BurmaNet News, November 8, 2007

[Editor]

November 8, 2007 Issue # 3338

INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy and AP: Gambari meets Suu Kyi
Mizzima News: A return to status quo is unacceptable: U.N.
Irrawaddy: Small 'panty' demonstration held in Rangoon; anti-junta
pamphlets, posters distributed
DVB: Monk arrested in South Dagon
DVB: Army officer flees under threat of arrest
Mizzima News: Top military leader shelves two disobedient commanders

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: Monk from Karen state flees to Thai border
Morning Star: Britain - Protest highlights oil giant's Myanmar ties
Irrawaddy: Burmese woman’s freedom leap highlights Malaysian abuses

BUSINESS / TRADE
Irrawaddy: Tycoons with an influential father

ASEAN
Xinhua: ASEAN not to impose sanction on Myanmar

REGIONAL
Irrawaddy: Exiled media essential to reporting events in Burma, say
journalists
AFP: Vietnam urges Myanmar to cooperate with UN envoy
Reuters: Indonesia urges Myanmar to speed up reforms

INTERNATIONAL
The Australian (Australia): UN under fire for 'failure' in Burma -
Emma-Kate Symons
DVB: EU appoints special envoy for Burma

OPINION / OTHER
Sydney Morning Herald: Burma's junta plays the game, but always to win -
Connie Levett

STATEMENT
Statement of Mass Movement Supervising Committee (Rangoon Division)

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

November 8, Irrawaddy and AP
Gambari meets Suu Kyi

UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari met pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi on
Thursday—but there were signs his diplomatic mission to Burma had been a
resounding little success.

Witnesses saw a convoy of three cars, the last filled with riot police,
drive Suu Kyi from the residence where she is under house arrest to a
nearby state guest house where she met Gambari twice before. After about
an hour, Suu Kyi was driven home and Gambari headed to Rangoon airport.
Details of their meeting were not immediately available.

In a statement on Thursday, the UN offered a positive outlook on the
meeting: “We now have a process going which would lead to substantive
dialogue between the Government and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as a key
instrument in promoting national reconciliation in an all-inclusive
manner. The sooner such a dialogue can start, the better for Myanmar
[Burma].”

The statement went on to say that the UN would continue its engagement
with all relevant parties— inside and outside Burma—to “achieve the goals
which we all share: peace, prosperity, democracy and full respect for
human rights in Myanmar [Burma].”

However, the absence of a meeting between Gambari and top leader Snr-Gen
Than Shwe—and the Burmese regime’s rejection of a proposed three-way
meeting involving Suu Kyi, a junta member and Gambari to promote
reconciliation— suggested that Gambari's mission has accomplished little.

Meanwhile, three representatives of Suu Kyi's party, the National League
for Democracy, held talks with Gambari for 45 minutes on Thursday in the
new capital, Naypyidaw, according to one of the participants.

The three NLD representatives—Chairman Aung Shwe, Secretary U Lwin and
Nyunt Wai—left Rangoon early morning Thursday for Naypyidaw and returned
to Rangoon promptly after the discussions, said U Lwin.

U Lwin told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that the party would release a
statement concerning the meeting. However, he declined to comment about
the meeting at the time.

Gambari returned to Rangoon on Thursday after several days of talks in
Naypyidaw with government officials and other parties, including
executives of the National Unity Party—formerly the Burma Socialist
Programme Party of late dictator Ne Win.

The UN envoy, sent to Burma after the UN Security Council condemned a
brutal crackdown on anti-government protests in September, met with
recently appointed Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein, the UN said in a
statement released on Wednesday from Rangoon.

The statement said Gambari had delivered a letter from UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addressed to junta chief Snr-Gen Than
Shwe—who had refused to receive Gambari.

The statement gave no details of the letter.

The UN's Wednesday statement said Gambari suggested to Thein Sein specific
steps to satisfy international concerns about Burma's political deadlock,
which began with the military's failure to hand over power to Suu Kyi's
NLD party after it won the 1990 general election.

"These [steps] include the need for dialogue with the opposition without
delay as part of an inclusive national reconciliation process, as well as
necessary confidence-building measures in the humanitarian and
socio-economic areas, including the establishment of a broad-based poverty
alleviation commission," the UN statement said.

Gambari also stressed that a return to the status quo before the crisis
would not be sustainable, and suggested specific steps for Burma to meet
international expectations in this regard, the statement said.

The UN statement said Thein Sein reiterated his government's support for
Gambari's efforts and invited him to return to Burma.

The junta is expected to host the UN's special investigator for human
rights in Burma, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, who has been invited for five-day
visit starting Sunday.

____________________________________

November 8, Mizzima News
A return to status quo is unacceptable: U.N.

United Nations Special Envoy to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari, has issued a blunt
warning to Burma's military government that a return to the status quo of
pre-protest Burma is unacceptable.

Gambari "stressed that a return to the status quo before the crisis would
not be sustainable, and suggested specific steps for Myanmar to meet
international expectations in this regard," according to a press release
yesterday by the United Nations Information Center in Rangoon.

One measure proposed by the United Nations is the establishment of a
poverty alleviation commission. The origin of the recent protests centered
on rising fuel and energy costs, which cash-strapped consumers were unable
to incur without serious hardship.

However, as reported in the New Light of Myanmar on Wednesday, junta
Information Minister, Brigadier General Kyaw San, told Gambari: "Instead
of blaming and suggesting that a poverty alleviation commission for
Myanmar only should be formed, you should play a leading role in
organizing and persuading others to relieve and lift sanctions. In this
way, the commission you suggested will not be required."

In a further sign that Gambari will depart Burma without meeting with
Senior General Than Shwe, the Special Envoy handed a letter addressed to
the junta leader to Prime Minister Thein Sein.

Gambari met with the Prime Minister yesterday, again stressing the
necessity of an immediate dialogue between the government and opposition,
specifically singling out the need to involve National League for
Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in the process.

Thein Sein reiterated that the United Nations mission to Burma continues
to have the government's "full support."

Originally scheduled to leave Burma today, the United Nations says that
Gambari may remain inside the country until November 12th. Whenever he
does leave the country, he will report directly to United Nations
headquarters in New York, where he will brief the Security Council on the
results of his mission.

In a last minute effort to meet with Suu Kyi on this trip, Gambari is now
said to be set to meet with the opposition leader today in Rangoon.
Additionally, the United Nations reports that he will meet with "members
of the Central Executive Committee of her National League for Democracy
party, officials of the National Unity Party, and other relevant
interlocutors, as well as the United Nations Country Team in Yangon."

____________________________________

November 8, Irrawaddy
Small 'panty' demonstration held in Rangoon; anti-junta pamphlets, posters
distributed- Wai Moe

About 40 people held a brief "panty" protest in downtown Rangoon on
Thursday, holding pictures of junta Snr-Gen Than Shwe’s covered by
panties, according to an 88 Generation Students member.

The demonstration took place on Bo Aung Kyaw Street in the commercial
district of the city, a witness said.

“When security forces arrived, the protesters had already gone,” he told
The Irrawaddy.

Since late October, international activists have launched a "panties
campaign" against the Burmese military government, playing off the
superstition of leading generals who are said to fear being touched by
women.

Sources in Rangoon said a new activist group called the Generation Wave
has been distributing anti-junta pamphlets and posters in different areas
of the city.

On Wednesday, anti-junta slogans appeared on walls in several
neighborhoods, said a Rangoon resident.

The abbreviations, CNG (Change New Government) and FFF (Freedom From Fear)
have been spray painted on walls.

According to one witness, “Protestors also wrote on walls that evil people
who kill monks must die.”

Young people also distributed anti-junta pamphlets in Thamine in Mayangone
Township in Rangoon.

On Tuesday in Sanchaung Township in Rangoon, copies of
state-run-newspapers were burned in protest, according to another source,
who said there were also small protests on city trains when people shouted
out that people who kill monks must die.

A member of the 88 Generation Students group told The Irrawaddy on
Thursday that demonstrations may resume if the junta fails to resolve the
current crisis.

____________________________________

November 8, Democratic Voice of Burma
Monk arrested in South Dagon

A monk from South Dagon township was arrested on Monday, despite
government claims that they have stopped arrests and monastery searches in
connection with the protests.

A source close to the monastery said that U Khaymarwuntha, a 20-year-old
monk from Zantila Kamahtan monastery in South Dagon township, was arrested
in connection with the demonstrations staged by monks and civilians in
September and October.

News of this arrest challenges the government’s claims made to United
Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari on Tuesday that “there are no more
arrests, night apprehensions and search of monasteries in connection with
the [demonstrations]”.

____________________________________

November 8, Democratic Voice of Burma
Army officer flees under threat of arrest

A Burmese military officer who provided water to monks involved in
protests in late September in Mandalay has fled his battalion after a
warrant was issued for his arrest.

Captain Win Htun Aung from light infantry battalion 3 in Mandalay handed
bottles of water to protesting monks on 26 and 27 September.

By the end of October, the military command headquarters had issued an
order for his arrest, and so he ran away to avoid detention, according to
military sources on the China-Burma border.

Win Htun Aung’s current whereabouts could not be disclosed.
____________________________________

November 8, Mizzima News
Top military leader shelves two disobedient commanders

The Burmese Military junta's appointment of two of its commanders as
deputy ministers on Wednesday is not to be understood as a promotion but
rather a punishment for defying orders to crack down on monk-led protests
in September, analyst said.

Brigade General Win Myint is up for the post of Deputy Minister of
Electric Power No.2 and Brigade General Tin Tun Aung for Deputy Minister
of Labor, the state-owned The New Light of Myanmar reported today.

"They (Win Myint and Tin Tun Aung) were kicked upstairs to become deputy
ministers as punishment for not strictly listening and responding to Than
Shwe's order to shoot in Rangoon and Mandalay respectively ," said Win
Min, a Burmese civil-military analyst based in Chiang Mai.

During the recent demonstration, Win Myint, the commander of Light
Infantry Battalion (LIB) 77 in Pegu, had been deployed to Rangoon. Tin Tun
Aung, commander of LIB 33 in Sagaing, was on the scene in Mandalay.
According to Win Min, both commanders did not open fire immediately as
ordered.

Because of the disobedience of the two commanders, additional troops were
mobilized. "New LIB 66 based in Prome and LIB 88 based in Magwe were sent
into Rangoon and Mandalay respectively overnight," added the Burmese
civil-military analyst. "The shootings and raids happened seriously in
Rangoon, and to a much lesser extent in Mandalay."

According to Htay Aung, another Burmese military observer based in
Thailand, there's more fallout within the ranks of the Burmese government
troops. The military head office has ordered to arrest Captain Win Htun
Aung from Infantry Battalion(IB)(KaLaRa) (3) because he offered food and
water to protesting monks in Mandalay.

In disagreement with the violence used against Buddhist monks during the
mass demontstrations, Captain Hla Win from Battalion 99 fled to the
border. And London, a deputy secretary of the Burmese embassy resigned
from his post.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

November 8, Irrawaddy
Monk from Karen state flees to Thai border - Saw Yan Naing

A Buddhist monk from Karen State arrived at the Thai border town of Mae
Sot on Wednesday after escaping arrest by the Burmese army and the
Democratic Karen Buddhist Army.

The 48 year-old monk, Ashin Sein Tita, from Arr Kaung monastery in
Kawkareik Township in Karen State, fled to the border fearing reprisals
for his involvement in the pro-democracy demonstrations in August and
September.

Ashin Sein Tita was one of prominent monks who led hundreds of protesters
through the streets in Kawkareik Township, chanting the “Metta Sutta” (the
Buddha’s words on loving kindness).

“They [the Burmese authorities] came to arrest me after I twice led
protests and gave interviews with the exiled Burmese media three times,”
said Sayardaw Sein Tita.

He said that he narrowly escaped from the monastery when authorities came
to arrest him. He had been followed by the security forces for several
weeks.

“If I had still been at the monastery an hour later, I would have been
arrested and jailed for sure,” he added.

Ashin Sein Tita traveled to the Thai border by foot, avoiding DKBA
checkpoints along the way. It took him two weeks to get to Mae Sot.

He said that police and about 30 soldiers—mostly DKBA troops—have
surrounded Arr Kaung monastery since he left for Thailand last month.

The monk said that he would continue to fight for the people and for
democratic reform in Burma as much as he could. He said that he expected
many more people to flee from Burma to Thailand in the near future.

Dozens of pro-democracy activists, including monks, have arrived in Mae
Sot since the September crackdown on the nationwide protests in Burma.

____________________________________

November 8, Irrawaddy
Burmese woman’s freedom leap highlights Malaysian abuses - Violet Cho

A Burmese woman migrant worker is recovering in hospital in Malaysia after
allegedly jumping from a second-floor window to escape abductors. The
plight of Ma Win Win Maw, 38, highlights the abuses suffered by Burmese
women migrant workers in Malaysia, according to the Burma Workers Rights
Protective Committee, based in Kuala Lumpur.

Ma Win Win Maw, from Natmauk district in central Burma, traveled to
Malaysia with about 70 other Burmese women in 2004 to work in garment
factories in Jaho province, an industrial zone in southern Malaysia. They
were hired by a Malaysian agent.

Friends of Ma Win Win Maw claim she was abducted by gangsters after
complaining to her employer about working conditions. Her sister told The
Irrawaddy Ma Win Win Maw was blindfolded and then held prisoner in the
building from which she leapt, seriously injuring her back.

Ye Min Htun of the Burma Workers Rights Protective Committee said Ma Win
Win Maw had argued with her employer about overtime payments. The employer
had threatened to send her back to Burma unless she agreed to do off-duty
tasks without payment, Ye Min Htun said.

Such threats were commonly made against Burmese migrant workers in
Malaysia, said Ye Min Htun. His committee had received numerous complaints
of abuses and punishments.

According to Malaysian government statistics, there are about 1.8 million
foreigners working legally in Malaysia. Most of them are from Indonesia,
Burma, India, Bangladesh and China.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

November 8, Irrawaddy
Tycoons with an influential father - Wai Moe

Being the child of a government official guarantees good fortune in
military-ruled Burma. Nay Aung and Pyi Aung are the sons of the Minister
for Industry 1, Aung Thaung, and in less than 20 years they have advanced
to become well-to-do tycoons, controlling two companies with export-import
monopolies in oil and gas products.

Their rise to fortune ran parallel to the political advance of their
father, which began in 1997.  Aung Thaung’s political career has an
unsavory side to it, though—he is believed to have been behind the
crackdown on the start of September’s demonstrations, including the
Pakkoku monks’ protests.

Apart from his father, who is one of junta leader Than Shwe’s most loyal
supporters, Pyi Aung has another important patron— the junta’s No. 2, Dep
Snr-Gen Maung Aye, who’s his father-in-law.

The brothers, both in their forties, manage two companies: IGE Co Ltd,
also known as IGE Pte Ltd, and Aung Yee Phyoe Co Ltd. The latter company
has a monopoly in agriculture products and timber trading.

IGE is the bigger company, established in 1994 and registered in Singapore
since 2001. Its Burma headquarters are on Kabar Aye Pagoda Road, Rangoon,
while its Singapore office has an expensive address on Shenton Way, an
exclusive area of the city state. Nay Aung is a frequent visitor at the
Singapore office.

The name of Win Kyaing is given on the Internet as managing director of
IGE Pte, although business sources say Nay Aung and his family are the
real force behind the company.

IGE’s Internet entry describes itself as one of Burma’s leading companies,
functioning successfully in export-import trading and in nationwide
government projects. After first of all trading mainly in steel, it has
become a major supplier of substation and transmission line materials, oil
and gas and accessories, and CNG filling stations for government projects.

IGE also exports rice and imports machinery and spare parts for electrical
generating projects, steel, fertilizer and chemicals.

According to a report by The Associated Press in March 2007, IGE, along
with the British Virgin Islands-based Rimbunan Petrogas Ltd, signed a deal
for offshore oil and gas exploration with the state-owned Myanmar Oil and
Gas Enterprise. The contract was for the exploration of oil and natural
gas in Block-A, off Burma’s Arakan coast.

IGE also has its charitable side, donating 30 million kyat (about US
$23,000) to the finances of the Burmese women’s football team. Tay Za’s
Htoo Trading and Zaw Zaw’s Max Myanmar also gave the team money, but
couldn’t match the IGE donation.

Business sources in Rangoon told The Irrawaddy that Burma’s Economic
Holding Ltd had come under the control of Aung Thaung’s industry 1 in
2004. Aung Thaung gave valuable government projects and export-import
licensees, relating to automobiles, gems, palm oil, agriculture goods, oil
and gas products, to his sons’ two companies.

The family’s control of automobile import licenses gives them great
influence in a country where it can cost up to Kyat 400 million (about
$300,000) to import a luxury SUV like a Toyota Landcruiser.

IGE and Aung Yee Phyoe trade chiefly with Asian countries, such as China,
India and Singapore. Neither company is on the list of Burmese businesses
targeted recently with increased sanctions by the US.

Aung Thaung and members of his family are on the EU black list denying
them visas for entry to most European countries, however.

____________________________________

November 9, Morning Star
Britain - Protest highlights oil giant's Myanmar ties

Human rights campaigners staged a symbolic "die-in" outside transnational
oil giant Total's London office in Wednesday over the company's ties to
the Myanmar military dictatorship.

The protest, part of a worldwide day of action targeted at the
French-based company, saw demonstrators in Cavendish Square dressed in
blood-soaked bandages holding placards reading: "Total out of Burma."

The die-in was held on the same day as Total's third-quarter profits rose
29 per cent thanks to record oil prices and increased production.

Net profit in the three months through September rose to a massive £2.17
billion.

After two weeks of protests lead by Buddhist monks against the military
junta led by General Than Shwe, the Myanmar government's ferocious
subsequent clampdown has shone a particularly bright light on Total's
activities, in particular the Yadana pipeline which runs gas from fields
in the Andaman Sea through southern Myanmar and into Thailand.

Campaigners are demanding that the company halts all its operations in
Myanmar, including the Yadana gas project, and announces a full divestment
from the country.

Protest organiser Jonathan Stevenson said: "The world's media attention
has moved on, but it is important that people who are concerned over what
is happening in Burma do what they can to keep the pressure on companies
like Total."

Human rights and environmental organisation EarthRights International
legal director Marco Simons explained that Total is involved in what is
essentially the single largest foreign investment project in Myanmar and
the single largest source of hard currency for the regime.

"They have entered into a direct business relationship with the Burmese
military," he said.

____________________________________
ASEAN

November 8, Xinhua General News Service
ASEAN not to impose sanction on Myanmar

Indonesia on Thursday confirmed that ASEAN countries would not impose
sanction against Myanmar, Indonesian Presidential spokesman Dino Patti
Djalal said here.

The spokesman told a press conference after a meeting of Indonesian
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Singaporean Foreign Minister George
Yeo at the presidential palace.

During the meeting, they discussed the issue of Myanmar and the
preparation of the ASEAN Summit in Singapore in the middle of this month,
Dino said.

"There is no tradition of sanction in ASEAN. So far, there have been
almost no applying of sanction on ASEAN member countries. For this mater
(Myanmar issue), ASEAN will not impose sanction,"he said.

The spokesman said that it was expected that all member countries of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), including Myanmar, will
sign a charter of ASEAN that would bind all it members.

Dino said that the Singaporean foreign minister had already visited Tokyo
and Beijing before arriving in Jakarta. He will then continue his visit to
New Delhi of India.

The visits are aimed at seeking support from the countries in an effort to
settle the dispute in Myanmar, he said.

Indonesian President Susilo also stressed the importance to support the
U.N. special envoy to Myanmar Ibrahim Gambari, said Dino.

Gambari's visit is part of a six-nation consultation tour of Thailand,
Malaysia, Indonesia, India, China and Japan to find a peaceful solution to
the Myanmar situation.

ASEAN countries comprise Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei,
the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

November 8, Irrawaddy
Exiled media essential to reporting events in Burma, say journalists -
Htet Aung

Burmese exiled journalists challenged the perception that Burmese
democracy forces outside Burma were no longer relevant during a discussion
on Wednesday at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand in Bangkok.

In the discussion, "A Skyful of Lies or Telling It Like It Is," Aung Zaw,
the founder and editor of The Irrawaddy magazine, Toe Zaw Latt, the bureau
chief of the Democratic Voice of Burma and Zin Linn, an exiled writer,
talked about the role played by Burmese stringers, correspondents and
citizen journalists, who voluntarily sent news and still and video images
to exiled and international media groups.

"Citizen reporters, stringers and correspondents working for The
Irrawaddy, The Democratic Voice of Burma and other news groups bravely
sent images and news from inside Burma using all the available
technologies," said Aung Zaw.

"It was very encouraging," he said. "Burmese people inside and outside the
country worked very impressively during the recent uprising."

"They had no cover and protection, and they took a huge risk by sending
out information." Citizen reporters, he said, could face up to 20 years in
prison if prosecuted by the Burmese authorities.

It was important that the uprising and bloody crackdown took place in
Rangoon, said Aung Zaw, where it was captured in on-the-scene images and
reports that quickly spread around the world. He recalled that in May
2003, the regime attacked Aung San Suu Kyi's motorcade in Depayin, a
remote area in central Burma, far from cameras and journalists. No images
and footages were available, and at least 100 persons died.

Asked about the greatest challenges for exiled media, Toe Zaw Latt said,
"The challenge is the severe arrests. We had a dilemma two days ago of
whether we should air news sent by a wife whose husband was arrested
because of giving us [DVB] news."

DVB showed video of the regime's brutal crackdown on Buddhist monks and
laypeople documented by its inside-Burma stringers. A Rangoon-based senior
Burmese correspondent working for a foreign news agency told The Irrawaddy
that stringers working for DVB and The Irrawaddy have “no cover”: "These
kids bravely took footage and images during the shootings (in September).”

Some Burmese reporters who were arrested and interrogated by special
branch police officers and intelligence officials said they kept asking
how images and information were sent to exiled media.

‘They didn’t realize that many images were sent from the Internet,” said a
veteran journalist. The regime, days after the bloody crackdown, finally
shut down Burma's Internet connection.

About the same time, The Irrawaddy’s Web site experienced a virus and had
to be shut down for a few days. Since the beginning of August, the Web
site has received millions of hits. It counted 39 million hits in October,
about three times more than normal, according to Web site statistics.

Radio stations outside of Burma also played a key role in reporting on the
uprising.

Zin Linn said: "Due to cheaper Chinese transistor radios, Burmese people
knew what was happening in the country and radios played a major role in
networking among different groups."

The BBC Burmese Service remained the top source of information among the
four radio stations that broadcast news of Burmese affairs, he said.

Aung Zaw said an obvious weakness in regard to Burmese exiled groups is
the lack of a unifying plan and policy.

"There hasn't been one united Burma policy outside the country on dealing
with the military regime," he said. "The regime is able to manipulate and
exploit different opinions between the West and Asean and Asean and China.
They can survive because they know how to manipulate and exploit the
situation."

"The word 'compromise' isn't in the dictionary used by the military
regime, and [Snr-Gen] Than Shwe won't give up easily," Aung Zaw said. "He
will fight [the international community] to the last minute."

"As exiled media, we will continue to report critically and very
independently until there is change in Burma," said Aung Zaw.

____________________________________

November 8, Agence France Presse
Vietnam urges Myanmar to cooperate with UN envoy

Vietnam urged Myanmar on Thursday to cooperate with the United Nations
special envoy Ibrahim Gambari, ahead of an official visit here by Myanmar
Prime Minister Thein Sein.

Gambari left Myanmar on Thursday after a meeting with detained opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi, but with no apparent breakthrough from his trip.

"We hope all parties in Myanmar will resume relations and settle (their)
differences and disagreements through dialogue," said foreign ministry
spokesman Le Dung.

"We hope Myanmar will cooperate with the UN, especially with the special
envoy of the UN secretary general, to find a suitable and satisfactory
solution to the situation."

The Myanmar ruling junta provoked international outrage in September when
it violently cracked down on the biggest demonstrations against its rule
in 20 years, killing at least 13 protesters and locking up thousands of
people.

During his visit, Gambari pushed for the lifting of restrictions on Aung
San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners, but the junta stuck to its
position that she must first abandon support for international sanctions
against the regime.

Thein Sein, who was officially declared premier in late October, is
scheduled to meet Vietnamese president Nguyen Minh Triet on Friday.

Thein Sein was in Laos on Thursday, where he met with Prime Minister
Bouasone Bouphavanh and president Choummaly Sayasone. Vientiane has
refused to take a position on the situation in Myanmar, saying it is an
"internal matter" for the country.

The Myanmar premier is expected to visit Cambodia on Saturday.

____________________________________

November 8, Reuters
Indonesia urges Myanmar to speed up reforms

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono urged Myanmar on Thursday to
speed up democratic reform, saying the military leadership needed to be
"flexible and creative".

At least 10 people were killed in September when the junta crushed the
biggest pro-democracy protests in nearly 20 years, prompting international
condemnation and tougher sanctions.

"In my reading, Myanmar tries to set their own steps, transition time.
What we have to do is to push Myanmar to accelerate the process,"
Yudhoyono told Qatar-based Al Jazeera television, referring to Myanmar's
promise for political reform.

The junta has embarked on a national convention to draw up a new
constitution as part of its "road map to democracy", but the process has
been criticised by Western governments as a sham.

Al Jazeera said Yudhoyono had been communicating personally with junta
leader General Than Shwe.

Indonesia, the largest member of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN), which includes Myanmar, has been increasingly critical of
Myanmar's foot-dragging on reforms.

U.N. envoy Ibrahim Gambari met detained Myanmar opposition leader Aung San
Suu Kyi on Thursday at the end of a six-day visit that made no apparent
progress in coaxing the junta towards reform.

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won 1990 elections by a landslide,
but was denied power by the military, which has ruled in one form or
another since a 1962 coup.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

November 8, The Australian (Australia)
UN under fire for 'failure' in Burma - Emma-Kate Symons

PRO-DEMOCRACY leaders have lambasted the UN's ''ineffective'' human rights
mission to Burma and its ''failure'' to protect persecuted monks and
dissidents who have fled across the Thai border.

UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon said yesterday that he was ''concerned at
this time about the lack of progress'' during the visit to Burma of envoy
Ibrahim Gambari.

As the UN boss expressed frustration at the junta's obstacles to
meaningful talks, democracy activists in Mae Sot, on the border with
Burma, said they feared for their lives amid a Thai police crackdown on
illegal immigrants.

Nay Tin Myint, a prominent National League for Democracy leader, was a key
figure in the 1988 student uprisings against the government. He spent 15
years in prison before escaping to Thailand just before September's
anti-junta protests.

Now designated a ''terrorist'' and an ''enemy of the Burmese people'' in
junta newspapers, he said the UN mission to Burma was ''just not
effective''.

''Gambari should meet many, many opposition leaders, and the many monks
who demonstrated, but (General) Than Shwe did not allow him,'' he said.
''The UN Security Council should issue a strong resolution to the Burmese
military.

''The military rulers depend on China, so the world must persuade China to
put pressure on Than Shwe. China could have way more influence.''

According to Mr Myint, Thai police have escalated their raids on illegal
Burmese immigrants in Mae Sot since the September protests.

He said the raids were at the behest of the junta, whose foreign minister
has pressured Thai authorities not to offer refuge to activists.

Mr Myint was speaking at a safe house in Mae Sot, where more than 30
people who had escaped since the September protests were living.

''Inside Burma they call me a terrorist, and I will be killed if I
return,'' he said.

A Burmese Buddhist monk at the safe house, who escaped from Rangoon after
leading the protests, said the UN seemed ''powerless'' to protect the
Burmese refugees from police harassment and deportation.

When the Burmese arrive in Mae Sot, the UNHCR tells them they cannot offer
them protection, only the chance to apply for refugee status. This process
can take years and even decades, given Thai authorities' unwillingness to
co-operate.

The Mae Sot Migrant Workers' Association chief, Win Ko Ko, confirmed that
Thai police raids and demands for bribes had skyrocketed since late
September.

More than 200 people were hauled in daily for questioning and often brutal
bodily drug searches, with dozens sent back over the border.

Mr Gambari is on his second visit to Burma since the military sent in
troops on September 27 to shoot, beat and imprison democracy protesters
after weeks of anti-government marches, the largest in two decades.

He has been trying to meet with military leaders and detained opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi, but has been relegated to talks with Labour
Minister U Aung Kyi, designated by the junta in October as liaison officer
with Ms Suu Kyi.

Mr Gambari was scheduled to have his meeting with the opposition leader
and Nobel laureate late yesterday.

The UN said human rights envoy Paulo Sergio Pinheiro would visit Burma by
invitation from Sunday.

____________________________________

November 8, Democratic Voice of Burma
EU appoints special envoy for Burma

Italian politician Piero Fassino has been appointed as the European
Union’s special envoy for Burma, according to an EU statement issued on
Tuesday.

Javier Solana, the EU high representative for the Common Foreign and
Security Policy, appointed Fassino to the post to coordinate the EU’s
efforts to bring about positive change in Burma and support the efforts of
United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari.

“This appointment underlines the importance that the EU attaches to
democratic change, reconciliation, the improvement of the human rights
situation and development in Burma/Myanmar,” said the statement.

Fassino is an Italian member of parliament from the Democrats of the Left
party, and a former minister of justice.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

November 8, Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
Burma's junta plays the game, but always to win - Connie Levett

When the new British ambassador went to Naypyidaw, the remote Burmese
capital, to present his diplomatic credentials in mid-2006, he reportedly
thought the meeting with Senior General Than Shwe went well. He found out
otherwise, when he returned to Rangoon to read a very personal attack in
the government-backed press, naming him and accusing him of violating
diplomatic procedure by making contact with the main opposition group.

This stage-managed game of diplomatic cat and mouse is one the Burmese
generals know well and will happily play all day: appear to be
conciliatory, lull the visitor and then snap back. There are often loose
promises of evolutionary democratic change thrown in for good measure.

In late 2005 the Association of South-East Asian Nations was under
pressure to force Burma to quicken the pace on democratic reform, because
it reflected so poorly on the whole group. The generals offered a
concession on the eve of the leaders' summit in Kuala Lumpur, inviting the
Malaysian Foreign Minister, Syed Hamid Jaafar Albar, to visit the country
as an ASEAN envoy and report back on democratic progress. The pressure on
Burma eased immediately and ASEAN congratulated itself on its strong
stand. Within days, during the summit, the junta extended the house arrest
of the democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, in a strong sign of defiance.
When the Syed Hamid finally made the trip in March, the regime would only
accept him in a bilateral capacity, he was refused a meeting with Suu Kyi
and he cut the visit short by a day in frustration.

This week there is a new mouse in the house. The United Nations special
envoy, the Nigerian Ibrahim Gambari, is making the rounds in Burma, his
fourth visit since his appointment in May 2006. His agenda is to create a
dialogue between the generals, the so-called State Peace and Development
Council, and opposition groups, including Suu Kyi.

In late September, at the height of international furore against the
regime's repression of democracy protesters, the junta was persuaded, by
the Chinese, to let Gambari visit. He met the senior general, he met Suu
Kyi, and he left. The Burmese people watched with a jaundiced eye, after
all, he is the seventh UN envoy to plead their case since 1990. The
previous envoy, the Malaysian former diplomat Razali Ismail, quit in early
2006 after being refused entry for two years. He told Irrawaddy magazine:
"It is best to conclude that I have failed."

So to Gambari's latest efforts. Since his September visit, he has toured
regional countries seeking consensus for his efforts and much was made of
new concessions by the regime. Burma has agreed to let in the UN human
rights expert Paulo Sergio Pinheiro after a four-year ban, and moved up
the second Gambari visit from mid to early November. Signs of willingness
to engage, say the optimists.

Then came the snap back. As Gambari arrived, the internet was again barred
and the junta said it would not renew the visa of Charles Petrie, the most
senior UN diplomat in Burma. His office had issued a statement on United
Nations Day expressing the UN's "strong determination" to help the country
address poverty and suffering, and their underlying causes. "The concerns
of the people have been clearly expressed through the recent peaceful
demonstrations, and it is beholden on all to listen," it said.

It was a perfect opening for the generals. They hit back, claiming the
statement "harms Myanmar's image despite its all-out co-operation with the
UN and gives the wrong message to the international community". Now
instead of talking about dialogue with opposition groups, Gambari is
distracted by visa battles for UN staffers.

Burma's generals have no interest in a political evolution which does not
keep them at the heart, head and hip pocket of the regime. In 1990 they
badly misjudged the mood of the people when they allowed general elections
and lost; in 2003, they were caught off guard by the public response to
Suu Kyi as thousands gathered for her barely publicised rallies. This
year's explosion of support for the monks' uprising is a reminder, if they
needed it, that the public is not with them. So when the generals speak of
moving towards democratic reform, expect diversions, not genuine
concessions.

____________________________________
STATEMENT

November 3, Mass Movement Supervising Committee (Rangoon Division)
1. Mass Movement Supervising Committee (Rangoon Division) was formed on
1st November 2007 to work jointly with Mass Movement Supervising Committee
which was led and formed by All Burma Monks Alliance during the September
Uprising led by Sanghas.

2. Mass Movement Supervising Committee (Rangoon Division) consists of
monks, students, Youths and people from all townships in Rangoon Division.
This Committee will perform the following tasks systematically to
materialize the will and desire of monks, lay disciples, students and the
people.

(a) Set the state-run newspapers on fire en masse, discarding them into
the garbage cans collectively

(b) Make the list of USDA members, Swanahshins, and their family members
and stop
dealing with them.

(c) Conducting poster campaigns and leaflet campaigns

(d) Conduct awareness campaigns among the people on the ongoing pro-junta
mass rallies by forcing the people to attend these rallies, are violating
the SPDC Notification No. 1/99 and Paragraphs 8,19,20, 24(4) of United
Nations Declaration of Human Rights (UNDHR). And to assist the people
individually or collectively lodge complaints to UNCHR and ILO by this
Rangoon Division Mass Movement Supervising Committee

3. We strongly urge the SPDC, as demanded by UN, UNSC, international
community, ASEAN countries, monks and people of Burma, to release Daw Aung
San Suu Kyi, U Tin Oo, all political prisoners and all detainees in
September Uprising unconditionally at the earliest date, to stop the
continuation of such arrests and detentions, implement the genuine
dialogue at the earliest date for the national reconciliation.

4. We profoundly request and remind the monks, students and people to join
hands and cooperate with the Mass Movement Supervising Committee (Rangoon
Division), to strive for the systematic mass movements.

Mass Movement Supervising Committee (Rangoon Division)