BurmaNet News, November 7, 2007

[Editor]

November 7, 2007 Issue # 3337

INSIDE BURMA
AP: Myanmar's military junta rejects proposed talks with UN diplomat,
pro-democracy leader Suu Kyi
AP: UN envoy to meet detained Myanmar democracy leader Suu Kyi at end of
mission
Irrawaddy: Three NLD officers to meet with Gambari
DPA: Myanmar's junta points finger at other "similar" Asian nations
Mizzima News: Sporadic movements defying junta
AFP: Myanmar to 'take action' against 91 protesters
DVB: Muslims detained for giving water to monks

ON THE BORDER
Mizzima News: Mizoram plays host to several Burmese refugees

BUSINESS / TRADE
Kachin News Group: Chinese businessmen duped by Burmese general's son

ASEAN
AFP: Myanmar PM to attend ASEAN summit

INTERNATIONAL
Irrawaddy: UN Chief admits "lack of progress" by Gambari mission
The Guardian: Anger fading over Burma

OPINION / OTHER
Asia Times: China no sure bet on Myanmar - Bertil Lintner
Irrawaddy: Postpone signing Asean Charter until people are heard - Pokpong
Lawansiri

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

November 7, Associated Press
Myanmar's military junta rejects proposed talks with UN diplomat,
pro-democracy leader Suu Kyi

The military junta on Tuesday rejected proposed three-party talks that
would have included pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, saying it
refuses to bow to "big power bullies."

It also seemed likely that U.N. diplomat Ibrahim Gambari would leave
Myanmar Thursday without having met with the country's most powerful
figure junta chief Senior Gen. Than Shwe.

Seeking political reform and reconciliation between the ruling military
and pro-democracy forces, Gambari had proposed a meeting among Suu Kyi, a
regime representative and himself.

Minister of Information Brig. Gen. Kyaw Hsan, quoted in the state-run New
Light of Myanmar, said Suu Kyi had yet to respond to the government's
request that she refrain from calling for international sanctions against
Myanmar earlier set as a condition for a dialogue between her and the
government.

In what observers said was an angry lecture, Kyaw San said: "I would like
you to know that Myanmar is a small nation and if a big power bullies her
... we will have no other way but to face this and endure."

Gambari was dispatched to Myanmar, also known as Burma, after the military
stamped out pro-democracy demonstrations in late September by firing on
the protesters. Authorities said 10 people were killed, but diplomats and
dissidents said the death toll was much higher. Thousands of people were
detained.

During that visit, he was able to meet separately with both Nobel Prize
winner Suu Kyi, who remains under house arrest, and Than Shwe.

But Kyaw Hsan told Gambari Tuesday that the envoy's earlier visit to
Myanmar "did not bear fruit as we had expected," and was followed by
sanctions from the United States, Australia and the European Union as well
as condemnation from the U.N. Security Council.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed concern later Tuesday at the
"lack of progress" in Gambari's latest mission.

Ban said he had instructed Gambari to get talks going between Suu Kyi and
Myanmar's leadership, seek the release of all detained monks, students and
other demonstrators, and press the government to "take necessary
democratic measures."

In Washington, State Department spokesman Tom Casey said the U.S. wanted
Gambari to be allowed to "convey his message directly to all the parties
he wishes to see" so he could tell Myanmar's leaders of "the need for them
to change their policies."

Suu Kyi was treated for a minor ailment Friday and Saturday at her home by
her personal physician, said a person familiar with her condition who
asked not to be quoted by name because news about her is a sensitive
topic.

Rumors had swept Yangon that Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate, was in ill
health. But a spokesman for her National League for Democracy party, Myint
Thein, said that "from looking at her physical condition it can be assumed
it is not very serious."

Speaking to the Democratic Voice of Burma, a Norway-based opposition radio
station, the spokesman blamed the problem on a lack of regular visits by
her doctor. The junta allows virtually no access to Suu Kyi.

Complicating Gambari's visit is a rift between the regime and the world
body. On Friday, the day before Gambari's arrival, the junta announced it
would expel the top U.N. official in the country, resident coordinator
Charles Petrie.

It accused Petrie of going beyond his duties by issuing a statement
criticizing the generals' failure to meet the economic and humanitarian
needs of the people, and by saying this was the cause of September's
protests.

However, the U.N. special envoy on human rights in Myanmar, Paulo Sergio
Pinheiro, announced Tuesday that he had been invited for a visit next week
by the country's military authorities.

Pinheiro, who has been barred from visiting since 2003, said in a
statement that he welcomed the invitation to make a five-day visit
beginning Sunday.

Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed
to this report.

____________________________________

November 7, Associated Press
UN envoy to meet detained Myanmar democracy leader Suu Kyi at end of mission

A U.N. special envoy will meet Myanmar's detained pro-democracy leader
Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday, the last day of his frustrating mission to
try to ease the country's political crisis, diplomats said.

But hopes for a breakthrough by the envoy Ibrahim Gambari dimmed Wednesday
after the military government rejected proposed talks with Suu Kyi.

Gambari has also failed to meet the country's most powerful figure, junta
chief Senior Gen. Than Shwe.

The six-day visit is Gambari's second to Myanmar, also called Burma, since
the military killed at least 10 protesters in late September and arrested
thousands of people. Diplomats and dissidents put the death toll much
higher.

He was sent to Myanmar to promote political reconciliation after the U.N.
Security Council condemned the crackdown. He met with both Suu Kyi and
Than Shwe on his previous visit.

Gambari told foreign diplomats in Myanmar's remote capital Naypyitaw that
he would meet Suu Kyi in the country's commercial center, Yangon,
according to an Asian diplomat who attended the U.N. envoy's one-hour
briefing. The diplomat and his colleagues insisted on anonymity so as not
to breach etiquette.

Gambari did not mention any plans to meet with Than Shwe, the diplomat said.

The U.N. envoy told the diplomats he met Wednesday with recently appointed
Prime Minister Gen. Thein Sein and a leading junta member, Secretary-One
Lt. Gen. Thiha Thura Tin Aung Myint Oo the most senior officials to see
him so far. But did not disclose details of the meeting.

Gambari earlier had proposed a three-way meeting among Suu Kyi, a junta
member and himself to promote political reform and reconciliation.

"Currently, the tripartite meeting will not be possible," Information
Minister Brig. Gen. Kyaw Hsan told Gambari on Tuesday, according to the
state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper.

In talks Tuesday in Naypyitaw, Kyaw Hsan told Gambari that his earlier
visit "did not bear fruit as we had expected," and instead was followed by
new sanctions from the United States, Australia and the European Union as
well as condemnation from the U.N. Security Council, the newspaper said.

"I would like you to know that Myanmar is a small nation and if a big
power bullies her. ... We will have no other way but to face this and
endure," Kyaw Hsan said.

The minister said Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi had yet to respond to
the government's request that she refrain from calling for international
sanctions against Myanmar, a condition earlier set by the junta for talks
with her.

Suu Kyi is under house arrest in Yangon, where the government blocks
almost all access to her. The military rulers granted a rare exception to
Gambari during his first visit at the beginning of October.

Gambari is scheduled to meet senior members of Suu Kyi's National League
for Democracy party on Wednesday, a party spokesman said.

In New York, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed concern Tuesday
at the "lack of progress" in Gambari's mission.

Ban said he instructed Gambari to urge the junta to meet with Suu Kyi,
release all detained monks, students and demonstrators, and "take
necessary democratic measures."

The U.N.'s account of the meeting with Kyaw Hsan and other ministers said
they held "very frank and extensive exchanges" on all issues.

In a statement released Wednesday, the U.N. said these included the need
for a dialogue between the junta and Suu Kyi "to start without delay as an
indispensable part of any process of national reconciliation," as well as
a lifting of restrictions on Suu Kyi and all political prisoners.

The U.N.'s special envoy on human rights in Myanmar, Paulo Sergio
Pinheiro, said Tuesday that he has been invited by the junta to visit Nov.
11-15.

Pinheiro, who has been barred by the government from visiting since 2003,
said the invitation "sends a positive indication of the desire of the
authorities to cooperate with his mandate" to investigate human rights in
Myanmar.

Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations in New York
contributed to this report.

____________________________________

November 7, Irrawaddy
Three NLD officers to meet with Gambari - Wai Moe

The Burmese military government has told the National League for Democracy
that three central executive committee members can meet with UN Special
Envoy Ibrahim Gambari on Thursday in Naypyidaw, according to the NLD.

This handout picture provided by UNIC from Rangoon shows UN special envoy
Ibrahim Gambari (L) shaking hands with Burmese Minister for Labour and
Minister for Relations Aung Kyi during their meeting in Rangoon, on 04
November. [Photo: AFP]

NLD Chairman Aung Shwe, Secretary U Lwin and Nyunt Wai are scheduled to
meet with Gambari, said  NLD spokesperson Nyuan Win.

Gambari, who is scheduled to leave Burma on Thursday, is also expected to
meet with democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, with officials of the pro-junta
National Unity Party, officials of the International Committee of the Red
Cross and other parties, according to a UN press release. He is also
scheduled to meet with the junta's Secretary 1 Thiha Thura Tin Aung Myint
Oo.

Prime Minister Lt-Gen Thein Sein met with Gambari on Wednesday morning and
Gambari met with two junta ministers, Soe Tha of Planning and Economic
Development and Brig-Gen Thura Myint Maung of Religious Affairs on
Tuesday.

Gambari had proposed a three-way meeting between Suu Kyi, a junta member
and himself to promote political reform and reconciliation, but the junta
rejected the idea.

"Currently, the tripartite meeting will not be possible," Minister of
Information Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan told Gambari on Tuesday, according to the
state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper.

Aye Thar Aung, an ethnic leader and secretary of the Committee
Representing the People’s Parliament, said on Wednesday that
reconciliation dialogue should open and unconditional.

“The junta’s conditions to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi and delays in the
dialogue process seem dishonest,” Aye Thar Aung said. “The junta’s
appointing a liaison officer, ex-Maj-Gen Aung Kyi, might be the generals’
tactic to prolong the process for democracy.

“The international community should not believe the junta’s lies about
Burma’s democracy. We (Burmese) expect a UN binding resolution for
democracy, if the junta keeps its hard-line stance.”

An ethnic leader of Zomi, Cin Sin Thaung, also called on the UN Security
Council to pass a binding resolution promoting Burma's national
reconciliation.

“If Gambari’s trip is unsuccessful, the UN must think of the next step for
Burma—it must be a binding resolution," he said.

____________________________________

November 7, Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Myanmar's junta points finger at other "similar" Asian nations

Myanmar's junta is ready to "endure" being on the United Nations Security
Council's agenda but warned the UN that it would "also have to handle the
situations of the nations similar to or worse than Myanmar's," state-run
media reports said Wednesday.

That is what Myanmar Information Minister Brigadier General Kyaw Hsan told
visiting UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari in a recent dressing-down, according to
The New Light of Myanmar.

"If the Myanmar affairs are to be put on the UNSC agenda and the UNSC is
going to handle them, the body will also have to handle the situations of
the nations similar to or worse than Myanmar's," Kyaw Hsan told Gambari,
who has been in the military's new capital of Naypyidaw since Saturday.

A transcript of Kyaw Hsan's interview with Gambari was made public on
state-run Myanmar television Tuesday night and repeated in the state-owned
print media Wednesday.

The UN has stepped up international pressure on Myanmar's ruling junta
since its brutal crackdown on monk-led protests in September, that left at
least 10 people dead according to official figures. Others claim the death
toll was closer to 200.

"Even in the South Asia and South-East Asia, there are some nations in
which the armed forces have to take over the state duties due to certain
reasons, martial law is still in force, hundreds of people died when
protests were crushed and hundreds of people including children were
kicked when mosques were raided," said Kyaw Hsan, in an apparent reference
to Thailand and Pakistan, two close allies of the US.

Thailand experienced a military coup d'etat on September 19, 2006, while
Pakistan's military-led government attacked a radical mosque in Islamabad
in July.

Kyaw Hsan warned Gambari that "if a big power bullies her with its
influence by putting Myanmar's affairs on UNSC, we will have no other way
but to face and endure."

Gambari, who is in Myanmar on a mission to hasten the national
reconciliation process, is coming under increasing pressure from his boss
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, to show some progress.

Gambari arrived in Yangon Saturday with Ban's instructions to seek
democratic reform, engage in dialogue with detained political opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi and military supremo Senior General Than Shwe, and
to seek the release of political prisoners and detained pro-democracy
marchers.

At UN headquarters in New York, Ban told reporters Tuesday: "I am
concerned at this time about the lack of progress. He has not been able to
meet with Senior General Than Shwe."

____________________________________

November 7, Mizzima News
Sporadic movements defying junta - Ko Dee

In yet another act of defiance, groups of activists have begun to
distribute anti-junta pamphlets in Rangoon, sources said.

A new generation of activists calling themselves "Generation Wave", came
together on October 9. They have begun distributing anti-junta pamphlets
and posters in Rangoon, as part of a new effort to revive the spirit of
the people's movement of September, which the military junta crushed.

The new group, which operates undercover, have begun distributing posters
and pamphlets that carry messages such as 'CNG (Change New Government)',
'FFF (Freedom From Fear)', and 88 generation student leader, now detained,
Min Ko Naing's poem titled 'Bah Kah Tah', in crowded places in Rangoon
since October 15.

"Our main aim is to distribute it among youngsters particularly those
enjoying life at concerts or in other places, so that will come to realize
that they have a duty to perform. We also want to remind them that
whenever they see CNG, they will know that it stands for 'Change New
Government'," Kyaw Kyaw of the Generation Wave told Mizzima.

Meanwhile, reports said, another activists group called 'Rangoon Division
Peoples' Movement Coordinating Committee' on Tuesday began collecting the
state-run news paper, Myanma Ahlin, and set them blaze saying the paper
carries no news but only junta's propaganda.

Residents in Kyauk Myaung, Tarmwe, Hledan townships were seen throwing the
Myanma Ahlin newspaper on the streets. And fences of some house had
posters with the words 'Than Shwe is lying', a local resident in Rangoon
told Mizzima.

Another group known as 'Freedom Fighter' in Rangoon has also begun tying
pieces of monk's robes and pasting posters and words of defiance on
roadside trees, sources said

"What they [the group] do is that they tie pieces of monk's rob on the
roadside trees with some words defying the junta along with it," a local
resident, who is close to the group told Mizzima.

Kyaw Kyaw of the Generation Wave said, if sporadic movements by activists
continues at this rate another peoples' movement, much bigger than the
September protest, is likely to take place very soon.

"In September, people were afraid. But this time the fear has been
overcome by the bitterness, so we believe the movement will gain momentum
and will be bigger than that of September protests.," said Kyaw Kyaw.

However, he added that if the small groups could come together and work in
unison, the protest could gain more ground and was likely be bigger than
that of September.

"If all our groups could come together, it will be a big force. But what
is happening now is that the groups are working according to their
capacity. At this time, if there was a group of individuals as committed
as the 88 generation student leaders, the movement could escalate. Now the
junta does not really bother to listen to the voices of these small
groups. But what we need is the junta to be afraid and the people should
also rely on the activists
____________________________________

November 7, Agence France Presse
Myanmar to 'take action' against 91 protesters

Myanmar's ruling junta will "take action" against 91 people detained
during pro-democracy protests whom it accuses of being involved in
"violent and terrorist acts," state media reported Wednesday.

The government released most the 2,927 people it detained during the
September crackdown, Information Minister Brigadier General Kyaw Hsan told
visiting UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari, the New Light of Myanmar newspaper
reported.

"It (the government) has been releasing as soon as possible monks and
people who joined the protesters unknowingly under the influence of
instigation from all angles," he said during their meeting Tuesday.

"As the remaining (91) persons are actually involved in violence and
terrorist acts in one way or another, we are taking necessary measures to
take action against them in accordance with the law," he said.

Kyaw Hsan said the junta had detained other people since the protests but
claimed the cases had nothing to do with the demonstrations.

Gambari is in Myanmar to push for democratic reform after the bloody
repression of protests led by Buddhist monks.

At least 13 people are known to have been killed in the bloody crackdown
but diplomats say the true toll is far higher.

The UN envoy also pushed for the lifting of restrictions on democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest in Yangon, and the
release of all political prisoners.

But the junta stuck to its position that the detained Nobel peace prize
winner must first abandon her support for international sanctions if she
wants to see progress toward national reconciliation.

The United Nations says there are another 1,100 political prisoners in
Myanmar besides those involved in September's protests.

____________________________________

November 7, Democratic Voice of Burma
Muslims detained for giving water to monks

Nine Burmese Muslims from the former capital Rangoon who supported the
monk-led protests in September have been arrested and charged with
inciting state unrest, said family members.

Myot Thant, Nyi Nyi Zaw, Myo Win, Naing Min, Htun Htun Naing, Kyaw Kyaw
Satt, Htun Myint Aung, Han Zaw Min Aung and Thaung Htut are Muslims from
the Rangoon townships of Pebedan, Tamwe, Mingalar Taung Nyunt and Bahan.

They were arrested by the Burmese authorities a few days after they handed
bottles of drinking water to protesting monks during the demonstrations at
the end of September.

A family members of one of the detainees told DVB that all nine of them
are now being held inside Pabadan police station, and their families have
only been allowed to visit them once in the last month.

"They have bruises all over their bodies and said they were beaten up
nearly every day during interrogation. They could not even eat properly,"
said the family member, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"The Pabedan police chief told us they were beaten up, not by police
officers from the station, but by the military security department
officers who are conducting their daily interrogations."

Another family member told DVB the nine were brought before Rangoon
divisional court on Monday and are now being tried on charges of provoking
public unrest in the country.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

November 7, Mizzima News
Mizoram plays host to several Burmese refugees

Following the mass protests in Burma spread over August and September,
several Burmese ethnic communities along the Indo-Burmese border have fled
Burma. They have only added to the already huge undocumented migrant
Burmese refugee population in India's northeastern state of Mizoram.

According to an ethnic Chin elderly person hailing from the village of
Pyindaw Oo in Kale Township, who recently arrived in Aizwal, the capital
city of Mizoram, several people had left their home and hearth due to the
junta's brutalities and had arrived in India as refugees.

"I used to be a firefighter in my village. I did not join the fire brigade
voluntarily, they forced me to join. They [the authorities] ordered us to
collect money from the villagers, for which I felt bad. And the villagers
eventually began to hate us," said the villager from Pyindaw Oo, on
condition of anonymity.

He had run away from his home along with six of his family members after
the local authorities forced him to join the mass rally on October 8, in
support of the junta's National Convention, he added.

Several others had also fled their homes in order to escape the
authority's rampant misuse of power and imposition of monetary fines to
those failing to comply with their orders, the villager said.

"Those refusing to attend the mass rallies were fined while those failing
to pay such fines were threatened with arrest. So, we fled in order to
escape being punished by the authorities," Another villager from the
Kalemyo Township told Mizzima.

Meanwhile, those who fled to Mizoram said, their farmlands at the
foothills of Mwe Taung (Snake Mountain) in Kalemyo Township had been
confiscated for mining of nickel and chromite by a Chinese company,
causing more hardship to the villagers, who were already struggling for a
livelihood.

A local resident living in the foothills of Mwe Taung, who had fled to
Mizoram in the recent past said, since the Chinese company began
operations in the area, prices of commodities had sky-rocketed causing
severe difficulties to the locals in bridging the gap between commodity
prices and very low income.

"Authorities continue to forcibly collect money, summon locals for mass
rallies and forced labour, following which many villagers are fleeing
everyday," the local resident added.

According to surveys conducted by Non-governmental Organizations, Mizoram,
which borders Northwestern Burma's Chin state plays host to an estimated
60,000 Burmese refugees.

"With the deteriorating human rights situation in Burma, particularly in
the Chin state, it is only likely that more refugees will flock to
Mizoram," a Mizoram-based Chin woman activist, Cheery Zahau told Mizzima.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

November 7, Kachin News Group
Chinese businessmen duped by Burmese general's son

The son of a Burmese general and his friends have duped a group of Chinese
businessmen. The businessmen were promised the military junta's permission
to work jade and gold mines in Kachin State. The Chinese are livid, a
source close to the businessmen said.

The son of Lt-Gen Ye Myint, Commander of No (1) Bureau of Special
Operation and a member of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC)
and his friends had promised the Chinese businessmen that if they gave
money to them, they would procure permission for the Chinese to do
business in Kachin State. In fact the youths promised to arrange for jade
and gold mining blocks, one of the Chinese businessmen said.

The Chinese businessmen even reached Kuming in China's Yunnan Province to
talk to the youths. The youths took a huge amount of money from them to
arrange negotiations with junta authorities, he added.

"They have been lying to not only one Chinese businessman but also the
others. The youths asked for Chinese Yuan 30 million (about US $
4,026,846) from some of the Chinese businessmen," said a source close to
the businessmen.

The anxious Chinese businessmen are still waiting for a response from the
youths and if they don't get back to them on the negotiations, they will
handle the situation through diplomatic channels, he added.

Meanwhile, Lt-Gen Ye Myint of the State Peace and Development Council will
probably visit Kachin State tomorrow, a local said.

____________________________________
ASEAN

November 7, Agence France Presse
Myanmar PM to attend ASEAN summit

Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein will attend a key Southeast Asian summit
later this month, with the junta's crackdown on dissent expected to top
the agenda, an official said Wednesday.

The lieutenant general, who was officially declared premier in late
October after the death of his predecessor Soe Win, will head to Singapore
for the annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN).

"Our prime minister will attend the ASEAN summit in Singapore," a
government official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was
not authorised to speak to the media.

The junta provoked international outrage in September when it violently
cracked down on the biggest demonstrations against its rule in 20 years,
killing at least 10 protesters and locking up thousands of people.

Diplomats put the death toll far higher.

ASEAN has in the past been reluctant to criticise its most troublesome
member citing its policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of
member states but, under global pressure, was forced to denounce the
crackdown.

The 10-member bloc has also pledged its support to the mission of UN
special envoy Ibrahim Gambari, who is currently in Myanmar's capital
Naypyidaw in a bid to convince the ruling generals to adopt democratic
reforms.

Pro-democracy activists have urged ASEAN to suspend the regime's
membership in the wake of the deadly crackdown.

Meanwhile, Thailand's deputy army spokesman Sirichan Ngathong said
Wednesday that Myanmar's army chief General Maung Aye would not attend a
meeting of ASEAN army heads in Thailand at the end of November.

He said the reasons were "personal" and did not elaborate.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

November 7, Irrawaddy
UN Chief admits "lack of progress" by Gambari mission - Lalit K Jha

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed his concern on Tuesday over the
“lack of progress” made on the latest mission to Burma by his special
envoy Ibrahim Gambari.

“I am concerned at this time about the lack of progress,” Ban Ki-moon told
reporters at UN headquarters before leaving for visits to South America
and Europe. “He (Gambari) has not been able to meet with Snr-Gen Than
Shwe.  I understand that he is meeting Aung San Suu Kyi tomorrow
(Wednesday).”

Ban Ki-moon, who met Gambari in Istanbul as the envoy headed for Burma,
said: “I have given him instructions, to carry out his mandate, as well as
what I have instructed him—first of all to initiate, launch this dialogue
between Aung San Suu Kyi and [the] political leadership, including Than
Shwe, and also release all the detained monks, students and demonstrators,
and take necessary democratic measures.  This is my basic instructions to
him.”

The Secretary General said he is in constant communication with Gambari
during the envoy’s stay Burma.

Ban Ki-moon’s spokeswoman Marie Okabe told the press that Gambari is still
scheduled to have talks with newly appointed Prime Minister Lt-Gen Thein
Sein and to brief the international diplomatic corps on the results of his
mission.

“In Yangon [Rangoon], he is expected to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi, the
Central Executive Committee of the National League for Democracy,
officials of the National Unity Party, and other relevant interlocutors,
as well as the UN country team and the International Committee for the Red
Cross,” the spokesperson said.

Referring to Gambari’s various meetings, the spokesperson said: “Gambari
and his counterparts had very frank and extensive exchanges on all of the
issues being addressed in the context of the Secretary-General’s good
offices.”

This includes, in particular, the need for a dialogue to start without
delay between the junta's leadership and Suu Kyi, and the lifting of
restrictions on all political detainees as necessary steps towards that
end, Marie Okabe said.

____________________________________

November 7, The Guardian
Anger fading over Burma - Simon Tisdall

Only six weeks after Burma's generals brutally suppressed pro-democracy
protests, international outrage is fading and, with it, political and
diplomatic pressure for change. Campaigners say the unrelieved plight of
the Burmese people is again in danger of being forgotten. In some ways,
repression has actually grown worse. Theirs was the "saffron revolution"
that never was.

Western diplomats say widespread condemnation of the junta, and additional
sanctions imposed by the US and EU, Australia and Japan, have had limited
but measurable impact. Following the violence in which up to 200 people
died and unknown thousands disappeared into the night, the UN security
council formally took up Burma's case for the first time. It told the
generals to stop killing and start a genuine national dialogue.

The UN's envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, visiting the country this week, and is
expected to be allowed to meet Aung San Suu Kyi, the veteran pro-democracy
leader held under house arrest, but not General Than Shwe, the junta
leader.

The regime meanwhile has appointed a "liaison officer" and offered
conditional talks with the opposition. Some political prisoners have been
released. And a UN human rights rapporteur, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, is
expected in Rangoon next week, the first such visit for four years.

Mr Pinheiro said yesterday he would demand unfettered access to Burma's
prisons and investigate how many people the security forces had killed.
"If they don't give me full cooperation, I'll go to the plane and I'll go
out," he warned. His threat doubtless has the generals shaking in their
jackboots.

"After 45 years of military government and several failed uprisings, it
would be a little ambitious to think you can get instant results," said a
senior British official. "We're trying to use the genuine shock and horror
[over September's bloodshed] to engage the neighbours, to get a political
process and a genuine dialogue going that includes ethnic minority
groups."

Despite these efforts, which they broadly applaud, activists say momentum
has been lost as other crises, such as Pakistan, claim precedence. Mark
Farmaner, of Burma Campaign UK, said the junta was engaged in a familiar
game, playing for time, making minimalist gestures that looked positive
but signified little, and "talking about talks" rather than real reforms.

"People are still being arrested. The number of refugees is growing. Many
people are still missing. Repression is at a higher level than it was
before September," he said. Despite talk of enhanced cooperation, the
regime recently ordered the UN's permanent representative to leave the
country. Its sole meeting so far with Aung San Suu Kyi was, he said,
devoid of any substance.

"Ban Ki-moon [the UN secretary-general] should go there in person," Mr
Farmaner said. "We need a much higher level of engagement. It should be
made plain to the junta that what they got away with in the past is no
longer acceptable. And we need to set deadlines and benchmarks so we have
a measure of progress."

Diplomats say further action at the UN is being discussed in the event
that Mr Gambari returns empty-handed. But that may be stymied by China and
Russia. The EU may also move to implement a ban on new investment,
previously agreed in principle. But it too is divided, with export-minded
Germany and Italy among the most reluctant. There are also differences
between the US and Britain over offering incentives to encourage the
regime's cooperation, a course favoured by the foreign secretary, David
Miliband.

Burma was Mr Miliband's first big challenge in his new job and he rose to
it strongly. He energetically embraced the cause of reform - and
threatened further measures if the junta did not cooperate. "It is vital
that international pressure on the Burmese regime is maintained," Mr
Miliband insisted in an op-ed article.

He was right, of course. But day by day, attention is drifting away. And
six weeks is an eternity in international politics.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

November 7, Asia Times
China no sure bet on Myanmar - Bertil Lintner

United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari's latest trip to Myanmar
wholly failed to yield any results in pushing the ruling junta towards
conciliation with the country's democratic opposition. With the UN's
impotence, the international community will now look even more towards
China to nudge the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC)
towards democratic change.

There is a widespread perception that only China has the diplomatic
leverage over Myanmar's generals to force them to the negotiating table to
discuss the future of the country with the political opposition. Yet it is
still implausible that authoritarian China, despite its recent moves in
places like Africa to improve its standing as a responsible global power,
will any time soon champion democracy in a neighboring country of such
strategic import.

China is playing several different games in Myanmar, but following the
West's desired policies of encouraging more democracy is not one of them.
The two countries share a long history of strained relations, memories of
which have been slow to fade, even with their rapprochement in more recent
years. For historical reasons China is not fully trusted by the generals
in Naypyitaw, and even if Beijing applied more pressure on the regime to
change its repressive ways, it's not clear the junta would oblige.

At the same time, Myanmar is of vital strategic and economic importance to
China and it clearly does not want to jeopardize its still delicate
relationship with the junta by joining Western boycotts, condemnations and
calls for the emergence of more democracy. Some academic observers even
argue that Beijing's influence over the SPDC has been exaggerated.

In a recent paper published by Griffith University in Australia, Myanmar
scholar Andrew Selth argues that "[Myanmar] has always been very
suspicious of China, and only turned to Beijing in 1989 out of dire
necessity after it was ostracized by the West and made to suffer a range
of sanctions". China, the argument goes, "has not been as successful in
winning [Myanmar's] confidence as is often reported".

Proof of this is the fact that although China has provided Myanmar with
between US$1.4 and $1.6 billion worth of military hardware since 1989, the
regime has in more recent years turned to Russia, the Ukraine and even
North Korea to diversify its arms procurement program and lessen its
dependence on Chinese suppliers.

China's success in persuading North Korea to return to the six-party talks
about dismantling the country's nuclear program is often quoted as a
possible model for a similar Chinese intervention in the Myanmar crisis.
Yet it's not clear that Beijing has the same sort of powers of persuasion
in Naypyitaw that it does in Pyongyang. One crucial difference is that
China and North Korea have been allies for decades and fought together
against the Japanese in Manchuria in the 1930s.

Later China helped the newly established Democratic People's Republic of
Korea in the 1950-53 Korean War, where hundreds of thousands of Chinese
"volunteers" fought alongside their Korean comrades and among the many
casualties was even Chinese communist chairman Mao Zedong's eldest son,
Mao Anying.

Historical antagonisms
By stark contrast, bilateral relations between Myanmar and China have not
always been smooth. From the establishment of the People's Republic of
China in 1949 until 1962, Beijing maintained a cautiously cordial but
basically friendly relationship with the non-aligned democratic government
of prime minister U Nu. Myanmar, then known as Burma was, in fact, the
first country outside the communist bloc to recognize the new regime in
Beijing.

In 1954, Myanmar (then Burma) and China for the first time signed a
bilateral trade agreement and two months later Chinese premier Zhou Enlai
visited Yangon to hold talks with U Nu. In 1956, U Nu paid a return visit
to China and the basic principles for a definitive demarcation of the
2,171-kilometer common border were agreed on. A border agreement was
signed in 1960 and the situation was peaceful, although trade between the
two countries then was negligible.

After General Ne Win staged a coup d'etat in 1962, the Chinese, long wary
of the ambitious and sometimes unpredictable general, began to prepare for
all-out support for the outlawed Communist Party of Burma (CPB). The CPB
had in the years immediately following independence been strong, but in
the 1950s the insurgent group was pushed back to footholds in central
Myanmar, notably the Pegu Yoma mountain range north of Yangon. Meanwhile,
143 Myanmar communists had also managed to escape to China - and, in the
mid-1960s, they were sent down to the Myanmar border to survey possible
infiltration routes.

Anti-Chinese riots in Yangon - orchestrated by the military authorities to
deflect public anger at a rapidly deteriorating economy - in 1967 provided
a convenient excuse for the Chinese to intervene directly in Myanmar's
internal affairs. On New Year's Day 1968, the first armed CPB units
entered northeastern Myanmar from China's southwestern Yunnan province.
They never managed to reach the old units in the Pegu Yoma, but they built
up a 20,000 square kilometer base area along the Chinese frontier.

During the decade spanning 1968-78, China poured more aid into the CPB
effort than any other communist movement outside of Indochina. Assault
rifles, machine-guns, rocket launchers, anti-aircraft guns, radio
equipment, jeeps, trucks, petrol, maps of the area, and even rice, other
foodstuff, cooking oil and kitchen utensils were sent across the frontier
into the CPB's new revolutionary base area.

The Chinese also built hydroelectric power stations inside the area, and a
clandestine radio station, the People's Voice of Burma, began transmitting
from the Yunnan side of the frontier in 1971. Thousands of Chinese
"volunteers" also streamed across the border to provide additional support
to the CPB. Mao's death in 1976, and more importantly, the return to power
of the pragmatist Deng Xiaoping a year later, marked the beginning of the
end of massive Chinese aid to the CPB.

It was no longer seen to be in Beijing's interest to support revolutionary
movements in the region, but neither could the Chinese completely cut off
the CPB, which still controlled most of the border areas inside Myanmar.
Chinese support continued, albeit on a much reduced scale - until the hill
tribe rank-and-file of the CPB's army rose in mutiny in 1989 and drove the
entire Maoist Burman leadership into exile in China. The CPB subsequently
split up into four different regional armies based along ethnic lines.

Battlefields and marketplaces
Before long, however, all of them entered into ceasefire agreements with
the Myanmar government, which also made cross-border trade possible for
the first time in decades. It was also clear that China coveted Myanmar's
forests as well as rich deposits of minerals and natural gas. China became
the first major country to show interest in Myanmar's riches, and the
Chinese, renowned for their ability to plan far ahead, had actually
expressed their intentions, almost unnoticed, in an article in the
official Beijing Review as early as September 2, 1985.

Entitled "Opening to the Southwest: An Expert Opinion", the article, which
was written by the former vice minister of communications, Pan Qi,
outlined the possibilities of finding an outlet for trade from China's
landlocked southern provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan, through Myanmar, to
the Indian Ocean. It also mentioned the Myanmar railheads of Myitkyina and
Lashio in the northeast, and the Irrawaddy River, as possible conduits for
the export of Chinese goods.

At that time, those trade links were a remote dream, but the CPB mutiny
four years later ushered in a new, more cordial era in China-Myanmar
relations. First China supplied cash-strapped Myanmar with all kinds of
military hardware at generous prices, including fighter, ground attack and
transport aircraft, tanks and armored personnel carriers, naval vessels, a
variety of towed and self-propelled artillery pieces, surface-to-air
missiles, trucks and infantry equipment.

By late 1991, Chinese experts were also assisting in a series of
infrastructure projects to spruce up Myanmar's poorly maintained roads and
railways. Chinese military advisers also arrived in the same year, the
first foreign military personnel to be stationed in Myanmar since the
Australians had a contingent there to train the Myanmar army in the 1950s.
And soon thereafter cross-border trade between China and Myanmar started
to boom.

More recently, China has provided Myanmar with low interest loans to help
stabilize its weak currency, the kyat, and Chinese investment in the
sanctions-hit economy is substantial. That's particularly true of the
energy sector, including a recent agreement to help build a gas pipeline
from the Bay of Bengal which in future will be supplemented with an oil
pipeline designed to allow Chinese ships carrying Middle Eastern oil to
skirt the congested Malacca Strait. China has also helped Myanmar upgrade
its naval bases on the mainland as well as on Coco Island, where in return
it is believed to receive crucial intelligence information on areas where
its vital oil supplies pass.

To preserve and develop these budding relations, China wants stability in
Myanmar's political status quo, not regime change. In January, China -
along with Russia - used its veto power to block a US and
British-sponsored resolution at the UN's Security Council, although a
majority of its members had voted in favor. When the Security Council on
October 11 issued a non-binding statement "deploring" Myanmar's crushing
of the recent pro-democracy demonstrations and called for political
dialogue, China ensured that the stronger, original version of the
statement was toned down.

China's deputy UN ambassador, Liu Zhenmin, limited his comments to hoping
the statement would help a visit to the country by UN special envoy
Gambari, adding that it was up to Myanmar's government and people "to
resolve this issue". Evidently China does not want to alienate the
generals in Naypyitaw. On the other hand, the generals now more than ever
need Chinese support to fend off international criticism. Notably,
Myanmar's rulers found it necessary to send Foreign Minister Nyan Win to
China at the height of the anti-government demonstrations in Yangon in
September.

According to the Chiang Mai-based Myanmar exile publication Irrawaddy,
during his unpublicized visit Nyan Win met Chinese state councilor Tang
Jiaxuan in Zhongnanhai, the headquarters of the Chinese government, to
brief him on the situation.There have since been no known high-level
contacts between Chinese and Myanmar leaders.

But Asia Times Online has learnt that a colonel attached to the Chinese
Embassy in Yangon, a known specialist in psychological warfare and
counter-subversion, regularly meets with high-ranking members of the
junta. The Chinese official's role in Myanmar is not entirely clear, but
his presence suggests a closer relationship between the two countries than
some skeptics assume.

On the other hand, the Chinese also maintain close relations with several
former rebel groups that now have made peace with the government but have
still retained their arms and different degrees of autonomy over their
respective areas. The Kachin Independence Army in the far north of the
country as well as the various components of the CPB's former army,
especially the United Wa State Army (UWSA) deal directly with the
authorities on the other side of the frontier and have even been able to
purchase arms and ammunition from China.

The UWSA today is much stronger and better equipped than the CPB was
during the last years before the mutiny. This has not been lost on the
generals in Naypyitaw, nor have they forgotten that they once fought
against the Chinese-supported CPB.

Junta chief General Than Shwe spent time with the 88th Light Infantry
Division in Kengtung in the northeast, close to the CPB front, and his
deputy, General Maung Aye, served as eastern commander in the 1980s, also
with the CPB as his main enemy. Maung Aye is especially reputed to be
suspicious of China's designs for Myanmar and if he were to any time soon
take power from the ailing Than Shwe bilateral relations could suffer.

Bertil Lintner is a former correspondent with the Far Eastern Economic
Review. He is currently a writer with Asia-Pacific Media Services.

____________________________________

November 7, Irrawaddy
Postpone signing Asean Charter until people are heard - Pokpong Lawansiri

Officials of Asean will sign a charter designed to turn the loosely
structured regional body into a rule-based organization at the 13th Asean
Summit in Singapore this month.

Asean has functioned without a legally binding document for more than a
decade, unlike other regional inter-governmental organisations such as the
European Union, the Organisation of American States and the African Union.

The plan to drafting a “people-centred charter,” a term used by Asean,
surfaced in December 2005, when Asean heads of state met in Kuala Lumpur
and adopted the Kuala Lumpur Declaration on the Establishment of the Asean
Charter.

While Asean claims that the drafting of the charter has been
“people-centred,” the real voice of the people hasn't been heard, because
of the lack of people participation in drafting the charter.

Throughout the two-year process, a number of key civil society
organisations in the region, many of which come under the banner of the
Solidarity for Asia People's Advocacy (SAPA) Working Group on Asean (a
network of Asian NGOs and trade unions) have made proposals on several key
issues including human rights, a credible and efficient body, social and
economic justice, participatory democracy, rule of law, the right to
development, ecologically sustainable development, cultural diversity and
gender equality.

So far, the inclusion of a human rights body in the charter seems to be
designed only to provide a soapbox to voice concern rather than to
directly address human rights violations.

Both the time-frame and process of charter drafting brings the issues of
transparency and accountability of Asean into question. Asean member
states have announced with confidence prior to the 2007 summit that the
charter will be adopted, despite people’s participation in the process
being severely limited.

To take Thailand as an example, the forums that discussed the charter were
only open to government bodies, think tanks and a limited number of civil
society groups. The forums did nothing to tackle the perception of the
people that Asean is irrelevant to their everyday lives.

Instead, it has been left to other civil society groups to try to reach
out to Asean officials, the Eminent Person Groups (EPG) and the High Level
Task Force on the Drafting of the Asean Charter (HLTF) [drafters of the
charter], to bring the people’s concerns to them, rather the other way
around.

In Cambodia, the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs refused
to show up at the NGO-organised forum intended to raise the awareness of
the people. This is not to mentioned countries such as Laos, Vietnam,
Burma and Brunei where civil society barely exists because of political
oppression.

Civil society groups have continued to ask why it was necessary to cram
the drafting of the charter into a two-year time frame. Officials would
reply that the charter must be signed. How can this be, if the people’s
voices are not taken into account?

The public will not see the actual draft of the charter prior to its
signing at the Asean summit, less than three weeks away. Recently, more
than 200 activists in the Asean+ Civil Society Conference III, held on
November 2-4 in Singapore, again called on Asean to ensure transparency
through the disclosure of the draft ASEAN charter and to engage in public
consultation and discussion before its adoption.

If Asean really wants this charter to be a people-oriented one, it must
hear the voices of the people.

Delaying the signing of the Asean charter until this is done will be more
acceptable than adopting a “people-centred” charter in name only—in short,
a propaganda ploy.

Otherwise, Asean will continue to be seen as an elitist organisation  that
does not represent the true interests of the people it is supposed to
represent.

Pokpong Lawansiri is the Southeast Asia Programme Officer with the Asia
Forum for Human Rights and Development. He recently attended the  3rd
Asean+ Civil Society Conference in Singapore