaceful
protesters.

AIPMC also urges ASEAN to support, if not initiate, such a UNSC
resolution. ASEAN stands in good stead given that none of its
member-countries sells arms to the regime. AIPMC understands that ASEAN
wishes to see a global decrease in arms shipments. An arms embargo on
Myanmar is consistent with ASEAN’s vision for a stable and secure region.

The Myanmar military junta has shown, on numerous occasions during its
reign, that it does not use its weapons for self-defence of the country
but to suppress its own people and in recent times against foreigners,
including a Japanese journalist.

AIPMC commends the initiative of 20 former heads of state and leaders, led
by Former Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik, when appealing to
President Hu Jintao of China to use his good office for an immediate stop
to the violent assault against the people of Burma .

The Caucus also supports the call for the commencement of a dialogue
between military leaders and various pro-democracy stakeholders in Burma .
Parliamentarians in the region once again strongly call on the immediate
release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, all political prisoners, monks and others
detained recently.

AIPMC sees the urgency for an arms ban on Myanmar not only for the safety
of the people of Burma but also to ensure regional security. The regime’s
violence must not be tolerated. This is an opportunity for the
international community to curb the regime’s unruly behaviour.

AIPMC Steering Committee

For media contact or to facilitate an interview with AIPMC members, please
call: Roshan Jason (AIPMC Executive Director) at +6-012-3750974 or the
numbers above.

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

October 15, Burma Campaign UK
Burma Campaign UK hails EU sanctions breakthrough

The Burma Campaign UK today welcomed an announcement by the European Union
that it will impose targeted sanctions against the regime in Burma. The EU
has agreed a ban on investment in, and imports of, Burmese timber, metals
and gems. It is also considering a ban on all new investment if the regime
does not enter into genuine dialogue with the democracy movement.

“This is a significant breakthrough,” said Zoya Phan, Campaigns Officer at
the Burma Campaign UK. “The EU is finally starting to impose sanctions
that bite. We have been calling for this for more than a decade. These
targeted sanctions will hit the regime where it hurts them the most, in
the pocket. It also sends a strong message of solidarity to the people of
Burma.”

The Burma Campaign UK dismissed suggestions that the sanctions would have
little impact. “The EU imports hundreds of millions of dollars worth of
goods every year, these sanctions will hurt the generals and their
business cronies,” said Zoya Phan. “We need a combination of economic and
political pressure from the EU, and this is a good start.”

The Burma Campaign UK also called for swift implementation of an
investment ban, which is under consideration should the regime continue to
defy efforts by UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari to get them to agree to
negotiations with the democracy movement.

“We would have liked to have seen an immediate ban on investment,” said
Zoya Phan, “but we understand the logic in delaying implementation as a
way of increasing pressure on the regime to agree to talk. However, this
should not been left open-ended, a deadline must be set in the near
future.  The EU should also implement a ban on financial transactions.”

The EU also demanded the immediate release of political prisoners and
warned that a return to the situation before the demonstrations is
unacceptable. There is great concern about the fate of those who have been
arrested, many of whom will be facing horrific torture.

The Burma Campaign UK also praised efforts by Foreign Secretary David
Miliband and Prime Minister Gordon Brown in securing this agreement. “We
appreciate the efforts that David Miliband and Gordon Brown have made to
get the EU to agree to these sanctions,” said Zoya Phan. “These were
obviously tough negotiations, but the British government delivered.”

For more information contact Mark Farmaner, Acting Director, on 07941239640.