BurmaNet News, June 17, 2008

[Editor]

June 17, 2008 Issue #3493


INSIDE BURMA
Mizzima News: Tornado hits cyclone ravaged Labutta – Phanida
Mizzima News: Relief teams work to prevent inundation of farmlands in
Irrawaddy Division
Irrawaddy: Gov’t tightens restrictions on relief efforts
AFP: Three killed in Myanmar landmine blasts: state media
DVB: Sasana Theikpan monastery closed without warning
KNG: Burmese Army seizes cattle for despatch to cyclone-hit areas

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: Cyclone survivors arrive in Thai cities

BUSINESS / TRADE
IMNA: Daily wages for farmers on the rise

HEALTH / AIDS
AFP: WHO says Myanmar health system 'back on its feet'

ASEAN
AFP: World Bank backs ASEAN aid team in Myanmar

REGIONAL
Narinjara News: UNHCR recognized refugee dies in Chittagong prison

INTERNATIONAL
Mizzima News: IPI urges junta to allow free access to journalists

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: No dignity: alive or dead
Irrawaddy: Renew focus on Burma
Bangkok Post: Drug threats from Burma

STATEMENT
Ethnic Community Development Forum: World Bank and ADB cautioned against
increasing engagement with Burma's military regime following post-Nargis
assessment




____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

June 17, Mizzima News
Tornado hits cyclone ravaged Labutta – Phanida

A tornado struck some villages in Labutta Township, Irrawaddy Division
yesterday damaging a temporary storm shelter and some houses.

The tornado lashed villages in Labutta Township namely Kyaukmaw,
Kyaukphyu, Layeindan yesterday morning, damaging a storm shelter and at
least six houses.

"There were strong winds around 10 a.m. and heavy rains in the evening.
The tornado struck Kyaukmaw and Kyaukphyu villages. Six houses in Kyaukmaw
and some houses in Layeindan were damaged. The roof of the storm shelter
at 5th Mile post was ripped off," a local resident in Labutta said. The
tornado weakened after 15 minutes.

Kyaukmaw has 539 households and the regime had claimed that only 15 people
were killed in Cyclone Nargis, local resident said.

The Meteorology and Hydrology Department said there will be frequent
torrential rain with strong winds along the Burmese coast. There would
also be will be high tidal waves and wind speeds that may go up to 45-50
mph.

"The monsoon wind will be stronger and there will be torrential rain along
the Burmese coast of Mon State and Tanintharyi Divisions and in upper
Burma. Kayah, Sagaing, Magwe, Mandalay, Bago, Rakhine, Rangoon and
Irrawaddy delta will receive scattered heavy rain. Strong monsoon winds
will be spread over the next two days. This is not a storm, just monsoon
winds," an official from Meteorology and Hydrology Department said.

The experts from 'Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre' (ADPC) and Burma
Meteorology and Hydrology Department said at the 3rd Monsoon Forum meeting
held at Naypyidaw (royal capital) Ministry of Transport office on June 5
that the monsoon formed over Bay of Bengal will cross Irrawaddy Division
again due to global warming, climatic change and change of wind direction,
'The Voice' weekly journal reported yesterday.

The price of some essential commodities such as rice, edible oil, coffee
and grocery rose somewhat in Rangoon amidst rumours of high tide imminent
between June 16 and 18.

"Sardines are almost out of stock," a trader in Bayintnaung wholesale
trade centre in Mayangone Township said.

Only the price of rice increased a little and the volume of sales is not
too much, a trader in Mingalar market in Tamwe Township said.

____________________________________

June 17, Mizzima News
Relief teams work to prevent inundation of farmlands in Irrawaddy Division
– Solomon

A relief team working for cyclone survivors has announced that about
100,000 tarpaulin sacks were required for protection of farmlands from sea
water, in at least 13 village tracts in Dadeye Township in Irrawaddy
Division.

Domestic emergency relief operation network for cyclone victims--- the
'Myanmar/Burma Emergency Aid Network' (M/BEAN) has invited well-wishers to
donate for the renovation work on embankments, which prevents seawater
from entering the farmlands in these villages.

In its appeal, M/BEAN said that the nine-mile long embankment was broken
in at least 17 places and seawater had inundated thousands of acres of
farmland in this area. Moreover, the seawater level was still rising and
the farmers were finding it difficult to cultivate their farmland on time
in the monsoon plantation season.

M/BEAN is conducting relief and rehabilitation operations in Dadeye
Township and in nearby areas, relying only on the resources provided by
their friends and volunteers of the network.

An official of this network declined to give further details when contacted.

The nine-mile long 8'x16' embankment was constructed to protect farmlands
in Hnakhaung Chaung, Kawek Chaung, Kawek Yekan Chaung, Kyat Sin Pyo, Tamar
Takaw, Toe, Kyone Kani, Oo Toe, Su Kalak, Shankan, Taw Chaik, Kyone Kadek,
Mayan West village tracts in east of Dadeye Township from inundation by
seawater and also to guard against tidal waves.

The renovation work must be done during ebb tide between June 10 to 14 and
June 25 to 29 for timely plantation. The local people need to renovate the
cyclone damaged embankment in time for their plantation season in coming
Waso (July), M/BEAN said.

"The state-run TV has broadcast their renovation work on this embankment
with negligible manpower and little machinery. The people filled the
embankment with sand and then used the machinery for renovation work. They
could not finish the work on time this way, " a volunteer engaged in
relief work, who had just returned from Dadeye to Rangoon said.

___________________________________

June 17, Irrawaddy
Gov’t tightens restrictions on relief efforts – Wai Moe

As Burma’s state-run media urged private citizens to donate “cash and
kind” to relief efforts in the cyclone-stricken Irrawaddy delta, donors
say that the government is moving to tighten its control over private
donations.

On Monday, The New Light of Myanmar, a junta mouthpiece, announced that
donations could be made through the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction
Sub-committee of the National Disaster Preparedness Central Committee, as
well as through authorities at the district and township levels.

Although the announcement did not state that donations had to be made
through these channels, sources actively involved in relief efforts say
that the junta’s invitation to would-be donors was effectively an order.

“The restrictions have now been stated publicly in the government’s
newspapers, but actually, tighter controls on private donations started at
least two weeks ago,” said one private donor, speaking on condition of
anonymity. “Donors must now get permission from the authorities before
making any donations.”

According to the announcement in The New Light of Myanmar, cash donations
should be made to Col Hla Thein Swe, the deputy finance and revenue
minister, or to two high-ranking officials of Burma’s central bank, Maung
Maung Win and Kyaw Win Tin.

Relief items should be donated to Than Oo, director general of the relief
and resettlement department, or Aung Tun Khaing, an official of the social
welfare department.

The newspaper also listed the officials’ phone numbers.

The junta has arrested at least five private relief workers recently.
Zarganar, a well-known comedian who led relief efforts by Burmese
celebrities and organized one of biggest local relief groups was arrested
on June 4.

Two female aid workers, Yin Yin Wei and Tin Tin Cho, were arrested last
Thursday along with their colleague Myat Thu. Zaw Thet Htway, a journalist
and a private relief worker was arrested on Friday.

“People who have a history of political activity have the most trouble
when they get involved in relief work. People who have contact with the
opposition party also find it difficult. Other relief workers who do not
have good relations with the authorities are get into trouble,” said Khin
Zaw Win, a Burmese researcher and relief worker in Rangoon.

Analysts say the recent arrests were an attempt by the ruling junta to
weaken Burma’s civil society, which has gained strength through its
involvement in relief efforts after the cyclone.

Meanwhile, villagers in Laputta Township in the Irrawaddy delta, one of
the worst-hit areas, complained about corruption by local authorities, the
main opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) told The Irrawaddy on
Tuesday.

Kyi Win, a member of the NLD’s disaster response committee, said that the
party received a letter from residents of the villages of Nyaung Lein and
Peti, explaining that local authorities took 20 head of cattle which were
supposed to be distributed to farmers who lost livestock in the disaster.

____________________________________

June 17, Agence France Presse
Three killed in Myanmar landmine blasts: state media

One man was killed and two others injured in Myanmar in landmine blasts
blamed on ethnic rebels who have been battling the military government for
decades, state media said Tuesday.

One was killed by "an insurgent-planted mine" as he was returning home
last week from gold-panning in easter Karen state, the official New Light
of Myanmar newspaper said.

Two other men were injured in separate blasts in the central region of
Bago on Friday, the paper said.

"The insurgent groups are committing destructive acts that are harmful to
the stability of the state and prevalence of law and order," the paper
said, accusing the rebels of "killing the people and making them panic."

The paper did not mention any specific insurgent group, but both Karen and
Bago have suffered bloody clashes involving the Karen National Union
(KNU), one of the biggest ethnic rebel groups fighting the junta for their
autonomy.

The government, which rarely releases information about the insurgencies,
said that eight people were killed last month by the Shan State Army when
they attacked a saw mill.

The military has ruled Myanmar since 1962, often justifying its grip on
power by claiming the need to fend off the rebels.

Since the current junta seized power in 1988, the generals have signed
ceasefires with 17 of the armed groups.

____________________________________

June 17, Democratic Voice of Burma
Sasana Theikpan monastery closed without warning – Aye Nai

Burmese government officials went to Sasana Theikpan monastery in Bahan
township on Friday afternoon and ordered the monastery to shut down and
the resident monks to leave the premises.

U Hla Thein, the National League for Democracy's social welfare secretary
and a lay supporter of the monastery, said the officials included the
township Peace and Development Council chairman, the township judge and an
official from the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

"The officials showed up at the monastery and told the monks staying there
they had to pack up and leave as the government had shut down the place,"
Hla Thein said.

"When questioned by abbots at the monastery, the officials said the order
came from senior authorities but they didn't make it clear when the
monastery would be allowed to reopen."

Hla Thein said the monks living in the monastery were given no notice that
the monastery would be shut down.

"They gave no advance warning about the closure before that – they just
showed up on that day and gave the four resident monks one hour to pack
up. There used to be nine – the other five have been in Insein prison," he
explained.

"This is the third monastery shut down by the government. The first was
Sasana Gonye monastery, south of the Six Story pagoda, and the second was
Maggin monastery."

The monks are now taking refuge in other monasteries in the Six Story
pagoda compounds.

____________________________________

June 17, Kachin News Group
Burmese Army seizes cattle for despatch to cyclone-hit areas

The Burmese Army in Kachin State, Northern Burma has been seizing herds of
cattle for despatch to Cyclone Nargis-hit rice-growing Irrawaddy River
Delta in Southern Burma where farmers lost their cattle, a local source
close to cattle merchants said.

Burma Army' s Northern Command (Ma Pa Kha) commander Maj-Gen. Ohn Myint
has assured he will send cattle from his command region in Kachin State to
the Irrawaddy Delta, according to sources close the Northern Command and
residents of Myitkyina Township.

Soon after the cyclone in Irrawaddy Delta seizure of cattle began mainly
in Southern Kachin State by local Burmese Army battalions, said cattle
merchants.

Maj-Gen. Ohn Myint, the Burma's ruling junta's commander of Kachin State,
Northern Burma.
On May 28, the Mayan village based Artillery Battalion No. 372 led by Maj.
Ye Yint Twe seized a herd of cattle near Mogaung River ostensibly as
'cyclone donation' from three cattle merchants in Namma city. The cattle
were meant for sale on the China border in eastern Kachin State, sources
close to merchants said.

The merchants export cattle from areas in Myitkyina-Mandalay railway to
the China border by bribing local Burmese army bases and military
authorities, local merchants said.

Villagers quoted Maj. Ye Yint Twe as saying, “Whatever you (villagers) say
about me and inform of my cruel actions to foreign-based Burmese media, I
have been praised by my senior officers and Commander Maj-Gen. Ohn Myint”.

Under Maj-Ye Yint Twe's command the Artillery Battalion No. 372 based in
Mayan confiscated villagers' paddy fields and seasonal fruit plantations.
The villagers' cattle were slaughtered without payment by the battalion,
the villagers added.

Besides, other Burmese army battalions under the command of Mogaung based
No. 3 Military Operation Command (MOC or Sa-Ka-Kha) were also involved in
seizing cattle in the areas of No. 105 Infantry Battalion (IB) in Sarhmaw
(Samaw), No. 15 Infantry Battalion in Monyein and No. 385 and No. 386
Light Infantry Battalions (LIB) in Namma, according to local cattle
merchants.

Now, the military authorities are collecting the “Cyclone Nargis Fund”
from all government workers, Kachin ceasefire groups, businessmen and
civilians in Kachin State, local sources said.

A local NGO worker based in Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State told KNG
today, “I am sure, the military authorities of Kachin State will send only
one third or two thirds of the collected funds to the cyclone-hit areas
because the entire governing system of the junta is corrupt and government
personnel are equally corrupt.”


____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

June 17, Irrawaddy
Cyclone survivors arrive in Thai cities – Yeni

Sitting in a house where she is temporarily staying in Mae Sot on the
Thai-Burma border, Ma Gyee, a 28-year-old Burmese cyclone survivor, speaks
in a low, heartrending voice:

"The aid sits at the compounds of the local township authorities,” she
said. “We, the survivors, have received just a drop."

Ma Gyee is among some 100 Burmese cyclone refugees from the Irrawaddy
delta and Rangoon Division who recently arrived in Mae Sot, located
opposite the Burmese town of Myawaddy.

Some came to Mae Sot to try to collect donations to take back to their
villages. Others came looking for jobs and a new home.

Ma Gyee said her hope for a better future now rests on giving her two
children and 17-year-old brother a better life. She doesn’t plan to return
to her home in Bogalay in the Irrawaddy delta, heavily damaged by Cyclone
Nargis.

Looking at her younger brother, who sat close by, she said: "He’s now
studying here. Two of my children also are at schools here for migrant
children. I know that there is a much better life here than in the
Irrawaddy delta."

Ma Gyee, who lost her parents and many friends when the cyclone struck her
village, asked with tears in her eyes,: "Is it true that Light Infantry
Division (LID) 66 which is deployed in the delta is the same one that
carried out raids on monasteries [in Rangoon] and opened fire on
protesting monks in last year's demonstrations?"

Mae Sot, known as “Little Burma,” is Thailand's closest border city to
Rangoon, the former capital, and it serves as a hub for Burmese migrants
and refugees who flee for political or economic reasons.

Many local and international aid groups in the area are well established
and offer various services to the permanent migrant population and to
refugees.

One organization, funded by international and local donors, is the popular
Mae Tao Clinic, founded and directed by Dr Cynthia Maung, an ethnic Karen.
It offers free health care for refugees and migrant workers and special
education programs for migrant children.

Observers say a stream of refugees seeking a better life in Thailand is
likely to continue to arrive in Thai border towns in the coming months, as
the Burmese regime continues to refuse to grant access to international
aid workers and to block donations of food and other material from
reaching the millions of people who have been seriously affected by the
disaster.

Further complicating the plight of refugees is the fact that the rice
growing season starts this month and it’s not likely to take place because
of a lack of funds, seeds and salt water that covers many of the paddies.

The US Department of Agriculture said in an assessment issued last week
that "farmers are yet to be supplied with sufficient food, viable seed,
tools, livestock or replacement tillers and fuel" and the area affected by
the cyclone "normally accounts for roughly 60 percent of Burma's rice
production."

If farmers in the delta can’t resume rice growing this year because of the
regime’s lack of help, Burma's food security could be in risk, say
international experts.

"I have no idea about food for the future,” said Ma Gyee. “At the moment,
everyone there just struggles very hard for their daily survival."


____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

June 17, Independent Mon News Agency
Daily wages for farmers on the rise

Pay for laborers replanting paddy has jumped 40 percent because daily
workers are hard to find in southern Burma.

Many laborers have left for Thailand in search of better jobs, forcing
landowners to increase the daily rate for workers replanting paddy to
3,500 Kyat from 2,500 – the rate for the last two years.

Farmers in Mon and Karen states have just started replanting paddy for the
season.

A farmer in Andin village, Mon state, said he has paid up to 4,500 Kyat
for male workers in northern Ye township.

“The payment could increase before the end of the season,” he added. Farm
owners in the region claimed they are having difficulty finding daily
workers in Mon state and have to search for workers from other parts of
Burma.

“We cannot get workers from our village, so we have to hire from other
villages,” said a farm owner in Zarthapyin village, Hpa-an township, Karen
State.

Over the past 10 years, Mon state farm owners have relied on workers from
Karen state, where there is less farmland for replanting paddy and
therefore less demand for labor. However, Mon state farm owners cannot
find Karen workers this year.

Many young people in Mon and Karen states seek higher-paying jobs in
Thailand.

Farm owners, however, have had better luck when recruiting laborers from
Pegu division and the Irrawaddy delta, where jobs are scarce. A Mudon
township farmer from Mon state said he hired daily workers from these
divisions at lower wages – 2,000 Kyat.


____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

June 17, Agence France Presse
WHO says Myanmar health system 'back on its feet'

The World Health Organisation said Tuesday that the health system in
cyclone-battered Myanmar was "back on its feet," but warned that disease
risks remained.

"I think we were able to provide a response that helped the health system
back on its feet," said WHO health cluster coordinator Rudi Coninx, who
has just spent several weeks in the country.

The WHO said it had played a key role in a comprehensive impact assessment
conducted by the UN, the regional ASEAN grouping and Myanmar's military
government.

The military junta faced heavy criticism for several weeks after Cyclone
Nargis first struck in early May for not allowing international aid
workers full access to the country.

But the situation has now improved and "we have our teams with
international staff going now everywhere," Coninx told journalists.

The WHO said that in the first week of June, it recorded some 685 cases of
acute respiratory infections, 117 cases of bloody diarrhoea, 542 cases of
acute diarrhoea, 337 cases of trauma or injuries, five cases of malaria
and three of suspected dengue fever.

Dengue fever remains a particular concern and the WHO along with the
Myanmar government and other health partners has drawn up a 766,000 dollar
(494,272 euro) action plan for the next four months targeting around 8.5
million people.

The first priority of the plan is to target 2.5 million people living in
11 townships in Yangon division with the highest dengue case reporting
rates.

Thereafter the plan will focus on 1.9 million people in Ayeyawaddy
division, and then 3.9 million people in all other Yangon partnerships.

Dengue is endemic in Myanmar, and around half of all cases occur in the
Yangon and Ayeyawaddy regions.

"We identified a considerable increase in the risk of transmission of
dengue due to population movement and displacement in urban areas"
following the cyclone, said WHO expert Michael Nathan.

The WHO's action plan will seek to both cut the number of mosquitoes --
who transmit the disease -- through environmental management and
insecticide, and strengthen disease surveillance and case management.

More than 133,000 people were killed or are missing after the cyclone
struck six weeks ago. Many were washed out to sea as a tidal surge wiped
out their villages.


____________________________________
ASEAN

June 17, Agence France Presse
World Bank backs ASEAN aid team in Myanmar

The World Bank has handed 850,000 dollars to an Association of Southeast
Asian Nations team working to assess the impact of Myanmar's cyclone
Nargis, ASEAN said Tuesday.

The cash will go to ASEAN's Emergency Rapid Assessment team, which was
sent into the devastated Irrawaddy Delta region early this month to gauge
the damage, the regional grouping said in a press release.

The Bank money would be spent on "the coordination of international
response and senior-level dialogue on recovery planning as well as (the)
training of ASEAN technical staff in damage and loss assessment," it said.

ASEAN has come under fire for taking a soft approach to Myanmar's military
junta, but has had more success than most international organisations in
gaining access to the country.

The deployment of the ASEAN team earlier this month came a day after the
United States gave up trying to convince the junta to allow aid-laden
warships stationed off the delta to deliver their vital supplies.

Cyclone Nargis pounded the southwest Irrawaddy Delta and the main city of
Yangon on May 2-3, leaving more than 133,000 people dead or missing.

The United Nations estimates that while 2.4 million people need emergency
aid, about one million have not yet received any foreign assistance.


____________________________________
REGIONAL

June 17, Narinjara News
UNHCR recognized refugee dies in Chittagong prison

A UNHCR recognized Burmese refugee died at the Chittagong prison hospital
on Monday after spending over three years in detention at the prison
without any trial.
The deceased's elder brother-in-law told Narinjara over the phone that a
group of Bangladesh police visited his wife at their home in Thwee Hla
Aung Para Village this morning to inform her of the death of her husband
Manwa in prison.

Ko Manwa, who held a UNHCR ID card as a recognized refugee was arrested by
Bangladesh Rifles during the evening of 16 July, 2005, at his family's
home - while he was enjoying dinner with his wife and only daughter.

He was arrested by BDR after some local residents misinformed the
Bangladesh authorities that Manwa had a gun, although there was no proof
that he had anything of the sort. He was working at a husbandry project in
the village sponsored by the UNHCR under their self-reliance program for
urban Burmese refugees.

After his arrest, Bangladesh authorities sent him to prison and detained
him from that point on without any trial.

Many Burmese refugees appealed to the UNHCR to secure Manwa's release, but
officials from the Dhaka office neglected the request for unknown reasons.
Ko Manwa's UNHCR ID card number was 01151, and he left his wife Daw Aye
May and their 10-year-old daughter.

His wife had also appealed to the UNHCR, the international community, and
to Burmese in exile to assist in securing Manwa's release. She made a
public appeal, stating, "It is an injustice and the arrest and detention
of my husband for so long without any trial is unfair. So, I deeply and
sincerely request the international community help me with my husband's
release."

However, Ko Manwa has passed away in prison without the aid of
sympathizers around the world.


____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

June 17, Mizzima News
IPI urges junta to allow free access to journalists

Belgrades - International Press Institute , a global network of editors,
media executives and leading journalists, on its 57th general assembly
urged the government of Burma to respect and protect the rights of
journalists, particularly those who are now covering the aftermath of
Cyclone Nargis.

Members of IPI, meeting in Belgrade, Serbia condemned the Burmese junta
for its failure to allow journalists to freely report the natural disaster
-- Cyclone Nargis, that lashed the country on May 2 and 3, leaving at
least 133,000 people were dead or are missing.

"Even after the disaster and the consequent need for food, water, shelter
and medical assistance, which put more than one million persons at risk,
the Burmese junta chose censorship over information," the IPI said in a
resolution released on Monday.

The call was part of the IPI's appeal to all governments around the world
to respect the rights of journalists, who are particularly covering
natural catastrophes and their aftermath, by allowing them to collect and
disseminate information.

"When earthquakes, hurricanes, floods and other disasters strike, media
coverage serves many essential purposes. In their immediate aftermath, it
can save lives by helping in proper coordination of rescue and relief
efforts," the IPI said.

Meanwhile, Burma's military junta has detained several domestic volunteers
including a former editor of a weekly journal Zaw Thet Htwe, who have been
helping in relief work for cyclone victims in the country's delta region
in Irrawaddy division.

The IPI World Congress and 57th General Assembly held at the Belgrade, was
attended by over 300 editors, media executives and leading journalists
from over 60 countries.

The IPI is a global institute that seeks to promote freedom of speech and
expression and look to the safety of journalists while carrying out their
work.


____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

June 17, Irrawaddy
No dignity: alive or dead – Kyaw Zwa Moe

Being alive or dead is not much different in Burma, as strange as that
sounds.

Six weeks after Cyclone Nargis, alive or dead, no one has dignity under
the military government’s rule. When people are alive, all their basic
rights are stolen. When they die, their bodies are just ignored.

Bloated bodies still lie scattered about, floating in streams or caught in
trees in the worst-hit Irrawaddy delta, say aid workers.

The junta officially estimated that 134,000 people are dead or missing
following the cyclone. The actual death toll is believed to be much
higher.

Relatively few bodies were buried by villagers. Most of the dead have been
ignored. The government still has not set up a systematic process to
collect and cremate the bodies properly. Victims’ bodies decomposed
without religious rites.

The United Nations estimated up to 2.4 million people in the delta and
Rangoon area were severely affected and tens of thousands still need food,
shelter or other aid.

Yet international and local aid workers and supplies are still being
shunned by the callous generals.

In the latest outrage, three Burmese volunteer aid workers were arrested
in Rangoon last week by the special branch police. Police told the
families that Yin Yin Wie, Tin Tin Cho and Myat Thu were detained because
of their efforts to gather donations from friends abroad to aid the
refugees. The detainees had voluntarily supplied rice, medicine and
clothes to refugees since the May 2-3 cyclone struck.

Two weeks ago, the well-known Burmese comedian Zarganar, a strong critic
of the regime, was arrested. Zarganar and his team distributed food,
blankets, mosquito nets and other aid which they collected from donors.
One of his colleagues, Zaw Thet Htawe, was arrested on Friday. After the
arrests, another colleague told The Irrawaddy that the Zarganar team has
temporarily suspended its aid activities.

Zargarnar told The Irrawaddy a few days before his arrest: “I see three
types of people [refugees] suffering trauma. One type is very violent and
sensitive. They are angry, and I can’t say anything to them. They are
aggressive all the time.

“The second type is people crying and moaning all the time. They think
about what happened again and again, and they repeat what happened over
and over. The third type is silent—no talking, very little movement.”

All the people caught up in the disaster—the refugees, the local and
international aid workers and the volunteers—have been victimized by the
Burmese military government, which—bizarrely— believes the country’s
reputation is at stake and people are out to gather damaging information
to spread to the world.

Last week, a small group of foreign doctors that had been allowed to work
in the delta began to leave after the junta closed down most of the
refugee centers. The Thai government was told not to dispatch a third
medical team.

In fact, tens of thousands of survivors are still in desperate need of
both physical and mental health treatment.

But the military, which has governed for the past five decades, doesn’t
care about people—alive or dead. It just keeps repeating to the world that
everything is fine, everything is under control.

The Burmese people live without dignity and now they die without it, too.

____________________________________

June 17, Irrawaddy
Renew focus on Burma – Min Zin

As Aung San Suu Kyi quietly spends another birthday under house arrest on
Thursday, the UN Security Council will sit down to a debate on women’s
rights, while the European Council is scheduled to examine the role of the
European Union (EU) in international affairs. Perhaps the conjunction of
events on June 19 will mark a perfect date to start refocusing on Burma’s
political crisis.

At her home on the banks of Inya Lake in Rangoon, the only imprisoned
Nobel Peace Prize laureate in the world, Suu Kyi, will turn 63 on
Thursday, having spent almost 13 of the last 19 years under detention.

On the same date on the other side of the world, in New York, the United
Nations Security Council (UNSC) will sit to examine the global progress on
Resolution 1325, which was passed unanimously in October 2000. The
resolution specifically addresses the impact of war on women by protecting
them from gender-based violence, particularly rape and other forms of
sexual abuse, and addresses women's contributions to conflict resolution
and creating sustainable peace.

“There is no more opportune and timely an international gathering to raise
the issue of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's unlawful detention and the plight of
women in Burma than at this significant occasion,” said Nyan Win, a
spokesperson for the National League for Democracy.

United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will chair the debate,
as the US holds the presidency of the UNSC for June 2008. According to
sources close to the US state department, Rice is expected to highlight
the situation of Suu Kyi, as well as the plight of women political
prisoners and ethnic women in Burma.

There are about 154 imprisoned women activists languishing in Burma's
jails, out of almost 2,000 political prisoners. Last week, at least three
women volunteers distributing relief supplies to cyclone victims were
arrested by Burmese authorities.

Meanwhile, the situation for women and girls in many ethnic areas in Burma
is critically serious. In conflict areas such as Karen, Karenni and Shan
states, ethnic women and girls, some reportedly as young as 10 years old,
are raped by Burmese soldiers during military operations in these areas.
This issue commands not only debate, but urgent action from the Security
Council.

Also on June 19, the European Council will meet in Brussels and the 27
heads of state will discuss the role of the EU in international affairs.

The issue of Burma should be high the agenda of EU leaders. In the wake of
Cyclone Nargis, many analysts observe that the regime's handling of the
humanitarian crisis in the country was tantamount to a “crime against
humanity.” France, one of the leading members of the EU, correctly invoked
the "Responsibility to Protect" doctrine to intervene in Burma on
humanitarian grounds.

“We demand the EU's heads of state bring Than Shwe before the
International Criminal Court to be tried for his crimes against humanity,
as recommended by the European parliament,” said Aung Din, the director of
the US Campaign for Burma.

Of course, such a demand may not find an immediately positive reception in
the halls of the parliament in Brussels.

However, the bottom line is that the international community must renew
its focus and prioritize Burma's underlying political crisis. To this end,
the date of Suu Kyi's birthday in conjunction with two major international
meetings would be a symbolically good start.

One of the key obstacles in reorienting the international community's
focus on the political crisis in Burma is the misleading UN principle of
keeping humanitarian aspects totally separate from political aspect,
according to UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John
Holmes.

In fact, Holmes was echoing UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's words.
“Issues of assistance and aid in Myanmar [Burma] should not be
politicized,” he said before his first meeting with the regime’s leader,
Snr-Gen Than Shwe, to plead for international access to the
cyclone-ravaged Irrawaddy delta.

“While the UN secretary-general, the Burmese regime and allies of the
junta have urged that the question of humanitarian aid not be
“politicized,” the regime itself is taking every advantage of the cyclone
to cement its grip on power to the exclusion of helping its own people,”
said Jared Genser, attorney for Suu Kyi. “As is often the case,
distraction and delay in discussing the fundamental issues in Burma only
serve the interests of the regime.”

Some sources close to the UN said that Ban is considering a proposal to
the Burmese military government that a political solution in Burma be
implemented as an integral part in the coordinated reconstruction phase of
the cyclone disaster.

However, the prevailing attitude and insistence among some key officials
from the UN and INGOs is that even any tough talk from the international
community could upset the generals and make the continuation of current
access to the country impossible.

During last week's panel discussion in New York convened by the Asia
Society and the Open Society Institute, Holmes said that further
international sanctions or the threat of force would only have kept aid
from the people who so desperately need it.

However, many Burmese opposition groups say such an attitude is appeasement.

“How inhumane are they?” asked Aung Din. “They are trying to reward Than
Shwe and his clique in the name of humanitarian access. Actually, they
have become complicit in allowing Than Shwe to commit crimes against
humanity.”

NLD spokesperson Nyan Win said that the party always views the issues of
politics and humanitarian crises as interrelated.

"A softly-softly policy has never yielded any solution in the past,” he
said. “Nor will it in the future.”

Several UN officials expect the Burmese military may be more confident in
dealing with the UN when they come to realize that the UN avoids
politicizing humanitarian issues.

It could create a better mutual understanding and ultimately lead the
junta to become more receptive in cooperating with the UN, even in a
political area, said a UN source in New York.

If there were an implicit expectation behind such a jealously guarded
humanitarian attitude, it would be dead wrong. The mentality of the
Burmese generals will not allow such tactical optimism feasible.

Recently, the junta's top leaders—especially Vice Snr-Gen Maung
Aye—declared war on UN and INGO officials during the regime's
relief-related meetings in the delta area.

According to sources close to the military, Maung Aye said that the
foreigners are attempting to enslave the country. He also noted that it
was China and Russia, not the UN, that helped convince the US and France
to withdraw their naval vessels from international waters off the coast of
Burma. The general also gave instructions to stamp out local NGOs and
volunteer groups who, in his words, were “like slaves” receiving support
from international donors.

Nonetheless, it should always be welcomed that the international community
uses persuasion, not force, to achieve its goals, in this case opening up
the delta in the aftermath of a devastating cyclone. However, the tactic
of persuasion should not undermine the strategic goal—that of facilitating
an acceptable political transition in Burma.

Engaging humanitarian work and pushing for genuine political transition
should not be mutually exclusive. Avoiding tough talk and action against a
brutal regime out of a fear of upsetting that regime is morally
unacceptable and politically unsustainable.

The international community must renew its attention on Burma’s political
crisis. Otherwise, Suu Kyi will be blowing out the candles on her birthday
cake alone in her house for many more years to come.

____________________________________

June 17, Bangkok Post
Drug threats from Burma

If the government ever gets around to claiming the achievements of its
first few months in office, one hopes that the war on drugs is part of the
announcement.

Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej kicked off a new phase in this so-called
war last March 6. It may be the quietest 100-day campaign in the country's
history. In fact, though, use of illicit and dangerous drugs has risen
since the government took office in February.

More dangerously, however, there have been changes at the top of the
Burmese drug cartels. New and aggressive gang leaders have made it clear
that they see Thailand, and particularly Thai young people, as targets of
sales pitches for both narcotics and huge new stockpiles of
methamphetamines, or ya ba.

Whether by plan or good fortune, the new battle against drugs has come at
the right time. There is good reason to note just how quietly it has
proceeded. The shamefully violent war on drugs by the former Thaksin
Shinawatra government in 2003 was little more than a police slaughter of
hundreds of petty drug dealers and innocent bystanders. Most, perhaps all
of the major drug peddlers, were able to lay low and await the inevitable
end of the crackdown.

The current campaign must be lawful, but it must also be more efficient.
Getting small-time dealers off village and city streets is fine, but any
effective attack on drug-dealers must take aim at the major suppliers.

Unfortunately, there is little doubt who sits at the very top of the drug
supply chains. The odious leaders of the United Wa State Army have
returned to their dirty business. The death last August of long-time Wa
leader, Pao Yu-Hua, cleared the path for other methamphetamine merchants
within the UWSA.

The UWSA warlords, Pao Yu-Hsiang and Wei Hsueh-kang, charged by a New York
State court with operating a heroin production network and trafficking
outlets in the Golden Triangle, are suspected to be in charge of drug
peddling for this enterprise. They have, however, defiantly increased
their stockpiles of illicit drugs. The United Nations Office on Drugs and
Crime said that the Wa increased opium cultivation by 20% in Burma last
year. In one of their rare public discussions of intelligence information,
Thai anti-narcotics officials said the Wa had stockpiled millions of the
addictive methamphetamine pills along the Thai border. The drug peddlers
foresaw higher holiday sales.

The Burmese regime, as always, remains unpredictable at best. It has
staged drug crackdowns, but never has taken action against major peddlers
in their midst. Thailand and the US, among others, have indicted Mr Bigs
such as Pao and Wei, but the Rangoon authorities protect them - so long as
they remain in Burma.

But the good news is they are unprotected outside the reach of the
military junta. Ho Chun T'ing, a Wa mafia chief near the top of the UWSA
narco-trafficking empire, was arrested by Hong Kong authorities last year.
He still is in jail in the Chinese special region. His detention presents
an excellent chance for Thai anti-narcotics officers to obtain a treasure
trove of information on the inner workings of the drug cartels on our
western border.

The goals of the war on drugs are simple enough: Clear the drug peddlers
from school yards and community streets, and take away the freedom and
profits of organisers. A long conversation with the only high-ranking Wa
drug gang member in custody is a good opportunity to advance. Then the
government could start presenting news of its achievements in this
important area.


____________________________________
STATEMENT

June 17, Ethnic Community Development Forum
World Bank and ADB cautioned against increasing engagement with Burma's
military regime following post-Nargis assessment

We understand that the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB)
have sent staff to join the ASEAN post-Nargis joint assessment that is
currently taking place in Burma.  We also understand that the assessment
team will present a preliminary report in late June and a final report in
mid-July 2008.

We are concerned that the World Bank and the ADB may view the humanitarian
crisis in Burma as an opportunity to increase engagement with Burma's
military regime, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). Until a
genuinely democratic government is installed in Burma, the World Bank and
the ADB should focus only on facilitating humanitarian relief efforts.  In
addition, SPDC should be obliged to use its foreign reserves to supplement
external funding for relief efforts.

As stakeholders in Burma's future, we insist that the World Bank and the
ADB include the undersigned and other community-based organizations which
are advocating for genuine political reform, in any decision-making
process regarding their activities in Burma.  As organizations with a
broad range of contacts within Burma, we are well-informed about the
situation in ethnic areas, and are able to communicate the requests and
concerns that those inside Burma cannot express for security reasons.

We further insist that the details of the World Bank's and the ADB's
activities in Burma, including any assessment missions and details of
support to the ASEAN Humanitarian Task Force, be made public so that they
may be reviewed widely by us and all other stakeholders in Burma's
recovery.

Ethnic Community Development Forum, together with

1. Burma River Network
2. Kachin Women's Association - Thailand
3. Karen Environment and Social Action Network
4. Nationalities Youth Forum
5. Salween Watch Coalition
6. Shan Women's Action Network
7. Shan Youth Power

For more information, please contact:

Sai Khur Hseng
Tel: +66 84 224 3748
The Ethnic Community Development Forum (ECDF)    unitedecdf at gmail.com