BurmaNet News, February 23-25, 2008

[Editor]

February 23 – 25, 2008 Issue # 3409

INSIDE BURMA
Mizzima News: Fire broke out at Mandalay's Yadanpon Market
Mizzima News: Nearly 3,000 left homeless after Rangoon blaze
Irrawaddy: Top ILO official in Burma
Irrawaddy: Burma tops list for landmines
SHAN: Villagers persuaded to become soldiers
DVB: Tharawaddy electricity board extorts money from locals
DVB: Residents tricked into attending referendum meeting
DVB: Myanmar Times to go daily

BUSINESS / TRADE
Reuters: Treasury slaps more sanctions on Myanmar firms
Xinhua: Myanmar plans opening of second border trade zone by next month
Irrawaddy: Burma to hold furniture exhibition

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: Bush urges international pressure on Myanmar
World Politics Review: Rights & wrongs: Burma, Uganda, climate 'rights'
and more
First Post UK: From US to Burma, Obama goes global

OPINION / OTHER
Asia Times: Intrigue and illness in Myanmar's junta
IPS: UN Envoy's next visit may turn farcical
Wall Street Journal: Glorious golden Pagoda
Irrawaddy: Will Mahn Sha’s killers ever be brought to justice?

PRESS RELEASES/STATEMENTS
The 88 Generation Students: Statement 4/2008 (88)
United Nations: UN Envoy discusses Myanmar with Singaporean leaders
White House News: Statement by the US President on Burma
US Treasury Department: Treasury sanctions additional financial operatives
of the Burmese regime
CSW: Burma: New report details deprivation and abuse facing Burmese
refugees in Malaysia

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

February 25, Mizzima News
Fire broke out at Mandalay's Yadanpon Market

A fire broke out this morning at Yadanpon Market in Burma's second largest
city of Mandalay.

The fire started at 8:00 a.m. (local time) and continues to burn at the
time of this filing, 9:00 a.m. (local time).

It is the second such incident within a week in Mandalay.

Eyewitnesses say the fire is continuing and is reportedly heading towards
the 'MK Fashion' store in the market.

"If the fire continues for another hour, everything will be consumed," a
witness told Mizzima.

Yadanapon Teleport is also reportedly beginning to catch the fire.

The fire broke out as vendors at the market began opening their shops this
morning. While the cause of the fire is still unclear, initial reports
claim that the cause of the fire was an electrical wire shock.

With heavy smoke choking the air, firefighters are reportedly finding it
difficult to enter the market to extinguish the fire.

"Shop owners and others stood desperately and watched the fire consume the
market," an eyewitness recounted.

On February 24, a fire erupted at Mandalay's 84th Street, 25th – 26th
Street Junction. Reports suggest that there were casualties during the
fire.

The Yadanpon Market is located at the 32nd and 78th Street junction, and
has several stores popular nation-wide, including service centers such as
the Myanmar Information and Communication Technology Park (MICT Park),
Skywalk sales room and Orange supermarket.

The Market complex, the second largest in Mandalay after Zegyoe Market,
was built in 2003. Besides hosting a range of stores, it also has
entertainment venues such as snooker rooms and restaurants.

With no more adjacent buildings to which the fire could spread, the
inferno gradually burnt itself out at approximately 11 a.m. (local time).

A local resident said that blasts from gas cylinders in the Market's
restaurant complex could be distinctly heard throughout the area.

The fire at Yadanapon Market in Mandalay was extinguished after fired
brigades from Kyawkse, Pyin Oo Lwin and Sagaing came to aid in the
efforts.

Several people reportedly injured by the fire have been taken to the
Intensive Care Unit of Mandalay's hospital. However the extent of injuries
and the number of casualties cannot yet be confirmed.

____________________________________

February 25, Mizzima News
Nearly 3,000 left homeless after Rangoon blaze – Maung Dee

Nearly 3,000 people in Rangoon's suburban Hlaing Tharyar Township are
homeless after a fire broke out this morning at Ye Oat Kaan village near
Industrial Zone (4).

An official of the Township said the fire erupted at about 7 a.m. (local
time) in a two-storey building and spread to other houses, consuming a
total of 201 houses and leaving 2,969 people homeless.

"The fire started at about 7 a.m. in the residence of U Myint Than on Aung
Thukha Street. It started as people on the upper stairwell were cooking,"
according to the official.

The official added that the 1,260 women and 1,709 men from the 768 houses
that were consumed by the fire were temporarily being put up and provided
aid at Basic Primary School No. (16), located on Kya Sitta Street.

Reportedly, a case has been filed by Hlaing Tharyar police officer Aung
San Tun against U Myint Than (a.k.a. U Myint San), age 49, owner of the
house where the fire originated.

According to the official the fire caused estimated damage of over 33
million kyat (approximately $25,000).

____________________________________

February 25, Irrawaddy
Top ILO official in Burma – Wai Moe

A top official from the International Labor Organization (ILO) is today in
Burma to meet with Burmese officials regarding extending an agreement
relating to forced labor, according to the ILO office in Rangoon.

An official who spoke on anonymity at the ILO Rangoon office told The
Irrawaddy on Monday that Kari Tapiola, an executive director with the ILO,
is in Rangoon along with ILO liaison officer for Burma, Steven Marshall,
and met with staff at the Rangoon office on Monday.

Tapiola is scheduled to visit Burma’s new capital, Naypyidaw, and to meet
with junta officials on Tuesday. During a four-day visit he is expected to
talk about the extension of an agreement regarding a complaints mechanism
between the ILO and the Burmese military government, which will expire on
February 26.

Under the terms of the agreement, which was concluded in February 2007,
the ILO liaison officer can direct complaints by the victims of forced
labor without any retaliatory action against them.

“The current activities of the ILO in Myanmar [Burma] are governed by an
understanding between the government of the Union of Myanmar and the
International Labour Office concerning the appointment of an ILO Liaison
Officer in Myanmar,” said the ILO official website.

“According to this understanding, the liaison officer’s role covers all
activities relevant to ensuring the prompt and effective elimination of
forced labor in the country.”

The “understanding” reached by the ILO and the regime allows alleged
victims of forced labor to lodge complaints with the liaison officer
without fear of retaliation. The regime also pledges to investigate
complaints.

Aung Kyaw Soe, a member of a human rights group in Burma, the Human Rights
Defenders and Promoters (HRDP), said that opening a liaison office in
Burma is important to deter forced labor in the country.

“People in rural areas were not so afraid after they heard there was an
office where they could complain about forced labor,” he said.

However, he added that villagers in Irrawaddy Division filed a complaint
about forced labor in Hinthada Township in April 2007 to the ILO office.
As result, an activist, Myint Naing, was beaten by thugs backed by local
authorities for his role in encouraging villagers to report the issue to
the ILO. Myint Naing was later arrested and sentenced to eight years
imprisonment.

In the three months since the establishment of the complaint mechanism
from February to May 2007, the ILO office in Rangoon received a total of
20 complaints—six from Rangoon division, five from Irrawaddy Division,
four from Magwe Division, two from Pegu and one each from Chin, Kachin and
Arakan states.

____________________________________

February 25, Irrawaddy
Burma tops list for landmines – Wai Moe

The Burmese regime is one of two governments in the world that is using
anti-personnel landmines on an ongoing basis, according to the “Landmine
Monitor Report 2007: Toward a Mine-Free World,” published recently in
Burmese language by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL).

“In this reporting period, since May 2006, two governments are confirmed
to have used antipersonnel mines: Myanmar/Burma and Russia,” said the
ICBL.

“Despite the growing list of states committed to banning antipersonnel
mines, there were discouraging actions among some of the 40 states not
party to the treaty. Government forces in Myanmar/Burma and Russia
continued to use antipersonnel mines,” stated the report.

The ICBL said there were 232 landmine casualties in Burma in 2006 and 231
in 2005. Among them, at least four non-military persons, including two
children, were killed. There were 10,605 landmine survivors in 2006,
increasing from 8,864 in the 2005 data.

The organization said Burmese military forces continue to use
antipersonnel mines extensively, as they have every year since “Landmine
Monitor” began reporting in 1999. Mine use was recorded in Karen, Karenni
and Shan states, as well as Tenasserim Division, in 2006 and 2007.

Burma is also one of 13 landmine-producing countries in the world, along
with China, Cuba, India, Iran, North Korea, South Korea, Nepal, Pakistan,
Russia, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam.

Blast mines based on the US M-14 design are being manufactured by Myanmar
Defense Products Industries at Ngyaung Chay Dauk, in western Bago
Division, according to the report.

The Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the armed wing of the Karenni
National Progressive Party (KNPP), the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army
(DKBA), the Shan State Army-South, the United Wa State Army and several
other armed groups continued to use antipersonnel mines in 2006 and early
2007, said the report.

There were also warning signs of mine deployment north of the Yoma
Mountains and Yae Tar Shae Township, Mandalay Division, the first time
mines have been reported in the area.

“Prolonged military operations in eastern states bordering Thailand
increased mine contamination; Burmese migrants gave first reports of mine
contamination in Mandalay division,” said the report.

The ICBL also stated that the closing of five International Committee of
the Red Cross (ICRC) field offices failed to serve conflict casualties in
border areas.

Landmines in Burma are deployed mainly near borders with Thailand,
Bangladesh and India, and in eastern parts of the country marked by
decades-old struggles by ethnic minorities for autonomy. Ten of Burma’s 14
states and divisions suffer from some degree of mine contamination,
primarily antipersonnel mines, the report stated.

The Burmese military junta has not acceded to the international Mine Ban
Treaty, one of 17 countries that abstained from voting on UN General
Assembly Resolution 61/84 on December 6, 2006, said the report.

At the time, the Burmese junta stated: “We oppose the indiscriminate use
of antipersonnel mines which causes death and injury to innocent people
all over the world. At the same time, Myanmar [Burma] believes that all
states have the right to self-defense.”

____________________________________

February 25, Shan Herald Agency for News
Villagers persuaded to become soldiers – Lieng Lern

Burma junta is persuading people to recruit as soldiers or become members
of Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) by promising high
positions to the public in Nam Kham Township at the Sino-Burma border,
reported a local source.

On 22 February 2008 at 10:00 am, Nam Kham Second Police Chief Aung Naing
with people from over 20 other departments held a meeting at the youth
center in Kay Hkun village which is located at North of Nam Mao (Shweli)
River. There were over 100 participants in the meeting.

A participant in the meeting said the police chief told them that "Whoever
wants to become soldiers please give your name to us. But you must have
secondary or high school level of education. If you are a university
graduate, it is even better. We will appoint you at high positions".

"If we don't want to become soldiers we can become members of USDA.  If we
join them, we can cross the watergate from our village to Nam Kham even
after the closing time by showing our USDA cards.  The gate opens at 6 am
and closes at 6 pm", he added.

Last month, the authorities also collected names of people who are over 18
in Nam Kham Township to send to the new capital for constitution
referendum on May 21, 2008. People who do not have current ID cards must
renew. But immigration officers said it might be difficult to finish
renewing all ID cards citing insufficient time given.

On the same day, 3 meetings were held in other villages: Hat Hin with over
100 participants Nawng Hking with over 80 attendees and Kay Khun.

____________________________________

February 25, Democratic Voice of Burma
Tharawaddy electricity board extorts money from locals – Naw Say Phaw

The state-run Electric Power Corporation has been demanding extra money
from residents of Tharawaddy township, Bago division, and withholding
electricity from those who do not pay, locals said.

The official electricity quota for households in the township is six hours
per day, but some residents have complained they are only getting two
hours of electricity a day, while others get only four hours a week.

A Tharawaddy township resident said that those who paid the extra money
were being given greater access to electricity.

“The EPC is asking locals to pay extra charges, and they provide 24-hour
electricity to households who pay them the money,” the resident said.

Households in some parts of the town have only been getting power for two
hours a day or less, and have not been given the option of paying for a
better supply.

Local residents reported the activities of the local EPC officials to the
authorities, but the senior officials just laughed at them, the resident
said.

When DVB called the EPC for comment, they said they were providing six
hours’ electricity per day to each area of the township at staggered
times.

But the Tharawaddy resident said that when he paid the money they asked
for on one occasion he had had power for 24 hours.

“They did provide 24-hour electricity if you paid the money, but they
asked for about 3000 to 4000 kyat every day,” he said.

Some locals who can afford it have chosen to pay the money, particularly
those whose businesses could not run without electricity.

“It’s still a lot cheaper than running our own generators and spending
money on fuel to run them, because 5,000 kyat of fuel will not even last
one hour,” the resident said.

____________________________________

February 25, Democratic Voice of Burma
Residents tricked into attending referendum meeting – Naw Say Phaw

Residents of Rangoon’s South Dagon township ward 26 were tricked into
attending a campaign meeting on the upcoming national referendum, having
been told it was a meeting about identity cards.

Ward authorities made an announcement over loudspeakers on 21 February
that there would be a meeting where residents could get new identity cards
and household lists the following afternoon.

One ward resident said he attended the meeting on 22 February but instead
of information about identity cards they were given a talk about the
upcoming national referendum.

“In the meeting, they told people to make a wise choice in the national
referendum which will be held in accordance with the government’s
seven-step road map,” the resident said.

“They told us not to listen to the lies being broadcast by foreign
countries.”

The resident said he felt he could not trust the officials when they had
lied about the purpose of the meeting.

“Personally, as a Burmese citizen, I have no confidence in what they are
doing. Look at today’s meeting for example – they started by telling us
lies,” he said.

“When they called the meeting, they said they would arrange our ID cards
and household lists within one day, but when I got to the meeting, I
realised it was just for them to say whatever they wanted.”

Many people left the meeting when it became clear that they would not get
their identity cards, the resident said.

“A lot of the people who attended the meeting got frustrated with the
government officials, so they left the meeting before it finished,” he
said.

“They only wanted to get their ID cards and household lists – that’s the
true people’s desire.”

At the end of the meeting, the ward authorities asked those present if
there was anything they need, to which people responded that they wanted
genuine democracy.

The officials replied that they were on track to bring about this goal,
and immediately left the meeting.

There have been similar campaigns in other townships in Rangoon, run by a
district fire brigade and a Red Cross organisation, which have been
collecting people’s opinions to find out if there is opposition to the
planned referendum.

____________________________________

February 25, Democratic Voice of Burma
Myanmar Times to go daily – Nay Htoo

The publisher of the weekly Myanmar Times newspaper, Myanmar Consolidated
Media Company, is to publish a daily newspaper from May this year,
according to one of the company’s employees.

The Myanmar Times employee said a printing workshop for the daily
newspaper is now being set up in Rangoon's New South Dagon township with
technicians from Australia, and a training process for reporters has been
developed.

A journalist in Rangoon said the 20-page newspaper will be printed in
Burmese and the first edition is expected to come out in May this year,
after the national referendum.

"They have been recruiting reporters for the daily newspaper for the past
two months. Anyone who is interested in journalism can apply for the
training programmes," said the journalist on condition of anonymity.

The Myanmar Times daily newspaper, if approved by the government, will be
the first private newspaper to be published daily in Burma since general
Ne Win's military government took over national power in 1962.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

February 25, Reuters
Treasury slaps more sanctions on Myanmar firms – David Lawder

The Bush administration, seeking to ratchet up pressure on Myanmar over
human rights abuses, on Monday announced more economic sanctions against
businesses and individuals linked to the country's military leaders.

The U.S. Treasury Department said it was banning Americans from doing
business with Asia World Co Ltd, a Myanmar company controlled by Steven
Law and his father, Lo Hsing Han, which the Treasury described as
"financial operatives" of the Myanmar regime.

The action, taken under an executive order enacted last year after
Myanmar's military crackdowns against protesters, also seeks to freeze any
assets the firms and individuals may have under U.S. jurisdiction.

Myanmar's junta in September crushed the biggest pro-democracy protests in
nearly 20 years, killing at least 15 people.

The Treasury said Law and his father, Lo, have a history of illicit
activities that have supported the Myanmar junta. It described Lo as the
"Godfather of Heroin" who has been one of the world's top traffickers of
the drug since the early 1970s. In 1992, Lo founded Asia World Co Ltd. a
company that has received numerous lucrative government concessions,
including construction of ports, highways and government facilities, the
Treasury said.

Law now serves as managing director of the company, and the sanctions were
extended to his wife, Cecelia Ng. The Treasury also blacklisted 10
Singapore-based companies owned by Ng, including property firm Golden
Aaron Pte Ltd.

The latest round of sanction is the fourth that the Bush administration
has imposed against the Myanmar government since the democracy protests
last year.

"Unless the ruling junta in Burma halts the violent oppression of its
people, we will continue to target those like Steven Law who sustain it
and who profit corruptly because of that support," Stuart Levey, the
Treasury's undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said
in a statement.

____________________________________

February 25, Xinhua
Myanmar plans opening of second border trade zone by next month

Myanmar is working for the emergence of its second border trade zone of
Myawaddy and the formal opening of the trade zone opposite to neighboring
Thailand is expected by the end of next month, one of the leading local
weekly journals reported Monday.

The 188-hectare Myawaddy trade zone in southeastern Kayin state bordering
Thailand's Maesot, which is to highlight export of Myanmar marine
products, started building in 2006 in a bid to push transformation of
border trade into normal trade, said the Weekly Eleven News.

The Myawaddy trade zone is to stand the second largest zone of its kind in
Myanmar after the Muse 105th Mile Border Trade Zone with China's Ruili in
southwestern Yunnan province which opened in April 2006.

Besides Myawaddy, Myanmar also trades with Thailand at Tachilek, Kawthoung
and Meik (Free on Board) under the border trade system.

Meanwhile, Myanmar is deliberating to open one more border trade zone in
Phaya Thonzu with Thailand to boost such trade activities between the two
countries, another leading local weekly Yangon Times reported earlier.

Under a latest proposal of Thailand to Myanmar's largest business
organization of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce
and Industry (UMFCCI), the prospective Phaya Thonzu border trade zone in
Mon state's Thanphyuzayat township connecting Thailand's Kanchanaburi
province, will be established as another one of its kind after Myawaddy's,
the weekly quoted the UMFCCI as saying.

Phaya Thonzu stands at a point where railroads of the planned ASEAN
Highway meet and the introduction of a border trade zone there will also
boost regional trade and bring prosperity and development to the area,
according to merchants trading in border areas.

According to official statistics, Thailand stood as Myanmar's top trading
partner as well as top exporting country during the fiscal year 2006-07
with a bilateral trade volume of 2.659 billion U.S. dollars of which
Myanmar's export to Thailand amounted to 2.409 billion dollars. The
bilateral trade accounted for over 30 percent of Myanmar's total foreign
trade which reached nearly 8 billion dollars in the year.

The figures also show that the border trade volume between the two
countries in 2006-07 amounted to 248 million dollars.

Latest statistical report reveal that in the first half (April-September)
of 2007-08, Myanmar-Thailand bilateral trade reached 1.943 billion
dollars, of which Myanmar's export to Thailand came to1.694 billion
dollars.

In May 2007, a Myanmar border trade zone, Maungtaw, in western Rakhine
state linking Bangladesh was formally opened to mainly export marine
products to the neighbor.

Besides, another trade zone of the same kind is being established in Tamu,
northwestern Sagaing division bordering India.

Myanmar has a total of 13 main border trade points with four neighboring
countries -- China, Thailand, India and Bangladesh.

____________________________________

February 25, Irrawaddy
Burma to hold furniture exhibition – Violet Cho

The wealth of Burma’s forests is set to go on display next month, when the
country’s ruling military regime will hold its third biannual exhibition
of teak furniture and other timber products to attract international
buyers and shore up its foreign reserves.

One of the organizers of the show, a manager at the state-run Myanmar
Timber Enterprise, confirmed that the Myanmar Furniture Show 2008 will
take place March 3-7 at the Military Historical Museum and Archives in
Rangoon.

The exhibition will include displays of furniture and decorative products
made of teak and other forest materials, such as bamboo and rattan, the
show organizer added.

Visitors from other Southeast Asian countries are expected to make up the
largest number of buyers at the event, but the organizer declined to
provide a list of participants or details about projected earnings from
the show.

Burma has some of Southeast Asia’s largest remaining teak forests, and
despite the growing pace of deforestation under the current regime, is
still rich in forest resources. Timber is Burma’s third most valuable
export, after mineral and agricultural products.

According to official statistics, the junta has sold 200,000 cubic meters
of teak and more than 500,000 cubic meters of other hardwoods over the
past year. In the fiscal year 2006-7, the figures were more than 40,000
cubic meters of teak and about 900,000 cubic meters of other hardwoods.

Timber exports have earned the regime more than US $800 million since the
beginning of 2006.

Burma exports most of its timber products to neighboring Thailand, India,
and China, as well as to other countries in Asia, including Malaysia,
Singapore and Japan. Denmark and other member states of the European
Union, which purchase Burmese timber products from other Asian countries,
are also major importers, according to a report published by the Danish
Burma Support Group in 2004.

In view of the Burmese regime’s ongoing human rights abuses and its brutal
suppression of peaceful protests last September, the EU has recently
adopted new measures to restrict trade with Burma, including a ban on the
import of unprocessed logs, timber and timber products. The EU also
prohibits the import of specified metals, minerals and precious stones
that are an important source of revenue for Burma’s military rulers.

EU sanctions target state-run companies and private corporations with
close ties to the ruling junta. Many of these, including Myanmar Trading
Enterprise, Myanmar Gems Enterprise, Htoo Trading Co, Ltd and Asia World,
are heavily invested in extractive industries such as gem mining and
forestry.

The Myanmar Furniture Show 2008 is jointly sponsored by Myanmar Timber
Enterprise and private-sector investors. Similar shows have been held
twice before, in 2004 and 2006.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

February 25, Agence-France Press
Bush urges international pressure on Myanmar

US President George W. Bush on Monday slammed the situation in Myanmar as
"deplorable," and urged international pressure for democratic change and
the release of political prisoners.

"Concerted international pressure is needed to achieve a genuine
transition to democracy in Burma," Bush said in a statement.

"We encourage Burma's neighbors and other stakeholders in Southeast Asia
to impress upon the regime the need to release all political prisoners,"
he said after the United States announced a new round of sanctions against
supporters of the military junta.

"The situation in Burma remains deplorable," Bush said.

He accused the military regime of rejecting calls for dialogue with
opposition groups, "arrests and secret trials of peaceful political
activists" and "severe human rights abuses by the Burmese Army, including
burning down homes and killing civilians."

The military regime, which has ruled Myanmar since 1962, has not
recognized the result of 1990 elections in which Aung San Suu Kyi led the
National League for Democracy to a landslide victory.

____________________________________

February 25, World Politics Review
Rights & wrongs: Burma, Uganda, climate 'rights' and more – Juliette Terzieff

NOBEL LAUREATES CALL FOR ACTION ON BURMA -- Eight other Nobel laureates
joined with South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu earlier this month to
call for an international arms embargo, supported by the United Nations
Security Council, against Burma's military junta.

Despite international anger and pressure to reform in the wake of the
regime's October 2007 violent crackdown on demonstrations led by Burma's
monks, the ruling junta has largely continued with business as usual -
denying basic human rights to Burmese citizens. Several countries,
including China, Russia and India, continue to sell military equipment and
arms to the regime.

"Despite decades of repression and in a world wracked by violence, their
peaceful demonstrations represent a model for the proper and rightful
expression of political dissent of which they are entitled," reads the
letter, signed by Elie Weisel, Shirin Ebadi, the Dalai Lama and Betty
Williams, among others.

"Many of the arms used by Burma's military regime to retain its hold on
power have been sold to the regime by foreign governments. This is not
acceptable -- no nation should sell arms to a regime that uses weapons
exclusively against its own people."

Junta officials did announce last week the completion of a draft
constitution and elections, something the country's military leaders have
been promising for some time, but Burma-watchers are skeptical that the
constitution, which contains a number of loopholes that would allow the
regime to maintain limits on rights. The Association of Southeast Asian
Nations, for example, criticized the junta's Feb. 19 announcement that
imprisoned pro-democracy leader Aung Sang Suu Kyi would not be allowed to
participate in upcoming 2010 elections because she was married to a
foreigner.

RAÚL'S RISE PROMISES NO GREAT PROGRESS -- The expected ascension of Fidel
Castro's brother Raúl in the wake of the Cuban leader's resignation last
week left human rights advocates only marginally optimistic that Cuba's
rights record will improve in the near future.

Raul's political career hinges on his brother, who likely will continue to
play a large role in determining policy, as he did in more than four
decades of rule.

"It's not what we in Cuba want -- we want democracy and freedom -- but
this could be the time for some economic changes and maybe, long term,
some political changes," Cuban economist Oscar Espinosa Chepe told the
Miami Herald.

The fate of hundreds of political prisoners in Cuban jails will be one
indicator of the direction of a post-Fidel Cuba. Human rights advocates
also will be closely watching the new regime's handling of press freedom,
economic openness and political rights.

UGANDA AGREES ON SPECIAL CRIMES COURT -- Ugandan officials and
representatives of Lord's Resistance Army rebels reached an agreement Feb.
18 on a systematic approach to handling war crimes committed during the
country's bloody two-decade civil war.

War crimes will be tried under a special division of the Ugandan high
court, with lesser crimes handled at a lower level and in accordance with
mato oput, a traditional tribal method of conflict resolution. The deal
also includes provisions for forming a truth commission and providing
reparations for victims of the conflict.

Year-long talks to end the conflict have been stymied in part by the LRA's
refusal to sign any agreement until the International Criminal Court drops
its indictments against members. The LRA has forcibly conscripted
thousands of children to fight or for use as sex slaves, and is infamous
for carrying out mutilations. In 2005, the ICC issued indictments against
LRA leader Joseph Kony and four other senior LRA leaders on charges
including rape and murder.

Human rights groups largely welcomed the announcement of the new
agreement, but warned much work needs to be done to ensure the
acceptability of any Uganda trials, and balked at the idea of the ICC
dropping charges until that threshold is met.

"There must be fair, credible prosecutions of the most serious crimes
committed by both sides and sufficient penalties for those convicted. The
agreement does not fully speak to this, and we look to the parties and
international partners to ensure that they are properly addressed," Human
Rights Watch International Justice Program Director Richard Dickers said
in a statement.

UN URGES LINKING CLIMATE CHANGE, 'RIGHTS' -- The effects of global warming
will threaten the human rights of millions across the planet, a United
Nations official said Feb.19, in a statement that appeared to define human
rights very broadly, including among them such "rights" as the protection
of access to housing, potable water and food against droughts and severe
weather.

Although the traditional conception of human rights protections involves
ensuring that governments do not infringe on basic rights, a movement to
broaden the conception of human rights in the context of global warming
would appear to define any failure of government to protect its citizens
from weather as a rights violation.

"Global warming and extreme weather conditions may have calamitous
consequences for the human rights of millions of people. . . . Ultimately
climate change may affect the very right to life of various individuals,"
Kyung-wha Kang, the U.N. deputy high commissioner for human rights,
reportedly told delegates to a conference on climate change and migration.

Populations displaced by global warming will be at increased risk of
malnutrition, exposure, disease and unemployment. Climate change will also
contribute to war and conflict across the globe in the coming decades,
particularly in Asia and Africa, according to a December 2007 report from
the U.N. Environment Programme.

While the idea of linking rights protection to climate change has been
discussed in some quarters, the U.N. has yet to attempt to enshrine this
idea in international law. The idea of U.N. action to protect a "right" to
water access in particular has picked up supporters.

Juliette Terzieff is a freelance journalist specializing in human rights.
She pens Rights & Wrongs every week for World Politics Review.

Photo: U.N. Deputy Commissioner of Human Rights Kyung-wha Kang.

____________________________________

February 25, First Post UK

>From US to Burma, Obama goes global


An Irish-born, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and Harvard professor who
has been known to refer to herself as "the genocide chick" after her
reporting from Rwanda and Sudan, has offered a glimpse of the
near-evangelical zeal within the campaign team that has pushed Barack
Obama ahead of Hillary Clinton in the race for the Democratic nomination.

Samantha Power came to Obama's attention with the book that won her the
Pulitzer for non-fiction in 2003, A Problem from Hell: America and the Age
of Genocide. She is now a senior foreign policy advisor to Obama. "I have
a friend who just came back from Burma last week," she told the Sunday
Times, "and said all that anybody is talking about on the streets of
Rangoon is Barack Obama."

'Obamamania', she believes, is the result of real dedication within a
campaign team who believed in their man right from the off. "The only way
we were going to win was to have organisers who were willing to freeze
their asses off in rural Iowa when it seemed like there was going to be no
political payoff. The corollary is that those who are helping Obama do so
with quasi-evangelical fervour. I think Obama supporters, by and large, do
not see this as mere politics. They see this as the future of the world."

Power, 37, has recently completed a biography of another man who clearly
inspired those around him - Sergio Vieira de Mello, the dashing Brazilian
United Nations diplomat who was killed in the al-Qaeda suicide attack on
the UN mission in Baghdad in 2003.

Her new book, Chasing the Flame, which is published in Britain on March 6,
chronicles de Mello's life as a fiercely individualistic diplomat with a
reputation as a ladies' man: while his wife and family lived in Geneva, he
was often accompanied by girlfriends on trips to trouble-spots. She also
details his final hours trapped alive in the rubble of the Baghdad UN
mission.

Power believes Obama and de Mello have something in common: "Both guys
have thought more about broken people and broken places than just about
anybody in public life. Most presidential candidates haven't lived in
broken places. They may have interned in a broken place for the summer.
This is in his [Obama's] blood."

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

February 25, Asia Times
Intrigue and illness in Myanmar's junta – Larry Jagan

This month's surprise announcement in Myanmar of a planned national
referendum on a new constitution in May and multi-party democratic
elections by 2010 are all part of Senior General Than Shwe's game plan to
hold onto power and ensure his family's interests are secured. The
question now is whether or not the junta leader's health will hold out
that long.

Than Shwe sent a clear message to his subordinates, including for junta
number two General Maung Aye, that he intends to maintain his hold on
power as Myanmar makes the move from military to civilian government, and
also to the United Nations and international community that his plans -
rather than outside mediation efforts - will decide the country's
political future.

The announcement notably came after months of inertia inside the military
hierarchy, as the 75-year-old Than Shwe was apparently hobbled by cardiac
surgery and transfixed with efforts to keep in check his deputy and rival,
Maung Aye. The junta's second-ranking official woke to hear the
announcement on state radio and was not informed beforehand of the
timetable for implementing the supposed democratic reforms, according to
government sources in the capital Naypyidaw.

The planned referendum and elections indicate Than Shwe's new
determination to press forward with the country's so-called "roadmap to
democracy", which will ensure a continued role for the military in
governance. "Than Shwe obviously now feels he is secure enough in his
position ... to push on with some measure of reform," said the Myanmar
academic Win Min. "His failing health may also have prompted him to move
at this time, as he may fear that time is running out for him."

The move also comes at a time when internal pressures are mounting,
including growing frustration within the army over the lack of promotions
and pay rises, and a growing clamor from the country's business community
for economic stability and liberalizing reforms. Significantly, the
junta's top 12 generals are scheduled to meet to discuss political and
economic reforms in the coming weeks.

If so, it will represent the first "quarterly" meeting of the State Peace
and Development Council (SPDC) in over eight months and the first since
the military's brutal crackdown on Buddhist monk-led demonstrations last
September.

They are also expected to discuss the reorganization of the military in
the light of recent major intelligence failures and a growing number of
desertions, especially in the country's ethnic eastern regions, according
to military sources close to Than Shwe.

Some analysts contend there is growing dissension among the ranks, as the
ailing Than Shwe becomes more reclusive and his top chief subordinates
Maung Aye, who is seen as a potential rival to the top general, and
General Thura Shwe Mann, a known loyalist, jockey for position.

A major turning point in the competition occurred nearly six months ago,
when Maung Aye was replaced as the head of the junta's powerful Trade
Council, right before the beginning of the August unrest. Maung Aye was
also reportedly replaced as military chief during last year's protests,
where Thura Shwe Mann took charge of security arrangements, including
suppression of the demonstrations, and commenced chairing crucial National
Security Council meetings on Than Shwe's orders.

Since the crackdown, however, the wheels of government have reportedly
ground to a halt. "Ministers have been told directly by Than Shwe that he
does not need to be consulted on any issue, other than those related to
political or foreign policy issues," said a military source, who spoke on
condition of anonymity. But because officials fear making any moves that
could be perceived as a challenge to Than Shwe's power, decision-making is
in gridlock, according to the source.

"There's total inertia in [the capital] Naypyidaw. No one dares make a
decision, even in regard to the smallest matters without approval from the
top, which is rarely forthcoming," a senior government official recently
confided to a Western diplomat who spoke with Asia Times Online.

That is largely because until now Than Shwe has been preoccupied with
personal concerns, including how to maintain power despite his declining
health and how to ensure the dominant position of his family once he
eventually passes.

"Than Shwe continues to follow his trusted approach - divide and rule,"
according to Win Min. "He did this successfully before, preserving his
position by pitting Maung Aye against the then-military intelligence chief
Khin Nyunt." Nyunt was ousted in a 2004 internal purge.

Divide and misrule

This time Than Shwe's "divide-and-rule" policy is becoming ever more
intricate and difficult to hold together. "Than Shwe has developed a
chessboard of counterbalancing influences, both inside the cabinet and the
military hierarchy, to maintain an equilibrium that keeps Thura Shwe Mann
in check and Maung Aye sidelined," a senior military source told Asia
Times Online.

The players in the middle are represented by the Boards of Special
Operations, or BSOs, which oversee the influential regional commanders,
and factions within the cabinet led by a handful of older pro-Than Shwe
ministers, including Planning Minister Soe Tha and Information Minister
Kyaw Hsan. Together the groups are meant to act as checks and balances on
Thura Shwe Mann.

This, however, is only a temporary measure, as most of the BSOs and older
government ministers are expected to step down after Than Shwe carries out
his planned shakeup of the military and government administration. This is
expected to happen after the next SPDC quarterly meeting, but could be
further delayed until after the Burmese Buddhist New Year, or Thingyan, in
mid-April.

A series of damaging intelligence failures, including unsolved bombings in
the new capital and in Yangon, and the failure to prevent last year's mass
demonstrations, has prompted Than Shwe to undertake a major restructuring
of the armed forces. Most significantly, he recently reappointed Major
General Kyaw Win, the former deputy intelligence chief under ousted
intelligence chief Khin Nyunt, on a 500,000 kyat (roughly US$80,000)
monthly budget to run an intelligence training school.

"The junta's main concerns now are to improve military intelligence
gathering and assessment," said a former European military attache in
Yangon, who remains in close contact with sources in Myanmar and who spoke
to Asia Times Online on the condition of anonymity. Other diplomats in
Yangon concur that intelligence operations are being beefed up ahead of
the planned referendum in May.

Nonetheless, despite his carefully planned schemes, Than Shwe's position
seems increasingly perilous. Maung Aye in particular has distanced himself
from the top general and appears to be conducting a sort of campaign of
civil disobedience. For instance, he recently ordered the mayor of Yangon
to take down billboards across the town which urged people to "oppose
those pessimistic ax-handles who are relying on America" because he
preferred not to distinguish between foreign enemies.

More significantly, it is widely believed among diplomats and military
sources that Maung Aye did not support last year's decision to shoot and
kill Buddhist monks and would have preferred the demonstrations to have
been suppressed through less-violent measures. "Maung Aye constantly
manages to harass both Than Shwe and Thura Shwe Mann by blocking
promotions or disrupting decisions," said a government official who
requested anonymity.

At the same time, Than Shwe's health is believed to be deteriorating after
he underwent a cardiac operation performed by Singaporean doctors in the
new capital city last month, according to sources who have recently
visited the military leader. It's unclear how well the junta leader has
convalesced from the procedure and there are unconfirmed reports that he
may require follow-up cardiac surgery in Singapore in the coming weeks.

"He periodically forgets things. He recently asked where several officers
were, all of whom were sacked last year during the mass retirements of
middle ranking officers," according to a government source in Naypyidaw.
Than Shwe is known to suffer from chronic diabetes and regular bouts of
hypertension and is believed to have suffered a mild stroke in December
2006 for which he flew to Singapore for treatment.

"For almost a decade now Than Shwe has refused to have his annual medical
check-up done by [Myanmar] army doctors for fear that this would leave him
vulnerable and in danger of being ousted, as it did to General Saw Maung
[more than 15 years ago]," a former military doctor told Asia Times Online
on the condition of anonymity.

For the time being, however, Than Shwe is still in control. But his grip
on power appears to be slipping significantly at a time when his
divide-and-rule tactics have sharpened antagonisms between his two likely
successors and the country braces for some form of democratic reforms. A
change in junta leadership is not inconceivable in the year ahead, a still
undecided transition, which depending on who emerges on top, may or may
not follow through on the current leader's constitution referendum and
democratic election plans.

Larry Jagan previously covered Myanmar politics for the British
Broadcasting Corp. He is currently a freelance journalist based in
Bangkok.

____________________________________

February 25, Inter-Press Service
UN Envoy's next visit may turn farcical – Marwaan Macan-Markar

The next visit of a special U.N. envoy to military-ruled Burma is in
danger of turning into a farce.

Ibrahim Gambari's mission, in early March, comes on the heels of the junta
jettisoning its commitments to the world body to hold a dialogue with
Burma's pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, as part of a political
reform process that is open and accommodating.

The junta, which has renamed the country Myanmar, has a new political
reality for the U.N. envoy to grapple with. In addition to making a sudden
announcement in mid-February that it will conduct a referendum in May for
a controversial new constitution, the military leaders have said that Suu
Kyi will be barred from participating in the 2010 parliamentary elections
to follow.

The success or failure of Gambari's visit will be gauged on what he
achieves in the wake of the junta's tough line to pursue its political
agenda, which is to entrench the military's power in the South-east Asian
country at the expense of a genuine, inclusive political solution. How he
handles the ban on Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for over 12 of
the past 18 years, will test the resolve of the world body's commitment
towards the country's beleaguered people.

Gambari's initial response to the junta's disclosure about the May
referendum has won little support among Burmese opposition groups. ''This
is a significant step as it marks the first time that we have an
established time frame for the implementation of (the junta's) political
roadmap,'' Gambari is reported to have said during a recent visit to
China, a key supporter of the Burmese regime.

''We don't believe he can produce any positive results from his upcoming
trip. He has already failed and this visit is just to confirm again that
he fails,'' says Aung Din, executive director of the U.S. Campaign for
Burma, a Washington D.C.-based lobby group. ''The regime has rejected all
of his recommendations and decided to continue its one-sided act.
Ironically, he endorsed the regime's plan to continue its one-sided act as
the significant step forward.''

If the U.N. wants to be taken seriously on Burma, Gambari and
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon ''have to admit that they failed,'' Aung Din
added in an e-mail interview. ''They have to make a sincere judgement on
their mandate and mission, and not to make the world believe that there
are some developments in Burma. Their hollow optimism and inability to
admit to their failures has misled the world.''

A welcome starting point would be an admission of the junta's reluctance
to accept Gambari's views during his recent visits, noted Aung Din. ''They
need to tell the world sincerely that the generals in Burma are not
listening to their suggestions, and that they need to call for the
Security Council to step in with an effective resolution that will force
the regime to listen to (Gambari's) voice.''

The Nigerian diplomat's role as a special U.N. envoy took on added
significance late last year following a harsh crackdown of peaceful
protests in Burma. The street demonstrations in Rangoon and other Burmese
cities, which were led by Buddhist monks, and drew tens of thousands of
supporters, were the largest witnessed in the country in nearly two
decades. The September protests grew out of public discontent after the
junta raised the price of oil by 500 percent in mid-August with no
warning.

According to the U.N., a little over 30 people were killed in the
crackdown, when soldiers and the riot police opened fire on unarmed
demonstrators.
Opposition groups say the death toll, including monks, was far higher, in
the hundreds. In addition, nearly 700 people were arrested and thrown into
the country's notorious jails.

The international outrage that followed the crackdown forced the junta to
open its doors and let Gambari in. During his two visits, he secured a
commitment from the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), as the
junta is formally known, to start a dialogue with Suu Kyi. That
breakthrough was hailed, since the U.N. envoy appeared to have won support
from the generals for an inclusive political reform process, including a
role for the leader of the main opposition party, the National League for
Democracy (NLD), in drafting the constitution.

But reality proved otherwise. In January, during a rare meeting she had
with leaders of the NLD, Suu Kyi revealed that she was ''not satisfied''
with the five rounds of talks she had had with the junta's liaison
officer, Labour Minister Aung Kyi. The talks had little substance, she had
said, since they lacked ''any time frame'' for this mediation effort.

The junta confirmed such a reality in February, announcing plans for a
referendum for a controversial new constitution in May and a general
election in two years with no role for Suu Kyi. They were decisions that
made any future talks between Aung Kyi and Suu Kyi meaningless.

''The junta have no right to bar Suu Kyi from participating in the
elections,'' Zin Linn, a spokesman for the National Coalition Government
for the Union of Burma (NCGUB), the Burmese government in exile, told IPS.
''They have to listen to the people's voices, if Suu Kyi should
participate at the elections or not.''

The political ban on the NLD leader stems from a clause that has been
written into the new constitution, which was drafted over a 14-year
period.
Under this clause, Burmese citizens married to foreigners are prevented
from running for the post of president. Suu Kyi was married to Michael
Aris, a British academic, who died in 1999.

The new constitution set for approval during the May plebiscite also has
other features that questions the SPDC's notion of democracy. Significant
are the clauses that seek to perpetuate the role of the military, which
has held Burma under an oppressive grip since capturing power in a 1962
coup.

''The army chief and not the elected president has been given powers to
mount a response when there is a state of emergency. If he feels there is
a threat and wants to stage a coup, he can do constitutionally,'' says
Aung Naing Oo, a Burmese political analyst, living in exile in Thailand.
''The army chief will also have control of three important ministries,
interior, defence and the border areas.''

If Gambari comes out in support of the new constitution, then it means
that the U.N. is also endorsing such undemocratic features of the charter,
he explained in an interview. ''The Burmese regime will not change its
mind now. I don't think the U.N. will be left with any credibility after
this.''

__________________________________

February 23, Wall Street Journal
Glorious golden Pagoda – Jamie James

Asia inspired awe horizontally. In the perpendicular West, the great
public monuments abased the visitor, compelling an upward gaze. The very
name of the Acropolis announced its height; the interior spaces of Gothic
cathedrals soared to heaven, leaving worshippers far below in the
terrestrial mire. Yet the Taj Mahal and Angkor Wat proclaimed their
majesty as the focus of a wide vista, to be approached with contemplative
languor. A complete transit of the Forbidden City, crossing one vast
courtyard after another, takes hours; Confucian architects must have
believed that fatigue promotes obedience.

The magnificent exception is the Shwedagon, Burma's glorious, golden
pagoda. Rising 320 feet from its base atop steep Singuttara Hill, on the
outskirts of old Rangoon, the Shwedagon looms over the approaching pilgrim
at a height equivalent to that of the Pyramid of Cheops, the tallest
structure in the world until the Eiffel Tower was completed. Shwedagon
means "golden hills," and the place lives up to its name with fabulous
excess: Since the Buddhist shrine was raised a thousand years ago, the
devout of Burma have repeatedly replated the surface of its central,
bell-shaped stupa with gold, which is now estimated to weigh more than
100,000 pounds. The ornamental crown, the hti, is set with thousands of
diamonds, rubies, emeralds, topazes and sapphires; at the apex, a 76-carat
diamond may be seen twinkling for miles at dawn and sunset.

The magnificent Buddhist shrine rises 320 feet from its base atop
Singuttara Hill on the outskirts of old Rangoon. Like the Athenian
Acropolis, the Shwedagon grew haphazardly, by accretion. The harmony of
its arrangement is not the creation of a master designer like Imhotep or
Christopher Wren, but rather a millennium-long collaboration of the entire
Burmese people, the repository of the national soul. The massive central
stupa is surrounded by dozens of smaller stupas, pavilions housing huge
bells, temples devoted to the previous Buddhas, and freestanding
devotional sculptures, all gilded or whitewashed. There are eight
planetary posts, for the eight days of the week (Wednesday is divided into
two), where people come to pray on their birthdays. Gaily colored Buddhist
pennants flap in the breeze, and always there is the tinkling of thousands
of silver and gold bells. At dusk, the summit of Singuttara Hill is bathed
in a feathery golden radiance, as the dying sunlight glows on the polished
slopes of the stupa.

The anchoring element of the pagoda's design is the sky. Early Buddhist
stupas were perfect, vaguely mammary hemispheres, rooted in the earth. But
the Shwedagon is a crisp spire, an irresistible vortex that gathers up the
energy of everything around it and funnels it into the vault of sky. Here,
one doesn't simply gaze up to heaven; one ascends.


>From the beginning, foreign visitors were dazzled. In 1586, Ralph Fitch,

the first Englishman to record his impressions of Burma, took note of the
pagoda's salient qualities: The Shwedagon, he wrote, "is of a wonderful
bignesse, and all gilded from the foot to the toppe . . . it is the
fairest place, as I suppose, that is in all the world." Kipling painted a
more vivid picture: "Then a golden mystery upheaved itself on the horizon
-- a beautiful winking wonder that blazed in the sun."

Archaeologists say that the pagoda was built in the 10th century by the
Mon people, but the Burmese will tell you that the Shwedagon was erected
2,500 years ago to house eight hairs from the head of Gautama Buddha. When
he attained enlightenment, the Buddha appeared in a dream to a Burmese
king named Okkalapa, who sent his sons to India to find him. For the gift
of a honey cake, the Enlightened One plucked the hairs from his head and
gave them to the princes. They returned with the relics in an emerald
casket and presented them to their father. When Okkalapa opened the box,
all the trees in the Himalayas flowered and a shower of jewels fell from
heaven. The pious king set himself at once to the task of building a stupa
to commemorate the new spiritual age.

All religions are syncretic, drawing on the traditions that preceded them,
but Buddhism is most inclusive of all. A Buddhist shrine is an open house,
with no one in charge. One of the most popular shrines at the Shwedagon is
devoted to the nats, Burma's ancient deities midway between demigods and
fairies, sometimes merciful and sometimes malevolent, who were worshipped
for centuries before the advent of Buddhism.

In addition to being the focus of Burma's spiritual life, the Shwedagon
has also exerted a potent pull over the country's earthly affairs. One of
the sparks that lit the independence movement in the early 20th century
was the refusal of British imperialists to remove their shoes before
entering the heathen shrine. The Burmese endured poverty, plague and
foreign rule, but disrespecting the Shwedagon was a step too far. Last
September, the monks' revolt against the country's military government
began at the Shwedagon, where peaceful, prayerful protests were suppressed
with tear gas and batons. Security was restored, but not order: The army's
insult to the national soul awaits its karmic redress.

Another celebrity pilgrim, Somerset Maugham, wasn't dazzled but instead
opened his heart: "The Shwedagon rose superb, glistening with its gold,
like a sudden hope in the dark night of the soul of which the mystics
write." Maugham, a good Catholic, was thinking of Christian mysticism, but
he felt the infinite attractive power of the vortex and its universal
promise of hope.

Mr. James is the author of "The Snake Charmer," a biography of the
biologist Joe Slowinski, to be published by Hyperion in June.

____________________________________

February 23, Irrawaddy
Will Mahn Sha’s killers ever be brought to justice? – Aung Zaw

The high-profile killing of the third-ranking Karen leader Mahn Sha in Mae
Sot indicated that the Thai-Burmese border town, once a stronghold of
Karen and Burmese pro-democracy forces, is no longer a safe place.

The brazen assassination, committed in broad daylight, showed that
infiltrators of the regime and rivals of the Karen National Union (KNU)
are gaining ground in a Thai town once controlled by the KNU and its
sympathizers.

I visited Mahn Sha's rented house a day after the killing. Burmese friends
of the Karen leader believed that the assassins had conducted
reconnaissance surveillance of the area and gathered intelligence before
they walked into his house and shot him dead.

Mahn Sha had received death threats via cell phone calls. Some of his
colleagues said the Karen politician had not taken security measures even
though he knew assassins were roaming the town. The question is, however:
could he have taken measures to protect his life?

Karen leaders living in Mae Sot and border villages, including the late
Gen Saw Bo Mya, usually guard their homes with bodyguards and sentries,
even if they are not armed.

Mahn Sha's neighbors were no strangers to him as he lived close to other
opposition members' houses. They usually lived in a group, fearing
possible attack in a border town where it is difficult to distinguish
friend from foe. Diplomats, journalists and Burmese often visited Mahn
Sha’s house.

Since the fall of the KNU’s Manerplaw headquarters to Burmese troops in
1995, the KNU's influence in Mae Sot and border villages has gradually
waned. Following the fall of Manerplaw, soldiers of the Democratic Karen
Buddhist Army (DKBA), backed by Burmese troops, made daring attacks on
Karen refugee camps on Thai soil.

In 1997 and 1998, Huay Kaloke refugee camp, about 10km from Mae Sot, was
attacked and burned down by Karen rebel forces. I remember visiting the
camp in 1998 a day after the attack and finding a deserted, destroyed
settlement, the refugee residents, including children, having been gunned
down by the rebel army.

In past years, the DKBA, other Karen splinter groups and Burmese informers
have slowly infiltrated Mae Sot, gathering information about the location
and movements of dissident leaders and NGO offices that assist refugees
and exiled groups. Over the past five years, the presence of Karen
splinter groups has been more and more visible in Mae Sot.

The Burmese government has long accused Thailand of harboring Burma's most
wanted rebels and dissidents—who now include several monks who led the
September demonstrations and fled into hiding on Thai soil. Thailand is no
safe haven for Burma's dissidents, but it’s certainly preferable to Insein
Prison in Rangoon.

Like many other Burmese dissidents living discreetly in Thailand, Mahn Sha
knew how uncertain an existence he was leading in view of Thailand's
relationship with its unpredictable neighbor. He and other Burmese
dissidents moved regularly from house to house to evade enemies and
informers.

Nevetheless, there was little reason for Mahn Sha to fear for his life in
Thailand. He was a prominent Karen leader who merited protection.

After the start of the Cold War, Bangkok enforced a "buffer zone policy"
with respect to its neighbors. Ethnic Burmese minorities such as the
Karen, Mon and Shan rebels enjoyed relative freedom in Thailand, and—most
importantly—access to arms, which they then shipped back into Burma to
rebels fighting for autonomy.

But this is no longer the situation. Thailand's "buffer zone" policy in
relation to Burma is no longer in place.

Thailand is now a major trading partner of Burma, dealing mostly in gas,
teak and other natural resources. Karen, Mon and Shan rebels who once
offered lucrative trade deals with Thai merchants are no longer formidable
forces.

I noticed massive construction work on the proposed Asian Highway behind
Mahn Sha's house—and I wondered what Mahn Sha had thought about the
project.

Meanwhile, Thai authorities have closed all border checkpoints near
DKBA-controlled areas following the killing. Only the Friendship Bridge
linking Mae Sot and the Burmese border town of Myawaddy remains open for
trade between the two countries.

Police in Mae Sot have begun an investigation into the murder. According
to a KNU official, local authorities in Mae Sot have arrested a Thai man
suspected of lending his car to Mahn Sha's killers.

Despite a pledge from Thai police that they will find the assassins, KNU
leaders say they don’t expect much success to emerge from the
investigations.

"As neither the victim nor the gunmen were Thai citizens, I don't think
the Thai authorities will take this case seriously," said KNU spokesman
David Taw, who acknowledged that it would be difficult for Thai police to
catch cross-border killers.

Some Burmese colleagues said Thai police and officials were worried that
Burma would accuse Thailand again of harboring dissidents. "This is a big
piece of evidence for the Burmese," said a friend of Mahn Sha with a note
of irony.

The new, democratically elected government in Bangkok has been unusually
silent on the killing, leading many Karen to wonder if the culprits will
ever be brought to justice.

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE/STATEMENTS

February 24, The 88 Generation Students
Statement 4/2008 (88)

Calling Citizens around the World to Pressure the Government of China to
Withdraw Its Unilateral Support for the Burmese Military Junta and to
Boycott the 2008 Beijing Olympics

(1) Today, the 88 Generation Students, a coalition of leading former
student activists who spearheaded the country's 1988 national uprising
that nearly toppled decades of military rule, call for citizens around the
world to pressure the Government of China to withdraw its unilateral
support of the Burmese military junta and to boycott the 2008 Beijing
Olympics in response to China's bankrolling of the military junta that
rules our country of Burma with guns and threats.

(2) China is a major trade partner, major arms supplier and major defender
of the junta in the international arena, especially in the United Nations
Security Council. The military junta in Burma is still in power to this
day, despite strong and continuous resistance by the people of Burma,
because of China's support.
China has provided billions of dollars in weapons, used its veto power at
the UN Security Council to paralyze peaceful efforts at change, and
unilaterally undermined diplomatic efforts to free the world's only
imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi and all political
prisoners.

(3) The 88 Generation Students has requested many times to the Chinese
Government to play a constructive role in national reconciliation in
Burma. We have also asked China to end its unilateral support for Burma's
regime and instead facilitate a meaningful and time-bound dialogue between
the military junta, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her party, the National
League for Democracy, and ethnic representatives to achieve a mutually
acceptable solution, by using its significant influence over the junta or
by working together with other members of the UNSC. However, our
constructive outreach to China has been met with silence and more weapons
shipments. Therefore, now we call for action to respond to the
irresponsible manner of the Chinese Government. While China plans to
celebrate the Olympics on August 8, 2008, which is the 20th anniversary of
the 1988 popular democracy uprising in our country; it is essentially
enslaving the people of Burma

(4) We call for each and every citizen around the world not to watch the
Olympics ceremonies on television and boycott this Genocide
Olympics/Saffron Olympics. We urge people of conscience throughout the
world - including the hundreds of thousands of Burmese in dozens of
countries - to pledge to not watch or support in any way the Beijing
Olympics.

(5) We also ask each and every citizen around the world to boycott any
Olympics merchandise or products from China and its Olympics sponsors
during the time of Beijing Olympics.

____________________________________

February 25, United Nations
UN Envoy discusses Myanmar with Singaporean leaders

The Secretary-General's Special Adviser on Myanmar wrapped up his visit to
Singapore today, meeting with senior officials and expressing his
appreciation for the country's continued support to the efforts of the
United Nations to bring about democratic change in its troubled South-East
Asian neighbour.

Ibrahim Gambari met today with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Foreign
Minister George Yeo of Singapore, UN spokesperson Michele Montas told
reporters in New York.

"They exchanged views on recent developments in Myanmar and on the way
forward in the context of the UN good offices in Myanmar," she said.

Prior to arriving in Singapore, Mr. Gambari visited Beijing and Jakarta as
part of his consultations with countries in the region on efforts to
promote democratization and national reconciliation in Myanmar. He will
travel tomorrow to Tokyo for further consultations.

Last week, the Special Adviser said he hopes to return to Myanmar in the
first week of March. The visit will be his third to the country since the
authorities used force in cracking down on peaceful demonstrators last
summer.

____________________________________

February 25, White House News
Statement by the US President on Burma

The situation in Burma remains deplorable. The regime has rejected calls
from its own people and the international community to begin a genuine
dialogue with the opposition and ethnic minority groups. Arrests and
secret trials of peaceful political activists continue, such as the recent
arrest of journalists Thet Zin and Sein Win Maung. Severe human rights
abuses by the Burmese Army, including burning down homes and killing
civilians, continue in ethnic minority areas in eastern Burma.

The United States continues to seek a peaceful transition to a democratic
government that will promote stability and prosperity in Burma and in the
region. We support continued engagement by the UN Security Council and
United Nation Secretary General Ban's good offices mission, as well as
sustained regional engagement.

As one element of our policy to promote a genuine democratic transition,
the U.S. maintains targeted sanctions that focus on the assets of regime
members and their cronies who grow rich while Burma's people suffer under
their misrule. Therefore, today, the Department of the Treasury has
applied financial sanctions against Steven Law, a regime crony also
suspected of drug trafficking activities, and his financial network,
including his wife, father, and fourteen companies, pursuant to Executive
Order 13448.

Additionally, the Department of the Treasury has applied sanctions to two
resorts owned and operated by known regime crony and arms merchant Tay Za,
himself designated for sanctions in October 2007. Today's actions add to
the 33 individuals and 11 entities previously designated. Furthermore, as
a result of the enhanced visa restrictions that I announced in September
2007, 898 Burmese officials and their family members are now subject to
visa restrictions.

Concerted international pressure is needed to achieve a genuine transition
to democracy in Burma. We encourage Burma's neighbors and other
stakeholders in Southeast Asia to impress upon the regime the need to
release all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi; to end
military offensives and human rights abuses against ethnic minorities; and
to begin a genuine transition to democracy in response to the demonstrated
aspirations of all the peoples of Burma.

____________________________________

February 25, US Treasury Department
Treasury sanctions additional financial operatives of the Burmese regime

The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control
(OFAC) today announced economic sanctions against two key financial
operatives of the Burmese regime – Steven Law (Tun Myint Naing) and his
father, Lo Hsing Han – as well as Steven Law's wife, Cecilia Ng, and
various companies, for providing support to the Government of Burma.

OFAC also announced additional financial sanctions against the business
network of Tay Za, a designated Burmese business tycoon and arms dealer
with close ties to Burma's military junta. This is the latest in a string
of actions taken by the Administration against the Burmese junta and their
inner circle, and the second action taken against Tay Za's business
network this month.

"Unless the ruling junta in Burma halts the violent oppression of its
people, we will continue to target those like Steven Law who sustain it
and who profit corruptly because of that support," said Stuart Levey,
Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.

The companies designated today include the major Burmese conglomerate Asia
World Co. Ltd. and its subsidiaries, Asia World Port Management, Asia
World Industries Ltd., and Asia World Light Ltd. OFAC has also identified
ten companies in Singapore owned by Cecilia Ng, including Golden Aaron
Pte. Ltd., the property interests of which are now blocked.

In addition to their support for the Burmese regime, Steven Law and Lo
Hsing Han have a history of involvement in illicit activities. Lo Hsing
Han, known as the "Godfather of Heroin," has been one of the world's key
heroin traffickers dating back to the early 1970s. Steven Law joined his
father's drug empire in the 1990s and has since become one of the
wealthiest individuals in Burma.

Lo Hsing Han founded Asia World Co. Ltd. in 1992. His son, Steven Law,
operates as the current managing director. Asia World has provided
critical support to the Burmese regime and has received numerous lucrative
government concessions, including the construction of ports, highways and
government facilities.

Today's action also targets two Burmese hotel chains owned by designated
regime henchman Tay Za: Aureum Palace Hotels & Resorts and Myanmar
Treasure Resorts. Both resort chains are part of the Htoo Group of
Companies, an entity designated by OFAC on February 5, 2008.

Steven Law and Lo Hsing Han are the fourth and fifth regime supporters to
be targeted for financial sanctions by the Bush Administration. In October
2007, President George W. Bush sanctioned small-arms dealer and regime
henchman Tay Za and his network of companies in the Annex to E.O. 13448.
OFAC took aim at additional parts of Tay Za's financial network in
February 2008. Also listed in the Annex to Executive Order 13448 were
junta cronies Khin Shwe and Htay Myint.

Today's actions were taken pursuant to Executive Order 13448, which
authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to designate senior regime
officials, human rights violators in Burma, persons engaged in public
corruption in Burma, financial and material supporters of the Government
of Burma, and spouses and dependent children of previously designated
individuals. Today's designation freezes any assets the designees may have
subject to U.S. jurisdiction, and prohibits all financial and commercial
transactions by any U.S. person with the designated companies and
individuals.  It also puts the world on notice about the financial
operations of key junta associates and their companies.

____________________________________

February 25, Christian Solidarity Worldwide
Burma: New report details deprivation and abuse facing Burmese refugees in
Malaysia

Burmese refugees in Malaysia are living in “severe and desperate poverty
and deprivation”, and face exploitation, abuse and “the widespread risk of
arrest, detention, severe mistreatment including caning, and subsequent
deportation by the Malaysian authorities”, according to a new report
released by Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) today.

CSW representatives returned last week from a fact-finding visit to
Malaysia and the Thailand-Burma border with first-hand testimonies of
forced labour, rape, torture, land confiscation and religious persecution.
The delegation met Burmese refugees from several ethnic groups in
Malaysia, and visited Internally Displaced People inside Burma and Karen
refugees in Thailand. CSW interviewed Kachin civil society groups and
Burmese Buddhist monks who had fled the regime’s crackdown on
pro-democracy protests in September last year. The delegation also met
with Padoh Mahn Sha Hla Phan, General Secretary of the Karen National
Union (KNU), three days before he was assassinated by gunmen believed to
be acting under orders from Burma’s military regime.

The report calls on the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to visit Burma
“as a matter of urgency”, and echoes calls made by nine Nobel Peace Prize
Recipients last week for a universal arms embargo on Burma. CSW also calls
for the UN Security Council to refer the Burmese junta to the
International Criminal Court for an investigation into crimes against
humanity, and urges the international community to impose targeted banking
sanctions on members of the military regime.

CSW also calls on the Malaysian Government to improve the situation for
Burmese refugees within their borders by stopping authorities from
detaining, caning and deporting Burmese asylum-seekers and refugees, and
disbanding RELA, the officially-sponsored vigilante force often used to
raid refugees’ camps, homes and workplaces. CSW urges the United Nations
High Commission for Refugees to register all Burmese asylum-seekers in
Malaysia, in order to provide better protection for them, and calls on
more countries to offer opportunities for resettlement for Burmese
refugees in Malaysia.

CSW’s Advocacy Officer for South Asia, Benedict Rogers, said: “This report
documents yet more evidence of the crimes against humanity perpetrated by
the military regime in Burma against its own people. It also draws
much-needed attention to the long-forgotten desperate plight of Burmese
refugees who have fled to Malaysia in search of sanctuary and freedom, and
have found yet more abuse, poverty and misery. The international community
cannot continue to allow the terrible suffering of Burmese people to go
on. How many more cries for help do we need before the world unites in
meaningful action to end the reign of terror in Burma?”

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.

Notes to editors:

A copy of the report can be found on CSW’s website at:
http://dynamic.csw.org.uk/article.asp?t=report&id=82