BurmaNet News, November 30, 2007

[Editor]

November 30, 2007 Issue # 3354

INSIDE BURMA
DPAr: Myanmar's missing monks still a mystery months after crackdown
Irrawaddy: Monastery closure makes mockery of Junta’s Buddhist claims
Mizzima News: Junta reshuffles commanders, showcases changes
Mizzima News: UWSA defy junta's pressure, refuse to sign pre-written
statement
Narinjara News: Arakan State NLD Chairman rearrested
DVB: Troops kill Arakan villagers for cutting wood
Irrawaddy: Burmese Army reinforces troops for dry season military offensives
Kaowao News: Burmese authorities investigate video shops

BUSINESS / TRADE
AP: Burma crackdown rekindles boycott debate
The Daily Yomiuri(Tokyo): 5 Myanmars held over running unlicensed bank

HEALTH / AIDS
Reuters: Myanmar junta shuts AIDS monastery, expels monks
Irrawaddy: World AIDS day means little in Burma

REGIONAL
AFP: Cambodia urges Myanmar to continue Suu Kyi talks
Straits Times: 2 Myanmar nationals nabbed trying to smuggle out of S'pore

INTERNATIONAL
AP: Suu Kyi must be released, Gambari says
Mizzima News: Pinheiro challenges international community
Asian Tribune: United States reiterates opposition to ongoing arrests of
political activists in Burma

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: The latest crime of a callous regime [Editorial]
World Press: Deuces High: How the U.S. can bring an end to Myanmar's
crackdown on democracy - Josh D. Friedman

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

November 30, Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Myanmar's missing monks still a mystery months after crackdown

Two months after Myanmar's brutal crackdown on peaceful protests in Yangon
led by Buddhist monks, the former capital is noticeably short of monks, a
senior US diplomat said Friday.

"Prior to September, almost any place you looked in Rangoon (Yangon) there
were 25 to 50 monks, they were everywhere, but now you only see one or
two," said Shari Villarosa, charge d'affaires of the US embassy in
Myanmar, also known as Burma.

For two weeks in September, Myanmar's saffron-robed monkhood led peaceful
demonstrations in Yangon to protest the country's deteriorating economic
conditions under the authoritarian military regime that has ruled the
predominantly Buddhist nation for the past 45 years.

The protests ended on September 27, after the army unleashed a brutal
two-day crackdown on the monks and their lay followers that left at least
15 people dead, according to official figures.

Other estimates place the death toll above 100. It is unknown how many
monks were arrested and died in the crackdown.

What is known is that the ruling junta has forced monks out of Yangon,
leaving many monasteries and temples with skeleton staffs.

In some cases, the junta has closed down monasteries altogether.

Authorities on Thursday shut down the Maggin Monastery in Yangon, where
many of the dissident monks had stayed, Villarosa confirmed at a press
conference held in Bangkok.

"The big question out there is where are all the monks," she said. The US
diplomat recently visited Moulmein, the home of more than 13,000 monks on
Myanmar's southern coast, and encountered a similar scarcity of them
there.

Myanmar military authorities have told diplomats that the monks have "gone
home," but Villarosa said, "we believe a considerable number have been
arrested."

There is no official figure for the number of monks in Myanmar, but prior
to the September crackdown, there were believed to be close to 500,000
monks and novices.

Besides cracking down on monks and closing their monasteries, Myanmar's
military has also continued to make arrests of dissidents in the aftermath
of the September crackdown.

"We get reports on almost a daily basis of people people picked up," said
Villarosa. "It raises questions about the sincerity of the military in
pursuing a genuine dialogue leading towards national reconciliation."

In the aftermath of the crackdown, under considerable pressure from the
international community, Myanmar's military supremo Senior General Than
Shwe vowed to start a dialogue with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi,
but demanded that she agree to drop her support for sanctions against the
regime.

____________________________________

November 30, Irrawaddy
Monastery closure makes mockery of Junta’s Buddhist claims - Wai Moe

The Burmese junta often claims it believes deeply in Buddhism and
encourages the growth of the faith. It’s a claim that has the Burmese
people shaking their heads in disbelief in view of the junta’s latest
crackdown, on Rangoon’s Maggin Monastery.

The monastery was forced to close by soldiers on Thursday. No
responsibility was taken by the authorities for the resettlement of the
monks and lay people ejected from the compound.

The Alliance of All Burmese Buddhist Monks condemned the action as an
“assault” on Buddhism and called on all Buddhists in Burma to defend their
faith against regime actions they said threatened its survival.

In the Burmese ruby-mining town of Mogok, Mandalay Division, about 300
monks attempted to march from their monastery to a pagoda on Friday. They
were stopped by the authorities.

Phyu Phyu Thin, a prominent Burmese activist, who used to work at Maggin
Monastery’s treatment center and hospice for HIV/AIDS patients, told The
Irrawaddy that the authorities in Rangoon had denied a request by the
oldest monk at the monastery, the 80-year-old father of its detained
abbot, to allow the monks and other residents one or two days to leave.

“The authorities forced monks and everybody else from the monastery,” Phyu
Phyu Thin said. “The monks had to leave their belongings on the street.
People who live near the monastery tried to help the monks move their
things, but authorities stopped them giving any assistance.”

One resident said the authorities had warned that legal action would be
taken against anybody found helping the evicted monks or giving them
shelter. People who went to help the monks were warned to stay away.

The 80-year-old monk spent the day on the street, until he was granted
refuge at a monastery in Thingangyun Township in Rangoon. But he can only
stay there temporarily.

One resident of Thingangyun Township said he was sad because Buddhist
monks were being displaced in a “Buddhist land”.

The renewed harassment of monks drew condemnation from the US State
Department.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in a statement that the
junta's "repression belies the regime's claims to cooperate fully with the
United Nations, which has repeatedly sought an end to the detention of
political activists."

He said continuing arrests "bring into serious question" Burma's
commitment to talks on moving toward democracy.

"Apparently, it was ordered closed. No one knows why," Shari Villarosa,
the top U.S. diplomat in Burma, told on Friday reporters in Bangkok,
Thailand. "Arrests are continuing. We are getting reports on a daily basis
of people being picked up," Villarosa said.

Maggin Monastery has been raided by soldiers four times since the
September demonstrations. Its abbot, U Indaka, a former political
prisoner, is still being detained at an unknown location.

In 1990, he was arrested and sentenced to five years imprisonment and
defrocked for his role in a "patam nikkujjana kamma"—the boycott of alms
from members of the military regime, which followed the junta’s raids on
monasteries in Mandalay. He was released in late 1994.

Maggin Monastery also sheltered a hospice and treatment center for
HIV/AIDS patients who came from all over the country to seek help there.

____________________________________

November 30, Mizzima News
Junta reshuffles commanders, showcases changes

In what, is in all probability a diversionary tactics adopted by the
Burmese military junta, it has effected another military reshuffle.
Critics feel it is to showcase changes in the regime in the aftermath of
the brutal crackdown on September's monk-led protests, which had invited
world-wide wrath.

The junta has promoted Brig. Gen Myint Soe, commander of the Taugup based
No. 5 Military Operation Command as the Northwest Military Command
commander, sources close to the military establishment said.

Rector of the Defence Service Academy, Brig. Gen Kyaw Swe was promoted as
commander of the Southwest Command and his position was filled by Brig.
Gen Zeya Aung, commander of Light Infantry Division 88.

While Brig. Gen Tin Ngwe of the War Office General Staff was posted as the
commander of the Central Command, the War Office General Staff position
was filled in by Brig. Gen Sann Oo, commander of the Maingnaung based No.
2 Military Operation Command.

Kale Regional Operation and Strategic Command commander Col Khin Maung
Htay was also promoted as commander of the LID 99.

While there are more promotions in the offing in the military hierarchy,
secrecy in the military establishment made it difficult to confirm more of
the new postings. The newly appointed commanders were told to join their
new posts or report to the Military Headquarters on November 28, sources
said.

Prior to the appointment of several new commanders, the junta promoted the
former Northwest Command Commander Maj. Gen Thar Aye to Commander of
Bureau of Special Operation, former Commander of Central Command Maj. Gen
Khin Zaw was promoted to Commander of Bureau of Special Operation 6 and
former Commander of Southwest Command Thura Myint Aung was promoted as
Adjutant General, sources said.

While the Burmese junta has a penchant for reshuffling its commanders from
time to time, some critics view the current reshuffle as an effort to
showcase that the junta is implementing some changes even within its own
military establishment, sources said.
Win Min, a Thailand based Burma affairs analyst, said, it is about time
that the junta promoted some of its commanders like Thar Aye and Thura
Myint Aung but since the reshuffle came following the brutal crackdown on
peaceful protesters, it could involve an effort to showcase that the junta
is implementing changes.

"By reshuffling some of its commanders the junta wants to give hope to the
people that there will be more economic and social stability in the
country," Win Min added.

Besides, the reshuffle could also mean that the junta supremo Than Shwe is
strengthening its stranglehold on the military establishment by promoting
his loyalists, Win Min said.

"If we look at the reshuffle, we can see that most of the commanders are
close to Shwe Mann (who is a close ally of Than Shwe). So it is like, even
while going by seniority, it has been carefully planned to choose Than
Shwe and Shwe Mann's allies," Win Min added, citing a rift in the top
brass of the junta between Senior General Than Shwe and Vice Senior
General Maung Aye.

____________________________________

November 30, Mizzima News
UWSA defy junta's pressure, refuse to sign pre-written statement

A Sino-Burmese border based ethnic armed group, the United Wa State Army
(UWSA), said it welcomed Burma's pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi's statement on national reconciliation and refused to sign the junta's
pre-written statement.

An officer of the UWSA, who requested not to be named, told Mizzima that
the group, like many other armed ceasefire groups, was pressured by the
junta to sign a pre-written declaration condemning Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's
statement on cooperating with the ruling junta in order to kick-start a
process of national reconciliation.

"U Khin Aung Myint [Burmese Cultural Minister] came to us and pressured us
to sign a pre-written statement. But we refused because we did not even
see the statement. Moreover, we welcome any efforts toward national
reconciliation," the UWSA officer told Mizzima by phone.

Reportedly, the Burmese Cultural Minister traveled to places along the
Sino-Burmese border in October and November and held meetings with ethnic
armed ceasefire groups and pressured them to sign pre-written statements
against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

However, like the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), the UWSA was
among the few groups that openly defied the junta's request and refused to
sign the document.

Speaking from the UWSA's headquarters in Panghshang, eastern Shan State,
the officer revealed that the group would like to see democracy and
equality among all ethnic groups in Burma.

"We love democracy and peace and we don't want to face any kind of
coercion or violence," he added.

UWSA was until recently widely known as one of the Burmese junta's most
favored allies, and is reportedly highly involved in the cultivation of
poppies and production of amphetamines along the Sino-Burmese border.

However, with the fall of Burma's former Prime Minister and Intelligence
Chief, General Khin Nyunt, and the UWSA's Chairman's promise to the
Chinese government in late 2004, there has been a drastic fall in opium
poppy cultivation.

The UWSA is one of the 17 armed ceasefire groups that attended the Burmese
military junta's long and winding National Convention that concluded this
past September.

Following the conclusion of the National Convention, the UWSA, along with
other ceasefire groups, has come under pressure from a Burmese military
junta determined to completely disarm the ceasefire groups.

According to the UWSA officer, the Burmese junta has been pressuring the
group and is banning some of its members based along the Thai-Burmese
border from traveling freely and conducting business.

The junta also decided in its National Convention that Wa dominated areas
in the south, close to the Thai-Burmese border, would fall under Shan
administration, he added.

However he reiterated the Wa's relentless desire for self-determination,
adding, "the Wa army still has 20,000 strong men and the Wa population is
estimated at 500,000."

____________________________________

November 30, Narinjara News
Arakan State NLD Chairman rearrested

Days after Arakan State NLD chairman U San Shwe Tun being released from
Sittwe prison in Arakan, western Burma, junta authorities rearrested him.

"The authorities rearrested him from his home on 26 November, 26 but the
reason for the arrest is still unknown," a colleague of his said.

U San Shwe Tun was released from Sittwe prison on November 5 along with
fellow NLD leader U Aung Ban Tha after serving a three-year jail term.

The two were first arrested by the Burmese military authorities in 2005,
on accusations of holding foreign currency, mainly Indian rupees.

U San Shwe Tun denied the allegation, but a military court in Sittwe
sentenced them to three years in prison.

U Aung Ban Tha was not arrested again this time, as he was traveling away
from his home in Sittwe, a colleague of U San Shwe Tun's said.

The military authorities have not given out the reason why U San Shwe Tun
was rearrested, or where he is being detained.

____________________________________

November 30, Democratic Voice of Burma
Troops kill Arakan villagers for cutting wood

Two people were reportedly killed in Maung Daw, Arakan state, after
government troops opened fire on a group of villagers cutting wood on 27
November, according to a local women’s organisation.

The Arakan Women’s Association said on November 28 that they strongly
denounced the killing of two local villagers in Maung Daw by the Burmese
army for illegally cutting wood.

AWA chairperson Daw Saw Mya Yazar Linn told DVB that two people were
killed after the SPDC's local troops from Northwestern Military Command
(3) opened fire on a group of villagers who were cutting woods in a
government-reserved timber forest between Butheetaung and Maung Daw
townships.

Saw Mya Yazar Linn said an unknown Muslim man died on the spot after the
group came under the soldiers' fire and another villager, Maung Sein Nu,
was fatally wounded and admitted to Maung Daw hospital where he died at
noon on 28 November.

"It is not clear whether the group of villagers was actually cutting
timber illegally or just collecting firewood but the news is all over the
area now," said Saw Mya Yarzar Linn.

"Two other villagers who survived the attack, Maung Tin Tun and Aung Thein
Tun, are now apparently being held by the military."

____________________________________

November 30, Irrawaddy
Burmese Army reinforces troops for dry season military offensives - Saw
Yan Naing

The Burmese government has reinforced troops in Karen State in preparation
for dry season military offensives against the Karen National Union,
according to sources close to the Burmese military regime.

The regime’s Central Command has sent about 10 Light Infantry Divisions
which make up the  Military Operation Command 4, with an estimated 20,000
soldiers, to southern and northern Karen State in November.

MOC 4 was sent to Mon and Kyauk Gyi in Pegu Division and Papun in northern
Karen State. LID 88 with some 1,500 soldiers was sent to Kawkareik and
Kyar Inn Seik Gyi in southern Karen State, according to the source.

Meanwhile, the Free Burma Rangers, a medical relief team that aids
internally displaced persons, said some 3,000 Burmese soldiers of Light
Infantry Division 33 in northern Karen State were sent to Mon in Pegu
Division on November 20, accompanied by about 20 Democratic Karen Buddhist
Army (DKBA) soldiers and 100 porters.

Saw Steve, a member of the Committee for Internally Displaced Karen
People, told The Irrawaddy on Friday, “Burmese troops started to enter Mon
in Pegu Division in late November. Villagers are now on alert. After
having meals, they [villagers] always keep their plates, pots and cups in
a basket and they're prepared to flee if necessary.”

Mahn Sha, the secretary-general of the Karen National Union, said the
Burmese army would probably launch armed operations after it completes
stockpiling rations in the area.

“We've heard that they [Burmese armies] intend to launch military
operations, especially against the KNU. Small clashes between the KNU and
Burmese army happen every day in the region of Three Pagodas Pass,
Kawkareik, Kyar Inn Seik Gyi, Myawaddy, Pa-an and Taungoo District.”

He said about 150 Burmese battalions are now stationed in Karen State. The
Burmese army is also destroying villagers’ paddy fields and forcing
villagers to work on the construction of two new roads in Karen State
bordering Karenni State, Mahn Sha said.

On November 15, some 300 people, including at least 100 children in Ler
Wah and Ta Hoe Aung villages in northern Karen state, fled an attack
launched by Light Infantry Division 11, according to a FBR report. Two
local villagers were killed by Light Infantry Battalion 218 and 219, the
report said

Meanwhile, on November 20 Burmese units from MOC 8 and 19 arrived in the
Three Pagodas Pass border area near Mon Sate in southern Burma, according
to a ceasefire group, the New Mon State Party.

Nai ong Ma-nge, a spokesperson of the New Mon State Party, said troops
have reinforced soldiers already stationed near the NMSP area, and they
are likely to launch an offensive against the KNU.

He said the NMSP is also preparing for an attack from Burmese soldiers.

Nai ong Ma-nge said, “It is not good because they [Burmese soldiers]
increased their troops in our ethnic areas while their leaders are talking
about achieving political dialogue for national reconciliation. They
should withdraw their armies.”

The NMSP is worried about the Burmese reinforcements around the Three
Pagodas Pass—an area controlled by the NMSP, the KNU and the DKBA.
Recently, the KNU closed down a road from Three Pagodas Pass to
Thanbyuzayat because it believed the Burmese army planned to use the road
when operating a military offensive against the KNU and Mon and Karen
villages in the area.

On November 7, a two-hour clash occurred between Burmese soldiers from
Infantry Battalion 577 and the Shan State Army – South at a village in
Shan state.

Four Burmese soldiers were killed and four were injured. No SSA-S soldiers
were injured, according to Sai Lao Hseng, a spokesperson for the SSA-S.

Tension between Burmese soldiers and the Kachin Independence Organization
recently increased with both sides reinforcing troops near the China-Burma
border.  Burmese soldiers have also begun disrupting KIO businesses in the
region, according to a local source.

A Burmese military offensive that began in February of 2006 in northern
Karen State killed more than 370 villagers, including children, and
displaced more than 30,000 people. More than 5,000 displaced persons fled
to the Thai-Burma border area.

____________________________________

November 30, Kaowao News
Burmese authorities investigate video shops

Burmese military junta authorities are desperately seeking video footage
taken during the September revolution from video shop owners in Mon State,
Burma, owners told Kaowao.

"Any video clips shot in September and possibly kept in our shops are
being thoroughly investigated in Malawmyine and rural areas. The
authorities are investigating video shops because videos of demonstrations
and CDs have been distributed throughout Mon state since the beginning of
November," he stated.

"The police came to my store and asked us to give them a list of names of
anyone who had rented any CDs or videos of anything to do with the
September protests.  But it is not easy to find out who rented anything to
do with the monk's demonstrations as we didn't burn only the monks'
revolutionary footage; we combined it with Burmese video," another video
shop owner from Malawmyine said.  In rural areas the police have been
ordered to find out about these 'mixed' CDs and DVDs.

"The police came and checked all our VCDs and also ordered us to stop
copying CDs," a computer shop owner from Malawmyine said.

In Than Phyu Zar Yat Township nearly all Karoh pi (Krait Pua) villagers
have video players.  "Officials are talking to video shop owners  and
ordering owners to liaise with them if they find any material including
footage or audio of the Monk's revolution," said one Karoh pi villager.

The authorities of Mon State ' townships have continued to demand all tea
shops and restaurants cease to play anything even remotely negative
towards the SPDC. If a shop plays The Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB)
Channel, authorities cancel their UBC license.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

November 30, Associated Press
Burma crackdown rekindles boycott debate - Thomas Hogue

The recent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Burma has rekindled a
decades-old debate: Is it morally right to do business in countries with
repressive regimes?

Some foreign businesses, including French jeweler Cartier, cut ties with
the country after the suppression of the protests in September and
October. But others remain, arguing that they help the people of the
impoverished country by creating jobs.

Members of the Burmese community and the Burma Campaign UK group protest
in body bags covered in fake blood outside the offices of French company
Total Oil in central London in May, 2006 [AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis,
FILE]

France's Total SA contends that boycotting Burma hurts ordinary people
more than it harms the military regime and could hinder moves toward
democracy. Total and Chevron Corp, which are partners in a natural gas
field off Burma's coast, also provide health and social programs for local
communities.

"We feel the country would have evolved much more if more responsible
companies had remained," said Jean-Francois Lassalle, Total's vice
president of public affairs for exploration and production. "Development
of human rights goes along with the development of the economy."

More broadly, the arguments form part of a larger debate over whether
economic sanctions work.

South Korea has invested in some business ventures in North Korea in an
attempt to encourage the communist state to abandon its nuclear weapons
programs and open its economy. But Iran has been hit by limited UN
sanctions for defying demands to freeze uranium enrichment.

In the past, companies and governments wrestled with the question whether
they should do business with apartheid-era South Africa. The effectiveness
of that boycott—which some corporations ignored—is still disputed.

"This is not a slam dunk kind of debate," said W Michael Hoffman, the
executive director of the Center for Business Ethics at Bentley College in
Waltham, Massachusetts.

The US has banned new investment in Burma since 1997, and the European
Union has enforced less stringent restrictions since the mid-1990s. But
both allow pre-existing investments to continue, including Total's natural
gas operation in the offshore Yadana field. Chevron has a 28 percent stake
in the project, which it inherited when it took over Unocal Corp in 2005.

The approximately US $2 billion in gas sold every year to Thailand from
the Yadana field and from another field operated by Malaysia's Petronas
provides the bulk of Burma's foreign exchange earnings.

"Only a few people are benefiting from these investments ... the majority
of people are not," said Soe Aung, spokesman for the National Council for
the Union of Burma, an umbrella organization based in Thailand for exile
groups.

An estimated 90 percent of Burma's 54 million people lives on about $1 a day.

But some argue that Western sanctions harden the regime against
negotiations for a democratic opening and that they strengthen the
influence of China—which shows little interest in democratic reform—in
Burma affairs.

Chevron and Total provide free healthcare to 50,000 people in the area of
the Yadana pipeline, where local infant mortality rates are a sixth of the
national rate and enrollment in school has doubled because of the creation
of 44 schools in 23 villages, Chevron said.

Activist groups call this propaganda.

"Every time we focus on a company doing business in Burma, they throw some
money at a local foundation...and throw some pictures up on their Web site
of smiling, happy people," said Mark Farmaner, acting director of the
Burma Campaign UK.

"They don't put up pictures of the MIG jets that the generals bought with
their first oil and gas paychecks," he said.

Total and former partner Unocal Corp were accused of cooperating with the
military in human rights violations during construction of a pipeline
across Burma to Thailand in the 1990s. Both companies denied the
accusations, although Unocal settled a related lawsuit in the US in 2005.

The top UN official in Burma says some companies do help ordinary people.

"They (Total) are providing fairly significant support to communities near
the pipelines, and probably more support than we do in our support in
other parts of the country," said Charles Petrie, the humanitarian
coordinator for the UN in Burma.

Petrie said he sometimes asks the head of Total in Burma to raise human
rights issues with the government "because I feel the government is going
to be less likely to close the door on Total than on us."

Authorities in Burma plan to expel Petrie by December 5 for criticizing
the regime for not meeting the needs of its people.

Burma Campaign UK has a "Dirty List" of more than 100 companies it says
provide income to the government while doing business in Burma, including
timber and gem companies, and hotel and tour operators. Even Lonely Planet
has been listed for publishing guide books on Burma.

"We want to hit the regime in the pocket," Farmaner said.

Adidas AG, Levi Strauss & Co and underwear manufacturer Triumph
International are among those that have pulled out of Burma or won't buy
products there.

"The way we view this is as safeguarding our reputation," said William
Anderson, head of social and environmental affairs in the Asia Pacific
region for Adidas.

Jewelers of America, an organization representing more than 11,000 stores
in the US, has also called for the US Congress to include Burma gemstones
in the list of items barred from import until the release of all political
prisoners and an end to human rights abuses.

The US and EU are now considering beefing up their sanctions primarily to
close loopholes that allow American and European businesses to deal in
gems and timber from Burma.

But for sanctions to be effective, Burma's Asian trading partners such as
China, Thailand and India would need to be involved, said Leon de
Riedmatten, a Bangkok-based representative of Switzerland's Centre for
Humanitarian Dialogue. Companies like Total should do more to pressure the
regime on human rights, he said.

"We should not ask these companies to withdraw. We should just ask them to
use the leverage they have," de Riedmatten said.

Total says that goes too far. "We are an investor, not a political
entity," said Lassalle.

____________________________________

November 30, The Daily Yomiuri(Tokyo)
5 Myanmars held over running unlicensed bank

Five Myanmars were arrested on suspicion of operating a de facto
underground bank by sending 1.5 billion yen received from their
compatriots to Myanmar over a four-year period without a banking license,
police said.

The police believe that 43-year-old Myo Khaing Zaw, owner of a variety
shop in Takadanobaba, Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, and the others have violated
the Banking Law by acting on about 5,000 requests in total from Myanmars
and sending the money to the country.

Under the military government, only corporations approved by the
government can send money to Myanmar from abroad. The police believe that
many Myanmars, including refugees who have escaped from persecution, have
used this system to send money back to their homeland.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

November 30, Reuters
Myanmar junta shuts AIDS monastery, expels monks

The Myanmar junta has shut down a Yangon monastery which served as a
hospice for HIV/AIDS patients and expelled its monks, an opposition lawyer
said on Friday.

"The authorities sealed Maggin monastery yesterday afternoon," and
expelled the monks, said Aung Thein of detained democracy icon Aung San
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.

"The authorities did not give them any documents and did not say under
which law the action was taken, so we cannot do anything to provide them
with legal assistance," he added.

United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari criticised the closure of the
monastery, which was used as a hospice for HIV/AIDS sufferers and a refuge
for provincial patients who came to Yangon for medicines.

"Any actions that run counter to the spirit of national reconciliation,
any action that will undermine the dialogue between the government and
those who disagree with the policy of the government should be avoided,"
Gambari said in Phnom Penh.

"And I'd like to repeat that," he told reporters during a visit to
Cambodia on a regional tour before going back to the former Burma next
month for more talks with the government and probably Suu Kyi.

The abbots of Maggin monastery have long had the reputation of supporting
pro-democracy campaigns, such as the one led by monks in September which
the junta crushed ruthlessly.

The suppression caused such international outrage the junta allowed
Gambari to visit and it appointed a senior general as intermediary with
Suu Kyi, who has spent 12 of the past 18 years under some form of
detention.

Gambari is due to make his third visit to Myanmar in December since the
street protests were ended, but he said in Phnom Penh no dates had been
fixed yet. (Additional reporting by Ek Madra in Phnom Penh)

____________________________________

November 30, Irrawaddy
World AIDS day means little in Burma - Shah Paung

December 1 is the 20th World AIDS Day and people around the word will be
celebrating and commemorating the occasion. However, in Burma, HIV/AIDS
activists and volunteers are being arrested and hunted down daily by the
military authorities.

Phyu Phyu Thin, a well-known HIV/AIDS activist and member of the National
League for Democracy, who was active in the recent demonstrations, is now
in hiding from the security forces while several youth members of the NLD
who were working with her group of nationwide volunteers have either been
arrested or are in hiding too.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy by telephone from her hiding place on Friday,
Phyu Phyu Thin said that since 2002 the volunteer group has taken care of
more than 1,800 persons living with HIV/AIDS throughout the country.

“I just want to encourage my patients not to become dejected—we will
always stand up for them in any way that we can”—Phyu Phyu Thin

This year alone, they have taken in about 600 new persons living with
HIV/AIDS. Of those, about 200 patients are now directly under their care,
while another 40 patients are receiving antiretroviral (ARV) drugs from
their group.

“The hunting down and arresting of HIV/AIDS workers is not only disturbing
for us, but is also disappointing and discouraging for the patients,” she
said, adding that the group now has to recruit new volunteers to replace
those who have been arrested or have had to go into hiding. The volunteers
take on several duties, including buying medicine for the patients and
helping to arrange treatment with various NGOs.

According to Yazar, a colleague of Phyu Phyu Thin, many of the HIV/AIDS
patients are wives and children of bus drivers and fishermen who often
have contact with sex workers.

This year, he said, the group has taken in many pregnant women who have
been infected with the HIV/AIDS virus, while about 18 persons, including
one child, had died while under their care.

He claimed that the patients usually died because they did not recognize
their symptoms in time, were misdiagnosed or received poor treatment.

Yarzar added that since July 2006, when HIV/AIDS clinics stopped supplying
ARV drugs to new patients, many victims of the disease have come directly
to the volunteer group.

ARV treatment is available in Rangoon through the AZG clinic run by
French-based Médecins Sans Frontières and the Rangoon Infectious Diseases
Hospital [Wai Bar Gi].

However, limited funds are available and several patients must be referred
to local NGOs, such as Yankin Yate Mon, who specifically treat patients
who have contracted the virus from drug usage.

Patients who contract HIV/ AIDS through same-sex contact are usually
treated at the MSM clinic, and another local NGO, Chan Mye Yate Mon,
offers care to children whose parents have died from the virus.

According to Phyu Phyu Thin, NGOs are tightly controlled in how they deal
with the HIV/AIDS issue and ARV treatment.

She said that in Burma people die every day from HIV/AIDS mainly because
they have not been educated about the virus and do not know how to contact
NGOs that work with persons living with HIV/ AIDS.

“We have started this work and we will continue to expand it across the
whole country, even through we are constantly disturbed by the military
government,” said Phyu Phyu Thin. “I just want to encourage my patients
not to become dejected—we will always stand up for them in any way that we
can.”

Meanwhile, yesterday, Burmese authorities closed Maggin monastery in
Rangoon’s Thingangyun Township, evicting a number of monks suspected of
being pro-democracy activists, as well as about six HIV/AIDS patients who
were being housed there.

The World Health Organization reported last month that there are now some
339,000 people living with HIV/ AIDS in Burma, one of the worst epidemics
in Asia.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

November 30, Agence France Presse
Cambodia urges Myanmar to continue Suu Kyi talks

Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday urged Myanmar's junta leaders
to continue fledgling talks with detained pro-democracy leader Aung San
Suu Kyi, a government spokesman said.

Hun Sen met with Myanmar's Prime Minister Thein Sein in Phnom Penh and
told him that dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi should continue "for the sake
of both sides," according to spokesman Khieu Kanharith.

"Prime Minister Hun Sen supports meetings between the Myanmar government
and Aung San Suu Kyi and encourages (the ruling generals) to have more
meetings for the sake of both sides," he told reporters.

Aung San Suu Kyi held a third meeting in Yangon on November 19 with
Myanmar Labour Minister Aung Kyi, who has been appointed by the junta to
handle contacts with the 62-year-old Nobel peace prize winner.

Aung Kyi was appointed as a liaison in the wake of global outrage against
the regime following its bloody crackdown on peaceful protests in
September. At least 15 people were killed and 3,000 arrested in the
suppression.

The September violence led the United States and Europe to tighten
sanctions against Myanmar, which was already under economic restrictions
due to the junta's human rights abuses and the detention of Aung San Suu
Kyi.

The pro-democracy icon has been under house arrest for 12 of the last 18
years.

But Cambodia rejected the sanctions on Myanmar, saying such measures were
only hurting its people.

"Economic sanctions will never hurt government leaders. They only hurt
people," Khieu Kanharith told reporters following the meeting between Hun
Sen and Thein Sein, the number four in Myanmar's military.

Thein Sein's three-day official visit, which began Friday, overlaps with
that of UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari, who is in Cambodia as part of a regional
trip to assess the positions of Myanmar's neighbours after the junta's
crackdown.

But Thein Sein and Gambari, the UN secretary general's special
representative to Myanmar, did not meet Friday, Khieu Kanharith said.

Cambodia maintains close diplomatic ties with Myanmar, which has been
under military rule since 1962 and is one of the most isolated nations in
the world.

Hun Sen last visited there in May for trade and tourism talks.

Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said Thursday sanctions against
Myanmar's ruling generals would not force the country towards democracy,
following his talks with Gambari.

Hor Namhong said that the international community should instead offer
more aid to the impoverished nation.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Cambodia is a
member, has come under increasing pressure to deal with its most unruly
member since the unrest broke out two months ago.

____________________________________

November 30, Straits Times
2 Myanmar nationals nabbed trying to smuggle out of S'pore - Faridah Saad

Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) nabbed two Myanmar nationals for
attempting to smuggle out of Singapore in a truck, on Thursday evening.

ICA officers at Tuas Checkpoint were conducting a routine departure check
on a Malaysian-registered truck when they found them hiding behing the
seats in the driver's cabin.

The two had tried to conceal themselves by hiding under a red carpet.

The illegal immigrants - aged 30 and 24 - were not carrying any travel
documents.

Investigations revealed that the driver - a 49-year-old Malaysian male -
was paid $450 per person to smuggle the Myanmar nationals out of
Singapore.

The fee would be paid by an unknown agent who would collect $600 each from
the illegal immigrants.

ICA is investigating all three men for immigration-related offences.

The truck has also been impounded.

If found guilty, the illegal immigrants face jail term of up to six
months, plus a minimum of three strokes of the cane.

The truck driver faces a jail term of two to five years, plus a minimum of
three strokes of the cane.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

November 30, Associated Press
Suu Kyi must be released, Gambari says - Ker Munthit

Burma's ruling military junta must release detained democracy leader Aung
San Suu Kyi if it is serious about making the democratic reforms demanded
by the international community, a UN envoy said Friday.

The envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, made the comments at the end of a two-day
visit to Cambodia, shortly after Burmese Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein
arrived in the country. The two did not cross paths and officials said the
timing of the visits was coincidental.

UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari has criticized the Burmese junta's continued
arrest of dissidents following a crackdown on anti-government protests,
saying further repression undermined national reconciliation.

Gambari also said he will return to Burma next month on his third mission
to nudge the junta toward reconciliation talks with the opposition since
the government's September crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators.

The United Nations has repeatedly called for the release of Suu Kyi, a
Nobel Peace Prize laureate under detention for 12 of the past 18 years,
and for the junta to hold reconciliation talks with her opposition party.

"Now we are saying very clearly that if Aung San Suu Kyi is to become part
of the solution and a partner in dialogue, then it is very essential that
she should be released from detention," Gambari told reporters.

He urged the junta to halt its ongoing arrests of people who participated
in the September protests.

"Any further arrests of people will run counter to the spirit of national
reconciliation and ... to the efforts to promote dialogue between the
opposition and the government," he said.

Amnesty International says several dissidents and Buddhist monks were
arrested this month, despite assurances from the junta that arrests have
stopped.

Burma sparked global outrage in September when the junta crushed protests
led by Buddhist monks, killing at least 15 people. Nearly 3,000 were
arrested, although the military insists most have been released.

Gambari's visit is part of a tour through Southeast Asia to encourage
Burma's neighbors to play a bigger role in resolving the crisis.

Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said Friday that his country
supports the "steps taken by Myanmar [Burma] in cooperation with the
United Nations to seek reconciliation and democracy in Myanmar."

Cambodia has ruled out supporting sanctions against the junta.

"We should not talk about sanctions, but we'd better talk about how to
take the momentum forward and prevent the situation from sliding
backward," Hor Namhong said earlier.

Gambari, who met with Hor Namhong on Thursday, said the two agreed the
"best way to avoid sanctions or more sanctions is actually more
cooperation by the government of Myanmar with the United Nations, not
less."

The UN envoy visited Vietnam earlier this week and is to travel to Laos
after leaving Cambodia.

____________________________________

November 30, Mizzima News
Pinheiro challenges international community

Crisis provides opportunity, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the United Nations
Special Rapporteur for Human Rights, told an audience this week. It was a
modestly upbeat theme in what was otherwise a sobering appraisal of his
recent visit to Burma, analysis of Burma vis-à-vis the international
community and what can be done to improve the situation.

Speaking at Brown University on Tuesday, the question and answer session
following Pinheiro's talk was dominated by inquiries relating to Burma in
a wider context, affording the Special Rapporteur to voice his opinion on
a range of subjects.

The fact remains that "Myanmar is not a first priority" of the
international community, said Pinheiro, and as such an effective foreign
policy agenda relating to Burma and addressing the crisis there must be a
"concerted effort" on the part of the international community as a whole.
However he maintains that it is imperative that regional countries take
the lead.

Pinheiro criticized current approaches as too simplistic, and as refusing
to acknowledge greater complexities within the fabric of the Burmese
quagmire.

He warned that the current focus and attention granted Burma may very well
wane considerably in the near future, and as such it is that much more
important for concerned parties to come together now and take action.

But the most effective action may not be that which draws the media
spotlight. As such he encourages the use of "quiet diplomacy," a strategy
whose effectiveness has been demonstrated in the case of Libya, according
to Pinheiro.

The Special Rapporteur also reserved some tough observations for a couple
of widely accepted principles of the opposition camp.

Telling those in attendance that Burma cannot significantly impact the
Beijing Olympics in the same way that Sudan can, in response to a question
from the audience, he went on question whether the Burma "crisis will have
the energy to survive until the Olympics." Ultimately, he cautions against
overestimating the impact and control that Beijing holds over Naypyidaw.

Pinheiro also has little patience for a debate over whether the Southeast
Asian nation should be referred to as Burma or Myanmar, as the generals
renamed the country in 1989. He says that such a pedantic issue costs the
United Nations valuable time in discussion every time Burma is up as a
topic of debate.

Pinheiro's summary of his recent fact-finding mission to the country,
concluded two weeks ago, he defined as, in truth, "not a full-fledged
fact-finding mission."

His perception of his mission arises as a result of his being denied free
access and movement, while having his agenda dictated to him by the
military authorities.

Yet even though faced with these severe shortcomings, under conditions
that would normally prevent him from accepting an invitation, Pinheiro
described his trip as positive.

Due to the extreme situation that prevails in Burma, he said he "did not
qualify the invitation." Even if his visit was stage managed, he said it
was still good to accept the invitation, describing meetings with
government officials as "useful."

The Special Rapporteur did, however, say he has serious concerns over the
government figure of 93 persons currently being detained. He suspects the
number to be higher, though he refused to give an estimate of what he
though the actual number to be.

He was unable to visit opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi during his stay,
despite a request to do so. But he finds it encouraging that the
authorities responded by informing him such a meeting would not be
possible on this trip. A response that leads Pinheiro to believe that he
will again have an opportunity to visit Burma in the not so distant
future.

According to his mandate, Pinheiro was there to specifically look into the
actions and repercussions of the military's heavy-handed crackdown on
protesters from the 26th to 29th of September.

Prior to this last visit to Burma, Pinheiro had been denied access to the
country since 2003.

____________________________________

November 30, Asian Tribune
United States reiterates opposition to ongoing arrests of political
activists in Burma - Daya Gamage

The Government of the United States issued the following statement through
its State Department spokesman Sean McCormack on November 29 in Washington
reiterating the U.S. position toward Burma.

“The United States condemns the Burmese regime’s continued arrest of
democracy activists and harassment of Buddhist monks. Recent reports of
monastery closings by Burma’s ruling generals also are deeply troubling.
This repression belies the regime’s claims to cooperate fully with the
United Nations, which has repeatedly sought an end to the detention of
political activists. These continuing arrests bring into serious question
Senior General Than Shwe’s commitment to a genuine dialogue on a
transition to democracy in Burma.

“The United States reiterates its call for Than Shwe to release Aung San
Suu Kyi and countless other detainees and political prisoners as a
necessary condition for a genuine dialogue with democratic and ethnic
minority groups on a transition to a civilian, democratic government in
Burma.”

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

November 30, Irrawaddy
The latest crime of a callous regime [Editorial]

The Burmese military government’s recent move to seal off Maggin monastery
in Rangoon’s Thingangyun Township has proved once again that the regime
lacks the will to solve the country’s current political and social
crisis—while effectively declaring war on the country's biggest,
longest-established and most revered institution, the Sangha.

Maggin Monastery was surrounded by security forces and pro-government
thugs on Thursday afternoon and sealed off.  An 80-year-old monk and eight
novices, two lay people and six HIV/AIDS patients left the monastery with
their belongings—but they have nowhere to go. Some reports say the
military authority told people living in the neighborhood of the monastery
to afford them no help, not even with transport.

The decision to close the monastery and order the monks to leave can only
have been taken by the state-sanctioned Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee,
which oversees the country's clergy. Now it oversees the clergy from the
end of a gun barrel, while taking no responsibility for the protection of
the evicted monks and their monastery. It’s scarcely credible that this is
happening in a Buddhist country.

It’s also ironic and shaming that Burma is preparing to celebrate World
AIDS Day at a time when a Rangoon hospice and treatment center for
HIV/AIDS patients, located at Maggin Monastery, was forced to close when
troops sealed off the compound.

The Maggin Monastery center drew HIV/AIDS patients from throughout the
country. Neglected by the state and its “social organizations,” they found
shelter, food, medical care and compassion among the monks.

The work of the monks was regarded with suspicion by the regime, which
feared that the monastery collaborated in its social work with opposition
movements such as the National League for Democracy and the 88 Generation
Students group. The regime harbored groundless fears that the monastery
played a key behind-the-scenes role in the September pro-democracy
uprising. As a result, Maggin Monastery has been raided by soldiers five
times since September and has now been finally shut down.

During the raids, HIV/AIDS patients were rounded up and "transferred" to
the Wai Bar Gi Infectious Diseases Hospital in Rangoon’s North Okkalapa
Township.
Some were forced to return to their home towns and villages, where a
number died because of lack of suitable medical care, according to public
health workers in Rangoon.

The regime's callous actions are absolutely unacceptable in a civilized
society. The people of Burma now feel they lack any institution that can
protect them and what they value.

The closure of Maggin Monastery and its HIV/AIDS center is a further sign
of how far Burma has sunk, under the leadership of Snr-Gen Than Shwe and
his junta, into the sad status of a failed state.

____________________________________

November 29, World Press
Deuces High: How the U.S. can bring an end to Myanmar's crackdown on
democracy - Josh D. Friedman

Relying on regional powers to do the heavy lifting would diminish the
image of the United States as a regional power with even a modicum of
strategic influence.

Since late September, the world's eyes have been fixed on the Southeast
Asian nation of Myanmar, formerly Burma, and just about every observer in
the United States has asked him or herself, "Couldn't the United States do
more to pressure Myanmar's junta?" However, Washington's limited
diplomatic and economic influence over Yangon (formerly Rangoon),
Myanmar's capital, has the world superpower wondering if it has any hand
to play in this round.

For 45 years, an oppressive military regime has ruled Myanmar, during
which time it has suspended constitutional democracy, jailed political
dissidents, and forcefully quelled political challenges to its rule.

By some accounts, the authoritarian government of this small Buddhist
nation has made promising, albeit limited, strides in recent years in
distancing itself from the types of policies that had led to its violent
crackdown of peaceful protests for democracy in 1988—an episode that
resulted in approximately 3,000 dead and 10,000 more imprisoned. In 1990,
the Burmese government held demonstration elections for the first time in
30 years. In 1997, Myanmar hinted a willingness to open up to the world
community by acceding to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Most
recently, the regime drafted guidelines for a new constitution.

But what erupted on Aug. 19, 2007, abruptly extinguished any sanguine
notions that the regime was on the road toward reform. That day, peaceful
demonstrations against the military junta began in reaction to a 500
percent overnight hike in government-controlled fuel prices. The military
responded with violence. In mid-September, galvanized by the military's
brutalization of demonstrators, 100,000 Buddhist monks lent their support
to the movement by holding peaceful protests. From there forward, military
violence against demonstrators continued to escalate with the regime
jailing some 3,000 protesters without formal charges, beating and
torturing thousands, and massacring at least 10 others.

Although major violence has largely subsided, the military has continued
its nighttime monastery raids and arrests in order to finish off the
protest movement, and hundreds of monks have been forced into hiding in
their hometowns or into exile in neighboring countries. Meanwhile, some
observers predict that rapidly rising inflation in the country could
easily trigger another round of protests.

Given the situation's potentially destabilizing effects for Southeast
Asia, the international community has proposed numerous though often
conflicting and ineffectual policy responses. United States and European
Union officials have thus far imposed travel restrictions on junta
officials and their family members, frozen their foreign assets, embargoed
arms sales, and banned key exports. Japan, Myanmar's largest aid donor,
followed a demand for a swift end to the crackdown by slashing aid. United
Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and its human rights expert Paulo
Sérgio Pinheiro, who recently visited the country, have urged the military
regime to use restraint, and many Western member nations have called for
imposing United Nations sanctions on Myanmar.

For its part, China's policies of noninterference in others' internal
affairs and economic engagement with the regime have led Myanmar's largest
arms supplier to oppose any efforts to destabilize the Burmese government.
Similarly, although ASEAN recently issued a statement condemning the use
of automatic weapons against protesters, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee
Hsien Loong, whose nation currently holds the ASEAN chairmanship, has also
called for constructive engagement with the regime.

Regrettably, as the regime continues its hard-handed suppression of
Myanmar's incipient democracy movement, most of these proposed measures
will likely fail to hit the junta where it counts.

Because regime members largely maintain their bank accounts in other
nations outside of the United States and because virtually no American
company currently does business with Myanmar, the strategic ties between
the two nations are too limited for stepped-up sanctions to exact any
pressure on the regime.

What's more, sanctions against an already isolated regime may end up only
further isolating the regime and thus impeding any additional steps toward
democratization. As if this weren't enough, pursuing ineffective sanctions
to the exclusion of other measures might engender perceptions by the world
community that the United States has failed the Burmese people. In other
words, a policy aimed at rallying United States leadership in the region
could actually backfire by increasing the perceived feebleness of American
strategic power in Southeast Asia.

Attempts to impose United Nations resolutions as leverage will also be
futile, since China will likely continue to block such efforts. Besides,
even a successfully adopted resolution might only be symbolic, due to the
United Nations' lack of effective enforcement mechanisms.

Given the possibility that only China, India, and ASEAN hold any
diplomatic or economic sway in Yangon, multilateral engagement may be
relatively more effective in encouraging the junta to continue
democratizing rather than forcing it into a defensive position.

However, this policy is otherwise problematic: Engagement as promoted by
China has already engendered criticism as a miscarriage of justice for the
Burmese people. American complicity would only further tarnish the image
of the United States as being "human rights lite." Plus, relying on
regional powers to do the heavy lifting would diminish the image of the
United States as a regional power with even a modicum of strategic
influence.

Fortunately, Washington still has a few cards that it can play: Its best
hand would consist of a carrot-and-stick policy that balances the
political pressure sought by Western nations with incentives for
democratic reform, as advocated by Asian nations.

By modeling the "stick" side of the policy after the successful United
States sanctions against North Korea, which resulted in banks quickly
ceasing deals with the country after the threat of losing access to the
American banking system, the United States can ensure that the military
junta is quickly starved of critical resources.

Of course, to be successful, any move to up the ante must pressure key
regional powers, such as China, India, and ASEAN, to cooperate in cutting
off lending, aid, investment, and trade to the Burmese government if it
continues down its current path. Threatening to terminate preferential
trade status or pending trade deals with key nations (for example, with
South Korea) or, in the case of China, threatening to boycott the 2008
Olympic Games, would be a surefire way to get the Asian nations on board.

As for the carrot, the United States, along with a unified bloc of
regional powers, should promise the Burmese regime economic and political
engagement if it takes irreversible steps toward democracy. A firm pledge
to mobilize the massive development-aid resources of the United States to
help to develop Myanmar, in exchange for the regime's taking equally
assured steps toward democratic reform, will hedge against the danger of
further isolating the military junta.

Taken as a whole, this tough-love approach will give the United States a
strategic edge as a world leader by demonstrating its refusal to tolerate
civic irresponsibility by other members of the global community. As an
added bonus, an assertive American stance will improve the image of the
United States as a human-rights defender—something sorely needed in the
wake of the various detainee abuse and rendition scandals. In view of the
value of liberty at the core of this nation, it's time for the United
States to check and raise the stakes.

Josh D. Friedman is a juris doctor candidate studying international law at
the University of California, Hastings College of Law, and a master's
candidate in international policy studies at the Monterey Institute of
International Studies.