BurmaNet News, January 15, 2008

[Editor]

January 15, 2008 Issue # 3380

INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Myanmar Times falls victim to Burma’s “Comical Ali”
Irrawaddy: Recent NLD publication violated law, say authorities
Irrawaddy: Naga group calls for boycott of junta-backed Naga Festival
Mizzima News: Heat on, on customs officials at 105-mil
DVB: Increased security in Bago raises local suspicions
DVB: NLD members arrested in Magwe division
DVB: Villagers tricked into unpaid farm labour

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: Budget cuts at Thai-Burmese border

BUSINESS / TRADE
IPS: Lobby says gem boycott is working
Mizzima News: MAI resumes flights after three months suspension
TheVarsity.ca: Students push York to dump Burma stocks

DRUGS
SF Chronicle: Burma's largest rebel army battles increase in opium production

HEALTH / AIDS
Irrawaddy: Patients die out of concern

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: US official calls for clear message to Myanmar
Macau Daily Times: Japan pledges 1.79 million dollars in aid to
sanctions-hit Myanmar
YP: 'I was a virtual prisoner for 20 years and there is no greater thing
than freedom'
Mizzima News: 2008 -Film on Burma 's detained Nobel Laureate to commence soon

OPINION / OTHER
DVB: Where are Burma’s scholars and educated people?
IHT: Burma’s unlucky number
Irrawaddy: Burma aid donors must also look at causes of poverty

PRESS RELEASE
CSW: Ten people killed as Burma army increases presence in Karen state

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

January 15, Irrawaddy
Myanmar Times falls victim to Burma’s “Comical Ali” – Wai Moe

The Myanmar Times, Burma’s privately-owned, English language weekly, has
been ordered to suspend publication for one week and sack four of its
Burmese editors after carrying a report that had not been authorized by
the government’s censorship board.

The report, in the current issue, told readers that satellite TV fees were
to be increased from the equivalent of US $5 annually to $800. The news
provoked wide public criticism, and the government appears to be having
second thoughts about introducing the rise and has not yet implemented it.

The four Myanmar Times employees ordered to be sacked were named as news
chief Win Kyaw Oo and editors Nwe Nwe Aye, Win Nyunt Lwin and Myint Soe.

The order suspending The Myanmar Times for one week comes amid signs that
the regime is clamping down still further on the Burmese media.
Information Minister Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan—dubbed “Comical Ali” by a Thai
daily newspaper—warned editors, writers and publishers that the censorship
board would “take action” if they wrote “news which can discourage the
national interest.”

Kyaw Hsan told Burma’s national association of printers and publishers
that they should “place emphasis on improvement of national economy and
guard against destructionists that will undermine the national interest,”
according to a report by The New Light of Myanmar on Monday.

Kyaw Hsan, right hand man of junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe, is described
as one of four “super hard-liners,” along with Culture Minister Maj-Gen
Aung Khin Myint, Industry Minister-1 Aung Thaung and Minister of Science
and Technology Maung Thaung.

Kyaw Hsan took his hardline views on freedom of the press to an
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) meeting last month, telling
one of the organization’s committees: “Some powerful nations are misusing
the media as a weapon to interfere in the internal affairs of small
nations [as well as to spread] biased information with negative views to
tarnish the image of the country internationally.”

Commenting on Kyaw Hsan’s Asean appearance, The Nation, one of two English
newspapers in Thailand, dubbed him Burma’s “Comical Ali,” in a reference
to former Iraqi information minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf.

The newspaper said: “In recent days, Southeast Asia has witnessed the
emergence of its own version of Comical Ali, Burmese Information Minister
Kyaw Hsan of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), the highest
decision-making body in Burma’s military ruled state.

“The world adored Comical Ali’s trademark beret and smile and gave him a
break. Unfortunately for Kyaw Hsan and the SPDC, the world cannot do the
same, and must not do the same.”

Observers say that is unlikely to happen as long as Kyaw Hsan comes up
with truly comical statements like the one attributed to him by the
regime-run media on Tuesday: “A nation may fall under colonial rule
because of the media.”

____________________________________

January 15, Irrawaddy
Recent NLD publication violated law, say authorities – Shah Paung

The Burmese regime’s censorship board has warned the National League for
Democracy, the main opposition party, about its recent publication of a
bulletin that discussed the pro-democracy uprising, according to a NLD
spokesperson.

Spokesperson Han Tha Myint told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that an official
from the junta’s Press Scrutiny and Registration Board on Monday asked to
discuss the publication.

Later, Nyan Win, another NLD spokesperson, went to the censorship office
in Bahan Township in Rangoon. Nyan Win met with Maj. Tint Swe, the
director of the censorship board and township chairman.

He said the authorities told him that the publication of the bulletin on
January 4 was against the publication act.

No action against the NLD was taken at the time.

On January 4, the 60th anniversary of Burma’s Independence Day, youth
members of the NLD published and distributed news bulletin called
Ah-yoan-thit or “Dawn.”

The publication included news about the September crackdown on peaceful
protestors, the closure of Maggin Monastery, detained NLD members and the
distribution of VCDs critical of the military government and others.

Han Tha Myint said authorities told Nyan Win that the NLD can not print
publications because it does not have a press registration work permit.

According to Aung Thein, a lawyer in Rangoon, the Printers and Publishers
Registration Act says anyone who publishes news without a press
registration work permit can receive from one to seven years or fined from
3,000 kyats (US $2.40) to 30,000 kyats ($24).

According to the NLD, its press registration work permit was revoked by
the military government in the early 1990s.

____________________________________

January 15, Irrawaddy
Naga group calls for boycott of junta-backed Naga Festival – Wai Moe

The Naga ethnic dissident group, the Naga National Democratic Organization
(NNDO), has issued a call to boycott the Naga New Year Festival on Tuesday
under sponsorship of the Burmese military junta.

The NNDO, based in Tokyo, said in a statement on January 9 that it urges
the Burmese public and tourists to boycott the festival in Lashi Township
in Sagaing Division in upper Burma.

“The State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) has been abusing the Naga
people and making a profit for themselves out of the Naga tradition. The
SPDC authorities rejected the help of the local Naga people themselves in
organizing the festival,” the group said in a statement.

It also accused the junta of forced labor relating to the use of Naga
workers on the New Year Festival “under the name of social work without
any payment or rewards in return.”

The group also alleged the junta is trying to force the Naga people to
become Buddhist, while 90 percent of Nagas say they are Christians.

“The [Buddha] statues given to the Naga people are not actually gifts, but
symbols of a religion forced on the Naga people against the idea of
freedom of religion,” the statement said. The Burmese Information
Department in Rangoon was not available to respond to the allegations made
by the NNDO.

According to The New Light of Myanmar, Htay Oo, the secretary-general of
the Union Solitary and Development Association, and the Minister of Hotels
and Tourism, Maj-Gen Soe Naing, attended the Naga New Year Festival in
2007 in Lashi.

Burmese tourism officials say on an official Web site there are an
estimated 150,000 Nagas. comprising 12 major tribes and many sub-tribes,
living in Burma. Most Nagas live high in the northwestern hills along the
India border, but in recent years, many have moved to the Chin Dwin River
Valley in Sagaing Division and Chin State.

Annually in January different Naga tribes come together to celebrate Kaing
Bi (Naga New Year). Formerly it was a private celebration; now it is open
to the public.

The official opening ceremony of Naga New Year began on the festival
grounds on Wednesday morning in Lashi.

Traditional dance competitions between various Naga villages and sporting
events are planned. In the evening, a large bonfire is lit and people
welcome the Naga New Year by dancing around a bonfire, said Burma’s
tourism Web site.

____________________________________

January 15, Mizzima News
Heat on, on customs officials at 105-mile

Shweli: The heat is on, on Customs officials by the Burmese military
junta. Customs and Border Trade Department officials were arrested yet
again yesterday night at the Meng Yu 105-mile Trade Zone checkpoint on
China Road.

A trade zone source told Mizzima that three Customs officers were
arrested. U Zaw Zaw Han, Customs officer, and U Than Zaw Naing, Deputy
Customs officer are still at large and on the run.

Over 13 trucks were inspected and found carrying contraband goods at this
check-post twice in November. The arrests started on charges of
corruption.

The Customs department found five trucks the first time carrying wood (Sal
wood) fossil, Tamalan hardwood, and scented wood. The second time too,
they found the trucks carrying the same contraband goods.

At the end of October 2007, almost all customs and border trade department
staff at 105-mile checkpoint were sacked and replaced with new staff
members with similar corruption charges.

The crackdown on corrupt customs officials started at this 105-mile
checkpoint. Some officials from this checkpoint were arrested and
interrogated in May 2006 and then the drive spread and covered many
others. This resulted in sacking and imprisonment of hundreds of Customs
staff. This crackdown was carried out under the direction of and
orchestrated by the second most powerful man in the junta hierarchy, Vice
Snr. Gen. Maung Aye.

China is the biggest trade partner of Burma and 105-mile checkpoint is the
transit point for the biggest trade volume.

____________________________________

January 15, Democratic Voice of Burma
Increased security in Bago raises local suspicions – Yee May Aung

In the aftermath of the bomb explosion in Bago division on 11 January,
local residents have expressed their suspicions about heightened security
measures put in place before the attack.

Residents of Bago township said that the security presence there had
increased since the explosion.

“There’s very heavy security in town, with soldiers and policemen
everywhere,” one resident said, adding that the soldiers were wearing red
scarves.

In Dike Oo township, Bago division, locals said that soldiers replaced
local people on night guard duties along the railway shortly before the
attack.

Dike Oo is closer than Bago township to the site of the explosion, which
killed one man and left three women and a child injured.

Local authorities in the township have been forcing residents to take up
night guard duties along the railway every night for the past seven years,
manning the security huts located at every furlong along the track.

But soldiers took over the night watch the day before the explosion, one
Dike Oo resident said.

“Soldiers were sent to replace the locals on night guard duties on the
tenth, then the bomb exploded on the eleventh,” the resident said.

“We’re not sure whether it’s a coincidence or not.”

U Aye Myint, a lawyer and leader of legal aid group Guiding Star, was also
suspicious about the government’s apparent prior knowledge of the attacks.

“It’s like a seasonal activity by the government; every year at around
this time we hear rumours about bombings,” U Aye Myint said.

“It seems like military intelligence always gets advance information on
the planning of bomb attacks which always seems to turn out to be true –
but if they have this information, why are they not able to prevent the
attacks?”

____________________________________

January 15, Democratic Voice of Burma
NLD members arrested in Magwe division – Yee May Aung

Two members of the National League for Democracy in Taung Twin Gyi
township, Magwe division, were arrested on 13 January by unidentified
government officials, according to fellow NLD members.

Township NLD communications committee member U Par Lay was arrested at his
house in Chaung Nat village, six miles outside Taung Twin Gyi at around
1pm on Sunday, members of the communications committee told DVB.

Deputy chairman U Maung Soe was arrested at his home in Taung Pyin ward at
around 4pm the same day.

The two men were arrested by about six officials, who arrived in a car
with a government licence plate and were accompanied by local police
officers.

The men were both blindfolded and handcuffed by the officials, who
arrested them as their families looked on.

When family members asked the officials which department they were from,
the officials refused to say, though they were assumed to be from Military
Affairs Security.

____________________________________

January 15, Democratic Voice of Burma
Villagers tricked into unpaid farm labour – Yee May Aung

Farmers in Baw Ne village who cultivated land promised to them by local
officials have instead had the land seized by the government and some now
face imprisonment.

U Aye Myint, a lawyer and leader of the Guiding Star legal aid group, is
handling complaints from a group of villagers who claim they were forced
to work the land and later told it belonged to a relative of junta leader
senior general Than Shwe.

In 2006, district Peace and Development Council chairman major Maung Maung
Kywe and Dike Oo township PDC chairman U Myint Sein came to the village
along with other local officials and told the villagers to cultivate an
area of scrubland along the Rangoon-Mandalay road.

The officials presented the scheme to the villagers as a preferable
alternative to jobs such as making charcoal or cutting bamboo, and
promised that if they turned the area into profitable farmland then they
would own the land.

Although there were some misgivings from the villagers, the officials
assured them that the land would be theirs.

But in 2007, after the villagers had worked the land during the rainy
season, they were informed that the land was owned by Phyoe La Wai, nephew
of Than Shwe’s wife Daw Kyaing Kyaing and owner of the company Myat Min.

When they were told they could no longer farm the land, the villagers
refused to move because of the work they had already done cultivating the
land.

But when they went to the township PDC and government land measurement
department, they denied that the land had been promised to the villagers.

Around 150 acres of land that had already been cultivated has now been
seized from ten farmers, who U Aye Myint says were used by the authorities
as free labour.

“The authorities, under the influence of Than Shwe’s family, tricked the
villagers into clearing out their lands with no pay,” he said.

Three other villagers who were farming the land have each been sentenced
to three months’ imprisonment.

Villagers U San Shwe, U Soe Maung and midwife Daw Tin Tin Mar were charged
under section 447 of the penal code for criminal trespass in a hearing at
Dike Oo township court on 28 December, said U Aye Myint.

“They are not suing all the farmers but only three, perhaps to set an
example so that the others will give away their lands more easily," U Aye
Myint said.

“But over 300 farmers from the whole village are really disappointed and
have been seeking legal advice.”

U Aye Myint is now finding witnesses and preparing evidence from the
jailed villagers’ family members in order to help the villagers bring a
forced labour complaint to the International Labour Organisation and
report the matter to senior general Than Shwe.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

January 15, Irrawaddy
Budget cuts at Thai-Burmese border – Violet Cho

International humanitarian and aid organizations working along the
Thai-Burmese border have been forced to discontinue projects and decrease
their assistance to Burmese refugees due to insufficient funding and the
current exchange rate.

The International Rescue Committee, which provides medical aid and
humanitarian assistance to Burmese refugees in Mae Hong Song Province in
northern Thailand, has had to reduce its commitment on two projects—an
“Income Generation Project” and a “Psycho-Social Program” for Karenni
refugees—due to funding cuts.

Arthur Carlson, the country director for IRC in Thailand, said that they
had experienced funding cuts from all their major donors. “IRC was forced
to make these difficult decisions due to funding short-falls,” he said.
“IRC received notification that funding would be cut by $1,455,000 in
September 2007 due to changes in the manner in which the US government
appropriates its foreign assistance.”

Carlson added that the Income Generation Project could keep going under
the direction of the refugees themselves, but the Psycho-Social Program
would only continue at a much reduced level.

However, a Karenni refugee, who refused to be named, told The Irrawaddy
that the Income Generation project had not been a successful project in
the refugee community.

“I was not disappointed when I heard that IRC is going to stop the IGP; I
find that the project does not benefit us,” he said.

The Thailand Burma Border Consortium, which has been supporting the
refugee camps along the Thai-Burmese border with food, shelter and other
essential items for more than two decades, is also short of funds.

TBBC recently released a statement that said: “TBBC has been forced to
make cutbacks in all areas of our programme, starting within the
organization itself. As we continue to face this problem, we have no
choice but to make a reduction in your food.”

The reduction in food aid applies only to soybean cakes and chilies. The
quantities of all other distributed foods are not affected at the moment.

However, Sally Thompson, the deputy director of TBBC, expressed her
concerns about the instability in the refugee camps. “It [the cut in aid]
is the result of the exchange rate, the increase in prices and the
increasing population in the camps—new arrivals come in, but the
resettlement process has been going slowly,” she explained.

TBBC has been providing more than 140,000 Burmese refugees along the
Thai-Burmese border with a traditional staple diet of rice, salt and fish
paste, as well as cooking fuel, building materials, clothing and bedding
for more than 20 years.

IRC started work in Thailand in 1976 in response to the influx of refugees
from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Now they are mainly serving refugees from
Burma, who began crossing into Thailand in 1984.

IRC activities along the Thai-Burmese border focus on primary health care,
water and sanitation, migrant health, health-worker training, food
distribution, legal assistance and advocacy, and gender-based violence
prevention and response projects.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

January 15, Inter Press News Service
Lobby says gem boycott is working – Abid Aslam

Rights advocates are renewing calls for consumers and merchants to shun
Burmese gems in the run up to the military government's latest auction of
precious stones, saying evidence shows Western boycotts are beginning to
bite.

Separately, activists have taken to expressing their disdain for Burma's
ruling junta by flinging women's panties at the country's embassies
overseas.

Human Rights Watch assailed the gem trade as propping up the military
dictatorship. It renewed its calls for a gems boycott in advance of an
auction of precious stones scheduled for Tuesday through Saturday by the
Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Co. Ltd. (UMEH), a conglomerate owned
by senior armed forces officers and the defence ministry.

Burma's military rulers changed its name to Myanmar in 1989, when they
revived the use of Burmese-language place names.

The rights lobby is seeking to draw attention to hundreds of people it
says remain in arbitrary detention following the deadly violence with
which government forces greeted peaceful protest last year.

"Burma's generals are counting on gem sales to help pay for their abusive
rule," said Arvind Ganesan, director of the lobby's business and human
rights programme. "They deserve to be disappointed."

Monks, students, and other civilians took to the streets of major cities
last August and September. What had begun as popular disapproval of fuel
price hikes quickly morphed into rallies for democracy.

Burma, one of the world's top gem producers, has held periodic auctions of
precious stones since 1964, drawing buyers from all over the world.

The government's Myanmar Gem Enterprise stands third among the country's
largest exporters, after the state-run oil and timber companies. In 2006,
the gems firm said it generated nearly 300 million dollars in sales -- a
45 percent increase over the previous year.

The full value of the gems trade is unknown as smuggling and private deals
by or on behalf of military officers are said to be significant. By some
estimates, jade alone accounts for about 10 percent of Burma's yearly
export earnings.

Trade in Burmese jade seems to be flourishing, especially with Asian
markets dominated by China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Even so, proponents say
Western boycotts and sanctions have begun to gnaw at the junta's profits.
Recent auctions have raised less hard currency and the government has been
attempting to increase their frequency, according to Ganesan's group.

"There are signs that international pressure has dampened the trade in
Burma's gems," Human Rights Watch said in a statement.

"The upcoming gem auction by the UMEH comes on the heels of the Myanmar
Gems Emporium held in November 2007. Sales at that event did not meet
expectations," it added.

The group, citing official and media sources, said last November's auction
netted about 150 million dollars, well below Myanmar Gems Enterprise's
lowest sales projection of 230 million dollars.

Human Rights Watch estimated that proceeds in November were down eight
percent from the previous gem auction in July 2007. It said the decline
might reflect voluntary boycotts and moves toward new sanctions in Europe
and the United States, traditionally the top buyers of Burmese rubies.

Burmese precious and semi-precious stones are banned from the European
Union under rules that took effect last November. In December, both
chambers of the U.S. Congress approved legislation to tighten an existing
ban on Burmese gems. The same month, Canada barred all Burmese imports.

Some Western firms have long shunned Burmese gems. Among them are
U.S.-based Tiffany & Co. and Leber Jeweler Inc. Others volunteering to
follow suit since last year's crackdown include Italy's Bulgari and
France's Cartier.

Opponents of trade embargoes against Burma have said such measures would
pauperise the masses. Growing economic isolation in the 1990s led to a
resurgence of smuggling and the drugs and sex trades.

Rights advocates maintain they seek sanctions against industries and firms
that benefit the ruling junta, not those from which civilians stand to
gain.

Burma's junta owns at least a majority stake in each of the country's
mines. Human Rights Watch, citing reports from non-governmental groups,
said forced and child labour, unsafe work conditions, and the confiscation
of land from local communities were rampant throughout the industry.

While some activists pursue trade sanctions, others have launched a "Panty
Power" campaign inspired by Burma's reputedly superstitious leaders.

Women in Australia, Britain, Singapore, South Africa, and Thailand
reportedly have mailed, delivered, and flung their knickers at Burmese
embassies to insult military chief Than Shwe and other members of the
junta, formally named the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).

Thailand-based group Lanna Action for Burma kicked off the campaign last
year, telling visitors to its Web site: "This is your chance to use your
Panty Power to take away the power from the SPDC and support the people of
Burma."

This followed reports that some of the top military brass believed contact
with women's panties would drain them of their strength.

____________________________________

January 15, Mizzima News
MAI resumes flights after three months suspension

Myanmar Airways International (MAI) resumed air services today with its
Bangkok-Yangon-Bangkok flight after three months of suspension.

After the UK based insurance company refused insurance coverage, MAI
resumed its international flights with its six days-a-week
Bangkok-Yangon-Bangkok flight.

Its Yangon ticket office is selling the Yangon-Bangkok-Yangon return
ticket at FEC 200 and passengers will get one return ticket free in its
'buy one get one' sales promotion programme.

The flight will depart Bangkok at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Sunday
and arrive in Yangon at 5:45 p.m. On the return trip, the flight will
depart Yangon at 00:45 and will arrive in Bangkok at 2:30 a.m.

On Thursday, Friday and Saturday the flight will depart Bangkok at 6:45
p.m. and will arrive in Yangon at 7:30 p.m. On the return trip, the flight
will depart Yangon at 8 p.m. and will arrive in Bangkok at 9:55 p.m.

A MAI source said that the Kuala Lumpur flight will be resumed this week
too but there is no decision yet to resume Singapore flights.

After the crackdown on Buddhist monk-led uprising in September 2007, the
UK based insurance company suspended its insurance policy.

____________________________________

January 15, TheVarsity.ca
Students push York to dump Burma stocks – Miyoun Oh

York students are lobbying their university to let its money speak for
democracy in Burma. The student-led York Coalition for Responsible
Investment is urging the university to review its Burma-related
investments. In support of the boycott of the Burmese military regime,
YCRI has launched a petition calling on the school to divest itself of
these stocks.

The group’s petition, available online, cites human rights abuses reported
by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch and includes a pro-boycott
statement from the All-Burmese Monks’ Alliance. Last September, Burma’s
military dictators weathered a storm of public and official condemnation
of their regime and its violent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.

“The campaign is really just beginning, consisting mainly of the petition
and investment research at the moment,” said Simon Granovsky-Larsen, a
student organizer of YCRI. “But we plan to eventually bring motions to the
York Board of Governors addressing some or all of the companies active in
Burma.”

YCRI found York University investments totaling over $1 billion in
companies active in Burma, including Total, Chevron, Petrochina,
Mitsubishi, Toyota, Hyundai, LG, and Samsung.

Their petition is a part of the ongoing effort to reform the ways
universities invest. YCRI wants ethical standards, decision-making
structure, voting methods, and the role of students in investment
processes to be made explicit.

This isn’t the first time the students have criticized the university for
involvement with Burma: York students led a five-year boycott of Pepsi
products in the mid ’90s, following the soft drink maker’s opening of a
plant in Burma.

MP Larry Bagnell, the chairman of the group Canadian Parliamentary Friends
of Burma, just returned from the Thai-Burmese border. In a public letter,
he reported on his experience with various groups, including deserters
from the regime’s army, monks, and ex-political prisoners:

“I learned that, though it may appear to the international community that
the worst of the violence is over in Burma, atrocities in the ethnic
states including rape, forced displacement, forced labour and
extrajudicial killings are going on daily,” he wrote. “The people I met
expressed support for Canada’s humanitarian aid to Burma and increased
economic sanctions against the regime.”

McGill set a precedent with a similar campaign in 2006. In response to
that program, the Montreal school’s Board of Governors adopted an ethical
investment proposal. The petition can be viewed online at:
http://www.petitiononline.com/YUburma/ petition.html.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

January 15, Irrawaddy
Patients die out of concern – Shah Paung

Three persons living with HIV/AIDS under the care of a social welfare
group in Rangoon have died due to the psychological shock of losing their
mentor, according to a senior member of the group.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Sunday, Yazar, a youth member of the National
League for Democracy who also works for the HIV/AIDS welfare group, said
that the three patients died recently not because of a lack of medicine,
but because they were shocked by the rumor that Phyu Phyu Thin, a
well-know HIV/AIDS activist and leading figure in the NLD-affiliated
welfare group, had been arrested by Burmese authorities.

Phyu Phyu Thin went into hiding last August as security forces stepped up
a hunt for her because of her leading role at the beginning of the
protests against the hike in fuel prices.

According to Yazar, when the three patients were transferred to hospital
the only thing they were heard saying was: “Where is sayarma? Where is
sayarma?” a word meaning “teacher,” referring to Phyu Phyu Thin.

Yazar, 30, said the hunt for Phyu Phyu Thin affected the minds of the
three patients. Most of the people who come to receive medical treatment
with the group do so out of a sense of attachment to Phyu Phyu Thin, he
said.

“What the patients really need is Phyu Phyu Thin, not medicine,” said
Yazar. “Some patients call her ‘mother.’”

Lay Pyay, who is living with the HIV/AIDS virus and receiving medical
treatment from the group, said that they are all dejected and genuinely
worried for Phyu Phyu Thin’s security.

“When Ma Phyu is here it’s like we don’t need to worry about anything,”
Lay Pyay said. “Even though the Ma Phyu group is now taking care of us, it
would be better if Ma Phyu herself were with us.”

Lay Pyay was diagnosed with the HIV/AIDS virus in 2006, but he only began
receiving treatment about mid-2007 when he was introduced to Phyu Phyu
Thin’s group.

Yazar said that, without Phyu Phyu Thin and since the September crackdown,
their work had become increasingly difficult because many of the
volunteers had to go into hiding while others had been arrested and
detained.

“It’s like I am walking on a tightrope without her,” he said. “I am
concerned for her and worry that I cannot maintain the work that she
initiated, especially acquiring medicines for patients.”

Before September, the group was able to supply people with enough
antiretroviral drugs for one month and let them go back to live in their
hometowns. Now it only has enough drugs to supply each patient for 15
days. It costs more than 35,000 kyat (US $28) for one month’s supply of
ARV drugs, he said.

Since early January, 2007, hospitals and clinics in Rangoon treating
people living with HIV/AIDS have stopped providing ARV drugs to new
patients due to limited budgets. The only ARV drugs available in Rangoon
are being supplied by the Wai Bar Gi (Rangoon Infectious Diseases
Hospital) and the AZG clinic, which is funded by the Dutch branch of
Médecins sans Frontières.

Currently the NLD-affiliated welfare group is taking care of up to 600
people living with HIV/AIDS, including some 200 from other townships,
Yazar said. About 30 of the patients are living in two safe houses in
Rangoon.

The group now has about five volunteers working in Rangoon, but in other
townships they just run it “patient with patient,” Yazar said. They also
offer counseling to people living with HIV/AIDS and their families. The
group’s network covers Magwe, Irrawaddy, Mandalay, Sagaing and Tenasserim
divisions, as well as Shan and Arakan states.

“We can treat their physical needs, but we can’t take care of their
psychological needs,” Yazar said of the patients. “They depend on Phyu
Phyu Tin both physically and morally.”

According to a World Health Organization report in November 2007, there
are more than 339,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in Burma—one of the
worst epidemics in Asia.

____________________________________
DRUGS

January 15, San Francisco Chronicle
Burma's largest rebel army battles increase in opium production – Jacob
Bayman

Loi Tai Leng, Burma -- The frontline of Burma's largest rebel army is a
lonely hilltop ringed by a land mine-littered jungle, mountains controlled
by the Burmese military and a patchwork of poppy fields visible through a
rusting pair of Soviet binoculars.

"It's opium," said Nan Daw, a captain in the Shan State Army South. "I
know because I have patrolled there."

Burma's southern Shan state, a historically independent area, is a nest of
battlefields, rebel cease-fire zones and territory controlled by the
Burmese military. The Shan, the nation's largest ethnic minority with
about 6 million people, have been engaged in an intermittent guerrilla war
of independence since the military junta took power in a coup in 1962.

The rebel front also runs through the heart of the Golden Triangle, the
patch of land between Thailand, Burma and Laos that just 10 years ago
produced a third of the world's highest-grade opium.

It is the former domain of Khun Sa, the infamous Shan warlord and
narcotics kingpin who once led an army of 20,000 men. He died in October
of unknown causes in the nation's largest city, Rangoon. Experts say Sa's
retirement in 1996 helped slash the triangle's production to 5 percent of
world supply. The global leader is now Afghanistan, which provides about
92 percent of the world's opium.

But leaders of the Shan State Army South - a northern Shan army signed a
cease-fire agreement with the government - claim opium production is
increasing in areas controlled by the Burmese military. According to a
recent U.N. report, opium production jumped almost 50 percent in 2007 from
the previous year, with about 92 percent of Burma's opium crop grown in
Shan state.

"Everybody is involved in this trade in one way or another," said Xavier
Bouan, a U.N. illicit-crop monitor based in Rangoon. "Insurgents, militia,
government, cease-fire groups; for all of them, in a region where the
economy is slowing down, it's one of the only ways to survive and get
cash," he said.

The Burmese army periodically undertakes scorched-earth offensives,
destroys Shan villages, and forces farmers to do hard labor for no
compensation. Because many army battalions are forced to fend for
themselves in finding food and supplies, crop theft and forced labor is
not uncommon in the nation's restive areas.

Some observers see army participation in the opium business as another way
to earn money to purchase supplies. And military officers are known to
encourage farmers to grow opium, manufacture methamphetamine and cut down
teak forests, according to drug experts and human rights activists.

Nang Tun, a 36-year-old mother of two, fled her village of Nong Leng in
June after Burmese soldiers forced half the village's 40 families to grow
opium poppies. She and her children now live in Loi Tai Leng, the
fortified headquarters of the Shan army along the border with Thailand.

The Burmese army "destroyed the fields of anyone who refused," she said.

At harvest time, she said, soldiers took half the crop while taxing
villagers on the other half. She fled after soldiers stole crops, beat
villagers and arrested her husband. "I don't know why" they arrested him,
she said. "I know nothing about him now."

Nang Tun and her children are among 350 displaced families under rebel
protection. They account for just a handful of the 163,000 villagers
displaced by the Burmese military throughout Shan state, according to the
Shan Human Rights Foundation in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Some live in camps
rampant with disease, while others are in Thailand illegally looking for
work and a better life.

The Shan State Army South is one of the last ethnic groups in Burma to
maintain an army, along with the Karen and the Karenni peoples. Rebel
leader Col. Yawd Serk, who fought in Khun Sa's militia, says he commands
10,000 soldiers, but the real figure may be far less.

Serk says his army has no connection to drug traffickers and survives by
charging taxes on regional trade of gems and timber. Some analysts,
however, speculate that the cash-strapped Shan army may also be taxing the
opium trade, a charge Serk vehemently denies. In fact, the Shan leader
said, his army destroys opium storehouses and heroin refineries when it
finds them.

"Opium is a big problem affecting the Shan," Serk said, in reference to
the growing addiction rate among Shan residents.

Serk says he is also worried about a rising methamphetamine industry,
which has sparked State Department concerns that the Golden Triangle could
soon become the Ice Triangle. As opium has declined, production and
distribution of methamphetamine have increased, most drug experts agree.

But the rebel officer concedes that his army can crack down on drugs only
in the shrinking pockets of territory it controls between outposts of the
Burmese military and its militia allies, the United Wa State Army in the
northern part of Shan state that signed a cease-fire pact with the junta.
The U.S. State Department has called the United Wa State Army the world's
"most heavily armed narco-traffickers."

As for the troops under his command, Serk says he applies a zero-tolerance
policy. "If anyone in the Shan State Army gets involved in drugs, we cut
their neck immediately," he said. "How can we have hope if the young are
on drugs?"

Serk is also angry at foreign governments, including the United States,
for funding anti-drug programs in Burma. He says the junta has duped the
West into thinking they are serious about narcotics eradication.

"The government takes the drug money from the U.S. and puts it in their
pockets," he said. "If they want to solve the Golden Triangle drug
problem, they can't support the Burmese government. If they support the
government, they support the drugs."

Susan Pittman, spokeswoman for the State Department's Bureau of Narcotics
and Law Enforcement, said Washington ceased all direct anti-narcotic
assistance to the Burmese government after 3,000 monks and students were
killed in pro-democracy protests in 1988. But she concedes that the United
States may be indirectly funding eradication programs through the U.N.
anti-drug program.

Pittman also says the State Department has no direct evidence that the
Burmese military is accountable for the increase in opium production, but
she concedes the junta "has failed demonstrably in fulfilling its
anti-narcotic commitments."

Whoever is to blame, the biggest losers are the Shan residents who refuse
to be part of the drug trade.

"I see opium fields in Burmese areas," said Shan State Army Sgt. Nan Tha.
"And I see empty villages where people have already fled."

Chronicle Foreign Service reporter Jacob Baynham visited Burma in late
December on a grant sponsored by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting
in Washington.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

January 15, Associated Foreign Press
US official calls for clear message to Myanmar

A US official on Tuesday called for the world including China to send a
united message to Myanmar's leaders that they are taking the country in
"the wrong direction".

Scot Marciel, deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asia, was in
Tokyo to "exchange ideas" with Japan, which on Wednesday will hold talks
with foreign ministers of Southeast Asian nations including Myanmar.

"What's really key is for the entire international community -- China but
also the ASEAN, Japan, the United States, Europe, India, all -- to be
sending the same message to the regime that we are not anti-Burma,"
Marciel said, using Myanmar's former name.

The message should be that "the way the country is going is in the wrong
direction, it's having negative effects not only for the Burmese people
but for the region. We all want you to move in a positive direction", he
told reporters.

China has faced criticism for its political and economic ties with Myanmar
since last year's deadly crackdown on pro-democracy protests.

Marciel said China "probably has more influence vis-a-vis Burma than any
other country" but warned not to overstate it.

"I don't think we're sure that any government including that of China has
the ability to tell the Burmese authorities what to do," he said.

"The Burmese regime is quite nationalistic and although they enjoy good
relations with China, I don't think that if the Chinese said, 'you have to
do this,' they would necessarily follow," he added.

In December, US President George W. Bush threatened to spearhead a global
campaign to step up sanctions against Myanmar if it continued to ignore
calls for a democratic transition.

The junta has allowed a UN special envoy and a UN rights investigator to
visit since the crackdown and increased contact with detained democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

However, the government has made few tangible concessions and in December
it expelled the top UN diplomat in the country after he made a scathing
statement on its dire humanitarian state.

____________________________________


January 15, Macau Daily Times
Japan pledges 1.79 million dollars in aid to sanctions-hit Myanmar

Japan yesterday pledged 1.79 million dollars in aid to Myanmar, months
after it scaled back assistance following the junta's violent suppression
of mass protests which left a Japanese journalist dead.The aid package,
announced by the Japanese embassy in Myanmar and the United Nations
children's agency UNICEF, will be used to fund vaccinations, medicine and
testing kits for potentially fatal diseases affecting children and women.

Japan, one of the largest donors to Myanmar, in October cancelled nearly
five million dollars in aid in protest at the military's bloody crackdown
on rallies, which a UN official has said left 31 people dead.This figure
includes Kenji Nagai, a video journalist for Tokyo-based APF News, who was
shot dead on September 27 as he filmed the crackdown in Myanmar's
commercial hub Yangon.

Myanmar spends just 0.3 percent of GDP on health, the latest UN figures
show, while economic sanctions by the United States and European Union
leave the country as one of the developing world's lowest recipients of
foreign aid."The latest pledge will support our collective effort to
protect Myanmar's children against vaccine-preventable diseases, malaria,
and other fatal diseases and save their mothers from pregnancy-related
deaths," UNICEF's Myanmar representative Ramesh Shrestha said in a
statement. "UNICEF will ensure that this assistance will target those most
in need."

____________________________________

January 15, Yorkshire Post
'I was a virtual prisoner for 20 years and there is no greater thing than
freedom'

A group of young children stand in line on stage singing and clapping
their hands to music. They shuffle their feet as they dance and smile and
laugh as their parents watch.

It's a scene reminiscent of any school performance, but for these Burmese
children, taking part in their New Year celebrations in Sheffield has
extra significance.

Over the past two years, the Gateway Project has been giving persecuted
members of the Karen ethnicity the chance of freedom and Aung Than Mynt,
who arrived in the city from a refugee camp on the Thai-Burmese border
nearly 18 months ago, reflects the views of the 200 or so others when he
says: "This is what life should be about."

For the first time in his life, Aung has real hope for the future and the
knowledge that his four young children will grow up in a safe environment
and in a country that embraces democracy and human rights. Here, unlike in
Burma where 150,000 refugees have languished in camps, some for decades,
the group can meet freely and teach their children the Karen language,
culture and history without fear of arrest and torture.

Since shortly after the end of the Second World War, the Karen, one of the
most oppressed ethnic minorities in Burma, have been engaged in a 60-year
battle for survival against the military regime, a prolonged struggle that
has been largely ignored by the Western world.

For Aung, one of the lucky few to have been granted sanctuary in the UK
after fleeing a brutal military junta accused of gross human rights
abuses, the recent spectacle of hundreds of saffron-robed monks leading
pro-democracy protests in Burma, renamed Myanmar by the military, brought
back painful memories. As he watched graphic television images showing the
violent repression of peaceful demonstrations in Rangoon, Aung remembered
how his niece died at the hands of Burma's pariah military rulers.

"In 1997, the Burmese army attacked our refugee camps on the Thai border
and killed 100 people," he says. "My niece
Maw Ka Moo Paw died. She was only 16 years old. When I watched the
pictures on television I felt for the protesters who were attacked and
arrested. But I also thought to myself, that this has been happening for
more than 50 years and no-one seems to care."

The Karen people, whose ancestors were refugees from Tibet, live mostly in
the hilly eastern border region of Burma. There have long been ethnic
tensions in the country and after centuries of discrimination and
servitude, the Karen fought with the British during the Second World War
against the Burmans and the Japanese.

However, promises of autonomy for their efforts were never kept, leaving
the Karen battling for their freedom ever since.

"As many as 100,000 of our people have died, many during the forced
relocation of the Karen during the 1990s when the military embarked on
Operation Dragon King to ethnically cleanse our land," says Aung.

It's a policy that continues today in Burma. Villagers have reported
widespread violations of international humanitarian and human rights law,
destruction of houses and crops, forced labour, kidnapping and torture.
Extrajudicial killings of Karen civilians has increased,and many people
faced food shortages after the authorities banned them from leaving their
villages to farm or buy food.

It remains a desperate situation, one that Aung, and his fellow refugees,
Thin and Taw, are familiar with.

"The whole village – 300 houses – was destroyed. Some people were caught.
The soldiers tied them upside down and poured boiling water into their
noses," says Aung, who became a refugee in 1985, fleeing his village
Llaingbwe when it was attacked by government troops.

Thin, who lived in south Burma, ended up in a refugee camp more recently,
two years ago, after his family suffered persecution, while Taw spent 20
years with the rebel army in the jungle. All three men ended up with their
families in one of the nine camps.

"In Burma, we were discriminated in every aspect of our lives and not even
allowed to use the Karen language," says Thin, who until 1999 was a medic
with the Karen National Liberation Army, tending to victims of the war in
the jungle, including enemy soldiers. "It was not much of an existence."

Following the 1988 pro-democracy protests in his homeland, Taw says, up to
10,000 refugees fled to the Karen areas from cities when the military
junta cracked down on dissidents and he fears history may very well repeat
itself.

The only viable solution to end the humanitarian crisis, these three men
say, is for the international community to undertake military action
against the ruling government and to replace the existing political system
with a set-up similar to the UK's, whereby different regions would have
some degree of self-autonomy.

"The recent protests gave us hope but sanctions have not affected the
regime," says Aung. "Nothing will change unless force is used.
Unfortunately, this would mean some people would die – but the alternative
is that the Karen and other oppressed minorities continue to suffer for
another 50 years. How many people have to die?

"Sheffield may not have the climate of our home country, but the people
have made us so welcome and we do want to thank them for that.

"I was a virtual prisoner for 20 years and there is no greater thing than
freedom."

Taw and Thin nod their heads in agreement, knowing that for many thousands
of others in Burma the future is far from secure.

____________________________________

January 15, Mizzima News
2008 -Film on Burma 's detained Nobel Laureate to commence soon

Italian film director Giuseppe Tornatore will soon capture the journey of
Burmese pro-democracy icon, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, on celluloid in an
effort to honour and highlight her struggle to restore democracy in her
native land.

It will be an English film with an estimated budget of 30 million US
dollars, Naofumi Okamoto, the film's Japanese producer said. Okamoto
happens to be among the very few foreigners, who have met the detained
Burmese leader. She has been under house arrest for the last 12 years of
the 18 years she has spent in Burma.

Speaking to Mizzima over the telephone, Okamoto said, "The purpose of
producing this film is to honour Noble Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, because
she chooses to be a mother to a nation instead of being a mother to a
family, it is a very difficult thing for women to do."

The film's script will be completed in May and shooting is likely to begin
by September or October this year. It would be the first movie depicting
the life and times of the Nobel Laureate.

"We are still working on the script, it may be finished by May and after
that we will start shooting," Okamoto said.

According to the producer, the film would be shot in Southeast Asia, with
Thailand and Vietnam being the most likely venues. Malaysia could also be
considered. However, he added that nothing had been confirmed yet. He had
chosen Italian award winning director Tornatore, as he was famous for
making women-centric films, Okamoto said.

The Japanese producer, who had a chance to meet Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in
the early 1990s, said he has been working on the film for several years
and had finally, thought of commencing shooting.

"I have been trying to make this film for the past ten years and we have
already met three times [with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi] and also got the
permission from her for creating this film," Okamoto said.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is the daughter of Burma's independence hero General
Aung San, who spearheaded the Burmese independence movement against the
British colonial rulers. Educated at Oxford University and married to an
English scholar, Suu Kyi, returned to her homeland in 1988, only to be met
with political chaos, where the student-led protestors put an end to the
more then 20 years of one party rule in the country.

She was catapulted to lead the Burmese Opposition after her public
speeches during the time of protests. She later formed a political party –
the National League for Democracy – which won a landslide victory in the
1990 General Elections.

Despite leading her party to victory, Suu Kyi was never allowed to govern
the country, which her father had envisaged as a free and prosperous
nation. Instead, the military rulers had her put under house arrest,
detaining her for the past 12 of 18 years.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

January 15, Democratic Voice of Burma
Commentary: Where are Burma’s scholars and educated people? – Naing Ko Ko

Many contemporary Burma scholars and analysts have been pessimistic about
prospects for democratization in Burma. Now, academics need to use their
knowledge and work with activists for democracy in Burma.

Before Burma's 2007 Saffron Revolution, many Burma-oriented essays,
conferences, seminars and articles were being produced by Burma scholars
and experts, and regular Burma Update conferences were held at Singapore
National University, Australia National University, Winston Park Talk,
Charleston Park Talk and so on.

Many of these were characterised by wishful thinking, false assumptions
and fatalistic assessments suggesting that Burmese democratization was a
fallacy, a Titanic bound to founder. The ruling military junta was seen as
the only sustainable power-holder in Burma, as though nothing could
counter the junta's power, so, they said, let's do business with the
military regime. In addition, these Burma analysts claimed that there was
a lack of strategic leadership in the Burma democratic movement both
internally and externally.

To move beyond the present disjunction between such academic scholarship
and the development of Burma's political landscape, we need to rethink
strategically what it means to be a scholar in modern Burma, and her
educated sons and daughters need to practise their moral responsibility to
society.

If the Burma-watchers’ statements were accurate, why didn't they formulate
an alternative winning strategy for the Burmese context? Which Burma
experts and activists predicted the Saffron Revolution? Were there any
prophetic articles, essays and conferences presaging what took place in
late 2007?

The term "Burma scholars" used to embrace many respected scholars, such as
John Sydenham Furnivall, J A Stewart, Gordon H Luce, U May Aung and U Pe
Muang Tin, Saya Zawgyi, U Khin Maung Latt, Saya Min Thu Wun, Dr. Hla Pe,
Dr. Than Tun and others, who were globally well known and had expertise in
their disciplines, scholarship and knowledge.

However, in our contemporary period from 1988 to 2008, how many true Burma
scholars have there been? Are they applying their advanced knowledge to
Burma's democratization process? How many of them are beacons to inspire
the new generation to become well-educated?

The Burmese democracy movement needs to analyse the contribution of such
Burma scholars who were born with the 1988 democracy revolution. You may
argue that, based on liberalism's rational choice theory, it is a choice
whether to support the movement for Burma's democratization or not.

But let me rephrase: the role of a modern scholar obviously includes
developing knowledge, but must also extend to integrating and applying
that knowledge through teaching, application and sharing knowledge with
society. Even "google scholars" are helping millions of people to get more
basic and academic knowledge around the world.

In the real scenarios on Burma's political horizon, she needs all the
multidimensional scholarships and professions of her native sons and
daughters. Let's look at the history of grand revolutions: almost every
system-change, power-shift and revolution has been led by well-educated
leaders, interpreted as Antonio Gramsci's "counter-hegemonic agents" or
"social entrepreneurs".

There are many remarkable scholar-activists, political strategists and
social entrepreneurs in this modern world. In most successful states,
educated people have been either self-sacrificing or leaders in
nation-building, statecraft and economic growth.

However, in the Burmese context, there is a huge vacuum of scholars,
experts and professionals in Burma to draw up strategic, results-oriented
policies to cure the country's chronic tragedy and reveal the "Burmese
road to democracy". Yet there have been thousands of Burma experts,
scholars and professionals living in first world countries ever since
General Ne Win took over state power in 1962.

It is no exaggeration to say that millions of people in Burma are brutally
oppressed by the current military thugs. Thousands upon thousands of
respected Buddhist monks have been disrobed and locked up by the military
junta. Millions and millions of Burmese people have emigrated to hunt for
dirty jobs on low incomes in neighboring countries, especially in
Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. An estimated 1 million internally
displaced persons of ethnic nationalities are running away from
persecution and atrocities by Burma army personnel.

Where are Burma's educated people? Remember: the more educated you are,
the more moral responsibility you have to society. You all have a moral
responsibility to help the people of Burma get out from under this
military oppression and build a knowledge-based society.

Now, following the Saffron Revolution, it is not the time to maintain the
status quo or to argue with one another. In particular, it is not the time
for democracy activists and scholars to be arguing. We are all are in the
same boat. It is time to work hard to achieve winning strategies and
develop results-oriented approaches for what the people of Burma need:
peace, democracy, justice and national reconciliation.

Naing Ko Ko is a postgraduate scholarship student in International
Relations at Auckland University, New Zealand, and a former political
prisoner of Burma.

____________________________________

January 15, International Herald Tribune
Burma’s unlucky number

China has been striving to make certain that Aug. 8, 2008, the start of
this summer's Olympic Games in Beijing, will be an auspicious date. The
Communist authorities have even set the start of their gala for 8 p.m. on
8/8/08.

On that same day, victims of the junta ruling Burma will commemorate the
20th anniversary of a popular uprising against military dictatorship that
was violently suppressed. Leaders of that movement, known as the 88
Student Generation, were among the first to be arrested when Buddhist
monks led popular protests against the junta last September, and they are
among the 700 protesters still incarcerated.

The numerological coincidence of China's Olympic gala and Burma's mournful
memory will serve a positive purpose if it reminds the world of Burma's
agony in the two decades since Aug. 8, 1988 and of the shameful symbiosis
between China's government and the Burmese junta. Beijing has been the
principal arms seller and commercial partner of the generals in Burma, and
the threat of a Chinese veto in the UN Security Council shields the junta
from an international arms embargo.

Yet the other rising power in Asia, democratic India, has shown a decent
respect for international opinion by halting arms sales and transfers to
Burma's military dictators. As 8/8/08 approaches, the world must see to it
that when it comes to propping up the Burmese junta, Beijing's number is
up next.

____________________________________

January 15, Irrawaddy
Burma aid donors must also look at causes of poverty

Good news for poor Burmese and NGOs in Burma—Douglas Alexander, Britain’s
Secretary of State for International Development, has announced that his
government is to double its aid for the poorest people in Burma from £9
million (US $17.6 million) in 2007 to £18 million ($35.2 million) in 2008.

Alexander made the announcement after recent ¬¬¬visits to refugee camps on
the Thai-Burmese border and meetings with foreign experts and informed
Burmese in Thailand,

The senior British official said: “We will not turn our backs on the
Burmese people who have courageously stood up for their rights. The recent
protests showed their deep frustration with the lack of political and
economic opportunities in Burma. The UK government, alongside the
international community, will continue to put pressure on the Burmese
government to embrace freedom.”

He also said that doubling aid for Burma “will allow us to help more
children go to school, treat more people suffering from malaria,
tuberculosis and HIV and tackle humanitarian needs. We will also continue
to support civil society groups addressing the development needs of Burma.
All our work is monitored carefully to ensure it reaches those most in
need.”

The news of more aid going to Burma is to be cautiously welcomed. Let’s
make sure that it will be effectively delivered to the needy and that it
will save lives.

It is vital to provide assistance to HIV/AIDS patients and the poor.
However, the root cause of problems in Burma should not be overlooked.

The country’s problems are a man-made disaster; incompetent military
rulers are mainly responsible for Burma’s humanitarian crisis. It is the
regime that should increase its budget and its spending on health and
education rather than buying more jet fighters, military hardware and
building a new capital estimated by the International Monetary Fund to
cost between $122 million and $244 million.

Than Shwe’s regime has a long shopping list for his country’s 400,000
officers and soldiers. Over the past decade, the regime has bought
warships from China, tanks from the Ukraine, MiG-29 jet fighters and a
nuclear reactor from Russia, at an estimated cost of more than $3 billion.
About 40 percent of the national budget goes on defense.

What if that money were spent instead on health and other areas for the
improvement of people’s lives? Just 3 percent of the national budget is
now spent on health services.

Even when aid reaches Burma it still has to be asked how it can be
effectively delivered to the needy.

The implementation of any aid project in Burma still faces obstacles and
restrictions imposed by the regime and its ministries. Foreign NGOs
traveling to project sites in the countryside need special permission from
the authorities, and that’s not easy.

In 2005, these restrictions prompted the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS,
Tuberculosis and Malaria to cancel its programs in Burma. The
International Committee of the Red Cross was forced to scale down and
suspend its prison visits after the regime demanded that members of the
pro-government mass organization Union Solidarity Development Association
accompany the ICRC visitors.

Faced with this kind of regime pressure, some foreign NGOs based in
Rangoon and UN agencies decided to cooperate with the government.

Recently, the World Food Programme announced it would spend $51.7 million
over the next three years in food aid to as many as 1,600,000 vulnerable
people in Burma.

It is sad to see the country that was once the proud rice bowl of Asia
having to rely on food aid from international agencies, despite Than
Shwe’s recent claim that his government is preparing to feed 100 million
Burmese.

It is important to increase aid to the needy without wasting money on
overheads, expatriate fees and payments into the regime’s coffer.  We also
have to be aware that responsibility for the poverty and the health crisis
in Burma clearly lies with the generals and the political conflicts they
provoke.  Unless the country’s political problems are solved Burma will
need to ask for more funding from Douglas Alexander’s department. It will
be a vicious circle.

Thus, while increasing assistance to Burma’s poor and needy, the
international community must also keep up the pressure on the regime to
initiate political change.

Finally, aid and humanitarian assistance should be inclusive and support
Burmese groups working along the border area with Thailand and India.
Increasing numbers of Burmese are fleeing to border areas because of
government oppression, economic problems and the on-going political
crackdown. These refugees should not be left behind.

After visiting the border camps, Douglas Alexander said: “As the leading
donor, I want to understand the scale of the challenge and capacity of aid
agencies on the ground in the region who provide support to Burmese who
have fled from the military regime.”

It is to be hoped, therefore, that Douglas Alexander’s recent visit to the
border area represents a major step in making his department’s policy and
approach to Burma’s humanitarian crisis more comprehensive and down to
earth.

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

January 15, Christian Solidarity Worldwide
Ten people killed as Burma army increases presence in Karen state

Over 90 Burma Army battalions, comprising between 11,000 and 14,000
troops, are operating in Karen State, potentially poised for another major
offensive.

At least 10 villagers have been killed in the same State in the last two
months as the Burma Army continues to launch attacks against civilians.
Hundreds have fled attacks, thousands remain in hiding and living
conditions are so extreme that many are unable to return to their villages
and farms.

According to reports from the Free Burma Rangers, the Army has been
consolidating its presence in the regions it took control of during the
2006-2007 offensive, by expanding its network of camps and roads. These
new road developments will supply all of the army camps in the area.
However, it has made travel very difficult for villagers, Internally
Displaced People (IDPs) and those providing aid.  Since the beginning of
2006, over 54 new army camps have been built. The troop presence amounts
to a 50 per cent increase since the height of the offensive in 2006.

The Burma Army has been shelling villages and IDP sites in Karen State and
killing civilians whilst on their patrols. Toungoo District remains the
most vulnerable region in northern Karen State.  In this district alone,
it is estimated that there are now around 7,000 people in hiding from the
regular attacks launched on villages and IDP populations.  The Burma Army
is constructing two new roads in Toungoo District to link their camps and
now have over 27 battalions in the district.  Villagers face forced labour
on a daily basis, being made to act as road-clearers, minesweepers and
porters.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide’s Advocacy Director, Tina Lambert, said:
“The world was shocked by the killings of demonstrators in the cities of
Burma in September 2007.  However, the ongoing horrific attacks against
the ethnic groups of Burma are less well known despite the fact that they
have ensued for almost 60 years. We condemn the onslaught of the Burma
Army against its innocent civilians and urge the international community
to assist ethnic groups like the Karen people through direct aid and
diplomatic action.”

For more information, please contact Penny Hollings, Campaigns and Media
Manager at Christian Solidarity Worldwide on 020 8329 0045, email
pennyhollings at csw.org.uk or visit www.csw.org.uk.

CSW is a human rights organisation which specialises in religious freedom,
works on behalf of those persecuted for their Christian beliefs and
promotes religious liberty for all.