BurmaNet News, September 20-22, 2008

[Editor]

September 20-22, 2008 Issue # 3561


INSIDE BURMA
AP: Myanmar opposition wants review of constitution
DVB: Daw Suu’s appeal finalized
DVB: Local guards punished for questioning official
Irrawaddy: Burma's monks jailed, disrobed for challenging Junta
Irrawaddy: Rohingya group jailed for seeking work in Rangoon

ON THE BORDER
Kaladan Press Network: World Peace Day observed in Burmese refugee camp

BUSINESS / TRADE
Narinjara News: Burma to build trade center in Maungdaw

HEALTH / AIDS
DVB: Chinese tainted milk scare escalates

INTERNATIONAL
Mizzima News: Religious freedom hanging in the balance in Burma

OPINION / OTHER
Guardian (UK): Dark Burmese days – Amy Gold

INTERVIEW
Human Rights Tribune: The Burmese Junta looks to the stars – Carole Vann
Irrawaddy: Taking a deep breath – Ibrahim Gambari

PRESS RELEASE
WLB: Call for the immediate release of Burmese democracy activist Nilar Thein



____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

September 22, Associated Press
Myanmar opposition wants review of constitution

The party of detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi urged
Myanmar's ruling junta on Monday to set up a committee to review the
military-backed constitution, saying it was «approved by force» in a
referendum earlier this year. The terms of the charter perpetuate the
military's influence over politics and bar Suu Kyi from public office.

“The majority of the people do not accept the constitution which was
illegally approved by force” said a statement by Suu Kyi's National League
for Democracy, charging that the authorities used coercion, intimidation,
deception and misrepresentation to get voters' approval.

Myanmar's ruling military junta claimed the constitution received the
approval of more than 92 percent of voters in May.

The party's statement said the government should set up a «Constitution
Review Committee» of elected members of parliament from the 1990 general
election, the military, ethnic representatives and constitutional experts.

It said the constitution was not written by elected representatives but
«unilaterally drawn up by the delegates hand-picked by the authorities.

“Myanmar's generals had billed the referendum that led to the adoption of
the constitution as an important step in their «roadmap to democracy.”  It
offered the first chance for voters to cast ballots since 1990. The
country had been without a charter since the current junta seized power in
1988 and threw out the last constitution.

A general election was held in 1990, but the military refused to recognize
the landslide victory of Suu Kyi's party. Suu Kyi, who won the 1991 Nobel
Peace Prize, has spent more than 12 of the past 19 years in detention and
is currently under house arrest in Yangon.

____________________________________

September 22, Democratic Voice of Burma
Daw Suu’s appeal finalized – Htet Aung Kyaw

Detained National League for Democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s
appeal against her house arrest is to be submitted to Naypyidaw early this
week, the NLD information wing said.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has had several meetings with her lawyer, U Kyi Win,
in recent weeks to finalise the details of the appeal.

NLD spokesperson U Nyan Win said this was the first appeal for Daw Aung
San Suu Kyi during the more than five years of her current term of house
arrest.

“There are a lot of reasons why Daw Suu’s house arrest is not according to
the law,” Nyan Win said.

“The appeal states that the extension of house arrest and also the order
to put her under house arrest in the first place did not have legal
grounds,” he said.

“If everything is dealt with according to the law, then Daw Suu should be
released.”

Lawyer U Hla Myo Myint, assistant to U Kyi Win, will be travelling to
Naypyidaw to submit the appeal directly to ministers.

U Kyi Win could not be reached for comment.

____________________________________

September 22, Democratic Voice of Burma
Local guards punished for questioning official – Htet Aung Kyaw

A resident of Myitkyina said a local ward Peace and Development Council
member and three locals were slapped and forced to do squats by an
official after they questioned him while on guard duty.

At around midnight on 19 September in Jarmaikung ward, a ward PDC
secretary and three local men were on night guard duty at the fire
station, which shares a building with the ward PDC office.

A Jarmaikung resident said the men spotted a stranger passing by and
started questioning him.

"The people on night guard duty questioned the stranger, as they had been
ordered,” the local said.

“He happened to be an official from the Military Affairs Security who was
passing through the ward," he explained.

"They let him go after questioning him, but he came back later in a truck
and took the people who had questioned him to the intelligence office," he
went on.

"When they got there, the MAS official, without saying a word to them,
slapped the ward PDC secretary and the ward locals, and then ordered them
to do squats."

____________________________________

September 22, Irrawaddy
Burma's monks jailed, disrobed for challenging Junta – Marwaan Macan-Marker

In military-ruled Burma the jails are filling up with Buddhist monks.
Currently, 136 members of the clergy are behind bars, most of them in the
notorious Insein Prison in Rangoon, the former capital.  That is the
largest number of monks jailed at one time by the oppressive regime, say
activists living in exile.

But that is not all. "The monks have been disrobed by the authorities,"
says Aung Kyaw Oo, a member of the Assistance Association for Political
Prisoners in Burma (AAPP), a group of former political prisoners
monitoring the activities within the vast network of jails in the country.
"They are being treated like the other prisoners."

There are also reports of torture, Aung Kyaw Oo said during a telephone
interview from Mae Sot, a town along the Thai-Burma border, where the AAPP
is based. "Some of the monks have been beaten with sticks, punched, kicked
after they had protested. Some have their ankles in iron shackles."

The "crime" they are alleged to have committed was leading tens of
thousands of fellow monks in peaceful anti-government protests through the
streets of Rangoon and other urban centres in September 2007. They are
among the 1,004 political prisoners who have been arrested in Burma, or
Myanmar, since the protests, the largest number detained in nearly two
decades.

Till the protests, the first anniversary of which falls this week, there
had been 1,150 political prisoners, some of them in jail on spurious
charges since 1989, says the global rights lobby Amnesty International.
"Now there are more than 2,100; the figure has nearly doubled in a single
year."

The protests were triggered by the junta suddenly raising oil prices in
August, adding another crushing blow to a people already suffering from
increasing economic hardship. For nearly a week in September last year,
thousands of monks led people in a procession, chanting the metta sutta, a
prayer for loving kindness. But on September 26, the junta struck back
with ferocity, unleashing the security forces on the monks and the
swelling crowds they led.

The United Nations estimated that at least 31 people were killed and 74
had gone missing. But opposition groups place the death toll in the
hundreds, including monks.

The junta’s abuse of the clergy, despite the country’s deep Buddhist
history, where over 85 percent of its population are followers, is not
new. Buddhist monks were also victims of a brutal crackdown in 1990, when
they came out in protest after the regime refused to recognize the results
of a general election held that year. Since then, 212 monks have been
jailed and disrobed.

A similar pattern is also playing out in the secret trials that have begun
to try the jailed monks. The trials are being held in the special courts
set up within the compound of the sprawling Insein Prison. So far, 46
monks have appeared at these trials, held away from the public eye, and
include U Indika, the abbot of Rangoon’s Maggin Monastery, a hotspot
during last September’s protest.

"U Indika and another monk appeared in Rangoon’s Insein Prison (on Friday,
Sep. 19), according to relatives of the detained monks. They are facing
numerous charges for alleged criminal offences related to their
involvement in the protests," reports The Irrawaddy, a current affairs
magazine published in northern Thailand by Burmese journalists living in
exile.

The monks, some of whom have no access to lawyers, have been charged under
Section 295 of the penal code for the "deliberate and malicious act to
outrage religious feelings" and "insulting religious beliefs." Section 505
of the penal code faults the monks for issuing "statements that induce
public mischief."

"What is going on is a great violation of the [rights of] monks in
prison," says Aung Htoo, general secretary of the Burma Lawyers Council.
"Monks are allowed to wear their robes and pursue their rituals in prison.
But this is not happening, because they have been forced to disrobe and
wear prison clothes, and they are not getting the food they need at the
correct time."

"The authorities are violating the laws written in two manuals, the court
manual and the jail manual," he said in an interview. "We need to put
pressure on the regime to at least comply with the existing national laws
of the country, although they may want to ignore international human
rights law."

"These violations have happened before but little was done to challenge
it. But we cannot ignore the present situation because [the number of]
jailed monks were not as high as what we have now."

Burma’s military, which has held the country in an iron grip since a 1962
coup, is sowing more anger among the public for its abuse of the clergy.
"Many people are angry and upset at the abuse of monks and want to do
something. The regime will be cursed for this," said one Rangoon resident,
a teacher, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The junta, sensing possible outrage to mark the crushing of the monks
during last year’s protest, is responding with tighter security in Rangoon
and other cities that have strong, politically active clergy. After all,
Burmese monks, who number close to 400,000, remain the only institution in
the country with the power to challenge the ruling armed forces, who have
a similar number of troops.

"Security around important pagodas and monasteries in Rangoon and Mandalay
has been strengthened. There are more troops checking the movement of
people," says Win Min, a Burmese national security expert teaching at a
university in northern Thailand. "The situation has become tense. The
junta is worried that something may happen again, led by the monks."

____________________________________

September 22, Irrawaddy
Rohingya group jailed for seeking work in Rangoon – Saw Yan Naing

More than 100 Muslim Rohingya people from Burma’s Arakan State were
arrested while travelling to Rangoon in search of work and were later
sentenced to six months’ imprisonment, according to sources in the Arakan
capital, Sittwe.

Burma’s Rohingya minority are prohibited from travelling outside Arakan
State and are further marginalized by other discriminatory regime laws.

Many seek to escape the economic hardship of their restricted lives and
turn to brokers to help them find work outside Arakan State. Hundreds put
to sea in leaky vessels and head for Malaysia, but many end up on Thailand
beaches or drown in the stormy waters of the Andaman Sea.

Thai authorities are reported to have arrested about 1,000 Rohingya
migrants who landed illegally on Thai beaches in 2006. In February 2007, a
group of 92 Rohingya men and youths were arrested off the Thai port of
Ranong.

The group arrested near Sittwe were aboard a Rangoon-bound bus, according
to one source, Myo Nyunt. Children were also apprehended, but their fate
is unknown.

Sources said brokers who had arranged for the group to travel to Rangoon
were also arrested and had been sent to Naypyidaw.

Brokers reportedly earn about 800,000 Kyat (about US $640) from each
Rohingya they send to work in Rangoon. The trips are disguised as
religious pilgrimages.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

September 22, Kaladan Press Network
World Peace Day observed in Burmese refugee camp

World Peace Day was observed in a Burmese refugee camp from 9 am to till
noon yesterday. A rally was held in the refugee camp, said a Majee (shed
leader) of the camp.

The World Peace Day was organized by the Technical Assistance Incorporate
(TAI) and supported by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR).



Mr. Tofail the field coordinator of TAI, medical team leader Dr. Md. Musa,
Dr. Rumy of the Research Training and Management (RTM), field coordinator
Mrs Monika and staff members participated in the rally. Students from the
refugee camp also participated in the rally.

The UN Peace Day was inaugurated by releasing six white doves during the
peace march in the refugee camp.

The education officer of the UNHCR Mrs Catrina presided over the meeting. 
She spoke about the World Peace Day and when, where, why this day is
observed. September 21 is significant as it was chosen by the United
Nations as a day of ceasefire and to stop all forms of violence. Yesterday
was the 'International Day of Peace,' and people round the world
celebrated it. International Day of Peace was observed on yesterday to
strengthen the ideals of peace within and among all nations and people.
The International Day of Peace was first declared by the United Nations
General Assembly in 1981 as a day of global ceasefire and non-violence.

Three students from each school of the refugee camp entertained the
participants with songs.

United Nations Secretary General, Ban ki-Moon marked the International Day
of Peace on Sunday by stressing some of the humanitarian factors that
contribute to armed conflict. "This year, the International Day of Peace
takes on special meaning," he said in a statement released by UN
information office.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

September 22, Narinjara News
Burma to build trade center in Maungdaw

The Burmese military government has plans to build a trade center in
Maungdaw, a western border town, in order to promote trade with
Bangladesh, said a businessman.
He said, "Now Western Command Commander General Thaung Aye has arrived in
Maungdaw to inspect the ground where the trade center will be built."

General Thaung Aye arrived in Maungdaw on Saturday along with his wife,
and discussed the matter of a trade center with senior officials from
Maungdaw District.

"The Burmese military authority will reportedly use 400 million kyats for
the trade center project, and the capital will be lent from the Husbandry
and Marine Ministry," the businessman said.

Local business sources in the region said the Burmese military government
is now trying to rescue the economy in Arakan State, which has been
deteriorating for years now because of a variety of factors. Many
businesses and industries in the state have been suffering from heavy
financial losses.

"The trade center is intended to sell agricultural products and marine
resources, including shrimp products, to Bangladesh, and Bangladesh
businesses will be invited to buy the products from the center," the
businessman added.

The military authority selected a large plot of land near a boat jetty in
Maungdaw and construction on the project is expected to start very soon.

According to local business sources, the shrimp industry in Arakan State
has been failing the last few years since Singapore refused to import
shrimp from Burma after the US government imposed stricter sanctions on
Burma.

After exports to Singapore were halted, shrimp from Arakan was exported to
Bangladesh, but the trade suffered losses due to problems including
communication difficulties and lack of proper facilities.

"It has not only affected Arakanese businesses, but it has also affected
state revenue, so the authorities want to promote the marine products
trade with Bangladesh," said the businessman. The trade center will focus
on the sale of marine products to Bangladesh.

During General Thaung Aye's trip to Maungdaw he is expected to also
inspect some parts of the path of the friendship road between Burma and
Bangladesh that will be constructed in the future.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

September 22, Democratic Voice of Burma
Chinese tainted milk scare escalates – Yee May Aung

Burma is among the countries that have taken action against Chinese-made
milk products as the Chinese health ministry announced that nearly 53,000
children had become ill after drinking contaminated milk.

AFP reported that most were said to have recovered but almost 13,000
remained in hospital in China after drinking milk products contaminated
with melamine, an industrial chemical.

Countries including Burma, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and Bangladesh have
suspended the import and sale of Chinese milk products or limited their
distribution amid fears that more children could be affected.

Residents of Mandalay and Pakokku in central Burma said demand for
Chinese-made milk powder had fallen since the crisis began.

But some Pakokku residents said that the affected brands were not
particularly popular in local markets.

"The brands that have had problems do not really come into the markets
here as we prefer to buy cheaper brands such as Red Cow and Butterfly,"
one Pakokku resident said.

A resident of Mandalay said Dumax-brand milk powder from New Zealand was
the most widely used by locals.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

September 22, Mizzima News
Religious freedom hanging in the balance in Burma

The United States State Department has accused Burma's governing junta of
being guilty of systematic religious persecution against members of the
dominant Buddhist community as well religious minorities throughout the
country.

In Friday's release of its 10th Annual Report on International Religious
Freedom, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice again identified Burma as one
of eight "Countries of Particular Concern." Burma has been classified as
such in each of the ten years of publication.

With specific reference to the monk-led protests of 2007, the report calls
out the generals on their attempt to "systematically restrict efforts by
Buddhist clergy to promote human rights and political freedom."

Citing the numerous raids of monasteries in the weeks and months since the
Saffron Revolution, in addition to the physical abuse suffered by several
members of the clergy at the hands of government security forces, the
State Department chastises the junta for severely curtailing religious
freedom of expression and association.

"Members of the Sangha were not allowed to preach sermons pertaining to
politics. Religious lectures could not contain any words, phrases, or
stories reflecting political views," according to the study's findings.

Meanwhile, adherence to a form of Buddhism in accordance with the
interests of the military government continues to be a goal of the regime
as well as a means of personal advancement for those deemed to be
dutifully toeing the line.

Though crediting the government with apparently no longer subscribing to a
policy of forced conversion, the reports authors spare no corner in their
disclosure of the numerous means through with the regime seeks the
conversion of non-Buddhists to Buddhism.

Potential benefits to be enjoyed by obliging Buddhists within Burma's
tightly controlled social network are said to include favoritism for
promotion within government and military ranks as well as a loosening of
restrictions on proselytizing religious doctrine when compared to the
working environments of adherents to other systems of belief such as
Christianity and Islam.

The report does acknowledge that government promotion of Buddhism to the
detriment of minority religions is well-entrenched in the annals of modern
Burmese history, with attempts under the democratically elected government
of Prime Minister U Nu an expanding component of the fabric of Burmese
politics in the latter 1950s and early 1960s.

However, in a relatively new development, the study finds that there is a
growing prejudice on the part of the state against citizens of South Asian
origin, of which followers of Islam comprise a significant percentage of
the population.

Meanwhile, "Christian groups continued to have trouble obtaining
permission to buy land or build new churches in most regions," according
to the findings.

Burma's Rohingya Muslims are singled out for their persistent targeting by
the regime, a population that is still not even eligible to obtain
National Registration Cards indicating they are in fact a component of
Burmese society.

Additionally, "Since 1988 the Government permits only three marriages per
year per village in the primarily Rohingya townships of Maungdaw and
Buthidaung in northern Rakhine State," discloses the study, "and each
marriage requires the approval of the Regional Military Commander."

In Washington D.C., Rice told reporters, "The United States will continue
to actively promote religious freedom as essential to human dignity, a
robust civil society, and democratic development."

"But we are concerned by efforts to promote a so-called defamation of
religions concept, which has been the focus of numerous resolutions passed
at the United Nations," continued the Secretary of State. "Instead of
protecting religious practice and promoting tolerance, this concept seeks
to limit freedom of speech and that could undermine the standards of
international religious freedom."

China, India, Indonesia, Russia and Vietnam are also singled out in the
report as countries of "significant interest" to the United States in the
realm of religious persecution. Each of these five countries is a member
of United Nations Secretary Ban Ki-moon's 'Group of Friends' regarding
U.N. initiatives targeting the crisis prone Southeast Asian country.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

September 21, Guardian (UK)
Dark Burmese days – Amy Gold

It is a year since a Burmese soldier shot Japanese photographer Kenji
Nagai in the heart while he was covering Burma's saffron revolution for
the Japanese agency APF News. Nagai's dying moments, spent lying on his
back attempting to film his killer, who stood over him taking aim, were
captured by another foreign journalist. Reuters photographer Adrees Latif
was crouching on a bridge overhead. His image, which subsequently won a
Pulitzer Prize, provoked a worldwide furore, exposing the junta's defence
- that Nagai's death was caused by a stray bullet - as worthless.

The killing of a foreign journalist was highly unusual in a country where
reporters who slipped quietly into the country on tourist visas were
rarely apprehended. I spent two weeks there earlier this year without any
interference. Andrew Marshall, who covered the saffron revolution for
Time, says: "The main difficulty in Burma is reporting the story without
endangering your interviewees or the people who help you meet them."

For Burmese journalists, the situation is a little different. "Getting
caught can mean torture and imprisonment. It can even be a death sentence.
They are the ones who run all the risks," says Nic Dunlop, a photographer
who worked in Burma for more than a decade.

Days after the September demonstrations were violently suppressed, after
the foreign journalists had flown home, the junta rounded up local
reporters and photojournalists. According to Reporters without Borders, 15
journalists were arrested and accused of sending information abroad at
this time. The hunt for photojournalists was so intense that several
stopped working, threw away their cameras and went into exile.

Among those currently detained are photographer U Thaung Sein, in prison
for more than two years for photographing Burma's new capital, Naypidaw;
blogger and comedian U Zargana, arrested in June for talking to the BBC
about the devastation caused by cyclone Nargis; and journalist U Win Tin,
who has served 19 years of a 20-year sentence for spreading propaganda
during demonstrations in the 1980s.

In addition, in the last week, three Burmese news agencies in exile - the
Irrawaddy, the Democratic Voice of Burma and The New Era Journal, whose
websites locals rely on for uncensored news - have been victims of
cyberspace attacks. Each has been bombarded by requests for information
designed to overwhelm servers and render sites incapable of responding to
regular traffic. Fearful of further unrest during the anniversary of the
saffron revolution, the junta appears to be doing its utmost to continue
silencing Burmese media.

____________________________________
INTERVIEW

September 21, Human Rights Tribune
The Burmese Junta looks to the stars – Carole Vann

One of the most feared regimes in the world relied on the stars and
auspicious numbers before it cracked down on the Monks in September 2007,
according to Burma expert and former Le Monde reporter, Jean-Claude Buhrer

Interview by Carole Vann, Human Rights Tribune - Exactly a year ago,
thousands of Burmese monks took to the streets in a show of popular
discontent at an astronomical rise in prices. Thanks to mobile phones,
these images were quickly seen around the world. But the authorities
rapidly and violently put down the protests and Myanmar was once again
under the control of the Generals, who despite the ravages of cyclone
Nargis in April remain in power.

The former Le Monde correspondent and an expert on Burma, Jean-Claude
Buhrer has just published, with Claude Levenson, "Burma: the Monks against
the Dictatorship"(*). He gives his view on the powerful yet also
superstitious Generals.

A year after the Monks protests, we hear nothing out of Burma. What has
been happening?

The Burmese Generals have, as they do after every show of popular
discontent, cracked down. Since they grabbed power, the military have
always used force. In 1988, when the students took to the streets, at
least 3000 people were killed. Last year the military killed dozens when
they fired into the crowds, stepped up their arrests and emptied the
monasteries. In Burma, there are almost 500,000 monks. With the people too
scared to speak out, they were the only counterweight to an omnipotent
army of some half a million men. However, as a result of the authoritie’s
incompetence, it was the monks who helped the population after the deadly
cyclone, Nargis, hit Buma in May.

The authorities failed to act for 10 days after the protests broke out.
Why was that?

The government was overwhelmed by the scale of the protests. At first the
authorities did not dare take on the monks as they did not want to act
against fellow Buddhists. But when it became obvious that the protests
were growing and not dying out, they decided to crack down.

The date that they chose to act was also significant. The Burmese attach a
lot of importance to astrology and the science of numbers. The military
bases all its decisions on numbers. For them the number 9 is a good omen.
They therefore decided to unleash the army on the 27 September 2008,
because this date has 3 nines in it. 27 that is 2+7=9: September is the
9th month in the year: 2007 is again 2+7= 9. They believed that this was
the day to act. Another example of this is that just before the popular
uprisings in 1988, as the economy was going badly, the military decided to
replace the bank notes of 50 and 100 kyats with notes of 45 and 90 kyats.
They thought that they would bring luck. Obviously these changes made life
pretty complicated for traders and householders.

Their superstitions mean that when anything is going badly, they just
change the name and believe that they have solved the problem. After the
major demonstrations in 1988, they changed the name of the country. Burma
became Myanmar and the names of many towns changed too. They imposed these
changes at the UN, just as the Khmer Rouge had done changing Cambodia into
Kampuchea.

In the same vein, they inherited from Britain the tradition of driving on
the left, but overnight they decided to switch to driving on the right. As
the steering wheels remained on the right and people still got off buses
on the left, this caused chaos. People stepped off the buses no longer
onto the pavement but into the middle of the road. In 2005 they had
another one of their mad whims, when they suddenly decided to move the
capital from Rangoon to Naypyidaw, "the city of kings" where members of
the Junta live, cut off, in a sort of bunker.

UN efforts in Burma have been a fiasco haven’t they?

In 1992, two years after the military ignored the results of Aung San Suu
Kyi’s party’s resounding victory in the elections, the UN appointed a
first special rapporteur, a Japanese who did not do much. Then there was a
Mauritian who did not even visit. He was replaced in 2000 by a Brazilian,
Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, but in 2003 he became persona non grata, after he
protested when he found hidden microphones while he was talking to
prisoners.

It was only in November 2007, following the popular protests and a special
session on Burma at the Human Rights Council, that the military let down
their guard, letting Pinheiro as well as the special envoy of the UN
Secretary General, the Nigerian diplomat, Ibrahim Gambari, into the
country. But neither of them, ignored by the Junta, could do a lot.
Frustrated, Paulo Pinheiro, threw in the towel in March, while the last
mission of Ibrahim Gambari came to nothing.

Is there any way to put pressure on Burma?

The UN Security Council can’t do anything as it comes up against the
double veto of China and Russia. Beijing is the main partner and arms
supplier to the Junta. China has built hydroelectric dams on the border
and has observation towers in Burma. As for Russia, it also provides
weapons and has signed a cooperation accord on nuclear energy. For its
part, India cooperates with the Junta in order to neutralise various
rebellious minority groups that live on its border with Burma.

In spite of EU sanctions, Total remains one of the major investors in
Burma. And the Burmese Junta can count on the indulgence of its partners
in ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations), who are more
interested in its gas, forests, precious stones and other natural
resources. The military said at a meeting of ASEAN members that it was
unmoved by external pressure and that they were used to living as an
autarky. And if necessary, they would close in on themselves just like an
oyster around its pearl.

Translated from the French by Claire Doole

____________________________________

September 22, Irrawaddy
Taking a deep breath – Ibrahim Gambari

The Irrawaddy recently spoke with UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari about his
meetings with Aung San Suu Kyi, his disappointments and his hopes for the
future of Burma.

 Ibrahim Gambari

Question: Several UN special envoys to Burma have come and gone over the
past 20 years, each time leaving the country empty-handed. What is your
take on that?

Answer: Well, I can only speak for my own role. I took on this assignment
in May 2006 as Under Secretary General for Political Affairs, but I was
not designated as special advisor on Myanmar [Burma] until May last year.
So my own engagement is rather more recent.

It has had its ups and downs. But I think—if one wants to be fair—one has
to see that before I came, for two and half years, no special envoy of the
UN was even allowed in the country.

I am probably the only foreigner to be allowed to meet Aung San Suu Kyi,
which I have done on seven occasions. I think it is also fair to say that
we have therefore opened a high-level engagement between the UN and the
authorities in Myanmar.

They can't claim that they are not hearing the message of the
international community, because we have been saying this directly and
indirectly. Directly to them and through my reporting to them through the
General Assembly President, the Group of Friends and the Security Council
at their request.

It is also fair to say that in the aftermath of the crisis—in September
and October—we managed to establish the commencement of dialogue, between
the government and Aung San Suu Kyi. It is regrettable that that high
promise has not been realized.

Q: So what went wrong between then and now?

A: I believe—from my last conversation with Aung San Suu Kyi in March—that
she posed a number of questions through the minister [Aung Kyi] to the
authorities and did not get answers.

Sometimes, she didn’t get the answer fast enough because, she believes,
the level of the interlocutor was not high enough.

We—the United Nations, the Good Offices Role of the
Secretary-General—supports the request that this dialogue should be
resumed and should not be broken up even when there are disagreements, and
that the government should consider raising the level of the interlocutor
on their side so that there would be prompt responses to her questions.

Q: When you went to Burma last time, Suu Kyi refused to meet you. Why?

A: To be honest with you, I do not know.
What I can say for sure [is that] I have met her seven times now since May
2006 and each time she always emphasized this: the central role the UN is
promoting dialogue between her and the government and is bridging an
all-inclusive process of national reconciliation.

Secondly, she has often expressed disappointment on the couple of
occasions I have been in Myanmar that I have not been received at the
highest level of the government. So it was quite a surprise to me and a
disappointment, frankly, because each time I have met her, I am able to
report her views to the UN.

Since so many things had happened since I last met her in March—the
referendum, the cyclone, the constitution—I would have very much liked to
hear her views on all these issues and report them faithfully to those who
are interested.

And, I do often pass on her views to the authorities and her position to
engage in time-bound substantive dialogue.

Q: What is your sense on why she did it?

A: There are all kinds of speculation. One is that she is frustrated. She
wanted to show her frustration with her continued detention and her
frustration with the slow pace of the political process.

I think she may have had a point.

Q: During your last visit, was the military junta the only channel of
communication between you and Suu Kyi?

A: Yes. I tell the government beforehand who I would like to see and they
make the arrangements. Often I do not get what I request, unfortunately.

Q: You are very often accused of becoming a prisoner of the government
when you go there. You spend most of your time meeting officials and
people who support the government, and not the opposition leaders.

A: Well, that is not entirely fair. For example, the last time I met with
the NLD central executive committee twice. The second meeting was more
than an hour. It was very substantive, very productive. And the statement
that came out of the NLD was that they were pleased with the meeting.

I also met with the minister in charge of relations with Aung San Suu Kyi
and had a good discussion on how to resume dialogue. I wanted to find out
what is really responsible for this break in dialogue, and how it can be
revived.

I met, of course, with other representatives of civil society—the Red
Cross and the Chamber of Commerce, but it is true that most of the people
I met were pro-government. Q: After your last visit, a number of Burmese
people and observers said that your mission has failed—your mission had
lost steam. Do you think that’s fair?

A: The [UN] Secretary-General, on whose behalf I act, has come out to say
that he does not regard the mission as a failure—that it is a process of
consultation, of mediation.

But it is also very clear that we are frustrated that no tangible results
are coming out of the process. That is what the people of Myanmar want and
that is what the international community expects.

I left five issues in the hands of the government:

First: The release of all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi.

Second: The commencement, without delay, of a substantive time-bound
dialogue between the government, Aung San Suu Kyi and others.

Third: to create a climate and enhance the credibility of the process [so
that] any future election in the country would be more likely be accepted
by the people of Myanmar and the international community.

[Fourth] Then we had the issues of a more broad-based social economic
discussion in the country through the creation of a national economic
forum.

Fifth: how to regularize the engagement of the Good Offices role of the
[UN] Secretary-General and the government. It should be regular and
routine, including the possibility of stationing a staff or two of mine in
Rangoon to prepare for visits and be liaison persons in between visits.

So, we are waiting for the government [to react] to these points on the
table.

Incidentally, when I discussed these points with the central executive
committee members of the NLD, they appeared to support all except the
election.

I must use this opportunity to say one very important point: people
criticize the Good Offices role as, in effect, blessing the government's
“Road Map.”

I want to clarify that the road map is the government's road map. The
opposition has reservations and the international community has its own
views.

It was made very clear that we want an all-inclusive national
reconciliation process; a dialogue that [would address] the real concerns
of the people; the discussion of social economic issues; and how to
achieve a democratic, peaceful united and prosperous Myanmar with full
respect for the human rights of its people.

Q: Now there seems to be a deadlock. How do you plan to address it?

A: I prefer to use the word “challenges.” one is how to get the government
to respond positively to the five points that we raised during our last
visit.

The second is how to get Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD back to the
political process fully;

The third challenge is how to bridge the gap between some key members of
the international community.

Q: How do you propose to address those challenges?

A: First, the [UN] secretary-general convened a meeting of his “Group of
Friends on Myanmar” and he chaired the meeting for two hours last Friday.
He plans to have another meeting of the Group of Friends at a ministerial
level.

The UN can only be effective and strong if the members want it. So, we
need the help of those who have influence on all sides, so that these gaps
that are mentioned—these three challenges—can be met.

Also, the [UN] secretary-general has indicated that we have to take a deep
breath and rethink, reprioritize our strategy and our point of engagement
with the authorities. We can't abandon the people of Myanmar.

Third, the [UN] secretary-general has encouraged Indonesia's initiative to
have a small group of some countries who are closest neighbors to Myanmar
and who have some [experience] of transition from a military to a
democratic regime, and to whom the [Burmese] authorities are more likely
to listen to, including China and, we hope, India.

Q: Is that going to be at a Head of the State level?

A: No, I don’t think so; but hopefully at a ministerial level. I think it
is up to the Indonesians to announce that.

Q: So now, you would like to pause for a couple of months?

A: Not necessarily. A deep breath, as I said.

Q: When are you next going back to Burma?

A: An invitation has been issued to return. The important thing is not to
visit for the sake of it. We need to prepare carefully this time, so that
some positive response—a tangible response—to those issues which we left
on the table [is forthcoming].

Q: But the [UN] secretary-general is planning to go there in December?

A: He has said very clearly that he went to Myanmar twice under
exceptional special circumstances.

It was a very successful mission. The authorities relaxed some of the
restrictions and they saw the value of the international cooperation.

One of the positive outcomes of that cooperation was that the tripartite
core group mechanism—Burma, Asean and the UN—is working well in the case
of Cyclone Nargis.

That showed the authorities in Myanmar that the international community
brings positive results and shows how the spirit of cooperation with Asean
and the UN could be extended to political matters.

But the [UN] secretary-general has made it very clear that he would go to
Myanmar provided that tangible results come out through the Good Offices
role, including through my activities.

Q: So there are a few pre-conditions for his visit?

A: I do not want to make it a pre-condition. But, as I said, this is what
we would like to see.

Q: Including the release of Aung San Suu Kyi?

A: Including responding positively to all the five issues which I have put
on their table.

Q: The French ambassador said outside the Security Council that the [UN]
secretary-general needs to put more pressure on Burma. Do you agree with
that?

A: We want all those who have influence to exercise this influence in
tangible ways on the authorities in Myanmar so that this dialogue will
resume without any further delay.

Q: Do you think there is any conflict of interest because you are on the
board of the U Thant Institute and, as you know, there is not a good
chemistry between the U Thant circle and the Aung San dynasty in Burma?

A:  First of all, I was not aware of those dynamics when I joined the U
Thant board.

The U Thant Institute is an NGO. I joined the international advisory board
of this NGO when I was a special advisor to the [UN] secretary-general on
Africa. The role U Thant played as UN secretary-general in Africa is not
often clearly understood.

That was my motivation for joining the U Thant Foundation and it remains
valid. I do not see any conflict of interest. If I did, I would reassess
my membership of the NGO.

Q: What is your own view on the 2010 elections?

A: My own view, which is not that of the [UN] secretary-general is that
[although] we are mandated under the Good Offices role to extend technical
assistance to countries that request them, [we should not wait] until 2010
to create the conditions that would enhance the credibility of the
elections.

We want to act now to prevent disunity and divisions later. It is possible
therefore that action can be taken—an all-inclusive process, a transparent
process, a process that is free and fair and can be implemented between
now and 2010.

Q: After your last visit and so much criticism and calls for your
resignation, at any point did you think that you would submit your
resignation?

A: As a human being, of course you feel discouraged, particularly when
somebody's criticism is based on an erroneous report on my position—in
this case the road map and the elections.

But it comes with the territory. For example, I have been characterized as
too close to the regime. Well, there was a time when the regime thought I
was too close to Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD.

As long as I have the confidence of both sides, and as long as the [UN]
secretary-general has confidence in me, I am prepared to continue and
engage the challenge. But we need help—it is not a personal thing.

Q: Last question. When you go to Burma, what do you eat—Burmese food or
something else?

A: only Burmese food. The people of Myanmar are very good people. They are
endowed with very good mineral resources. They used to be a leading
country in Asia—their educational system, rice production, agricultural
production.

The country produced the first Asian secretary-general. A country like
that deserves to move in a direction, which we all want—a peaceful
democratic, united country with full respect for the human rights of its
people.


____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

September 22, Women’s League of Burma
Call for the immediate release of Burmese democracy activist Nilar Thein

Nilar Thein, a woman human rights defender and leading pro-democracy
activist was arrested on 10 September 2008 and is currently being held at
the Aung Tha Pyay Detention Centre in Rangoon, where she is at risk of
torture and ill-treatment. WLB urgently appeals for her release and
demands that the SPDC treat her humanely.

Nilar Thein is a prominent 1988 generation student leader who led peaceful
protests in August and September 2007. As a result, she was forced into
hiding because of the junta's brutal crackdown on peaceful protestors in
Rangoon and other cities. She is one of the Czech Republic's Homo Homini
award winners for her promotion of democracy, human rights and nonviolent
solutions to political conflicts.

Nilar Thein has been imprisoned twice before; she was detained for two
months in 1991 and then spent nine years in jail from 1996-2005 for her
political activities. Her husband, Kyaw Min Yu (or Jimmy) has spent the
past 16 years in prison after participating in the 1988 pro-democracy
uprising and is currently being held in the notorious Insein Prison.
Following Jimmy's arrest, and Nilar's fleeing the junta's crackdown, their
4-month-old baby was placed in the care of family members.

Whilst in hiding, Nilar Thein continued to issue public appeals calling
for the international community and the UN Human Rights Security Council
to take action in resolving the grave human rights abuses that women
suffer from under the military regime in Burma.  WLB is gravely concerned
for Nilar Thein's safety given the regime's notoriously vindictive
treatment of prominent activists. On September 12, 2008 Amnesty
International issued an Urgent Appeal for Nilar Thein, expressing concern
that she may "face torture and ill treatment."

The UN Declaration of Human Rights (specifically Article 1) states that:
"Everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to
promote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights
and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels."

We call on activists around the world to urge their government to call for
the immediate and unconditional release of Nilar Thein!

Women's League of Burma: www.womenofburma.org

21 September 2008