BurmaNet News, February 20, 2009

[Editor]

February 20, 2009, Issue #3656


INSIDE BURMA
AP: Myanmar junta announces 6,300 convicts to be freed
Irrawaddy: NLD criticizes Gambari-Japan joint-statement
Mizzima News: UNA opposes junta's proposed 2010 general elections
DVB: Blogger Nay Phone Latt’s sentence reduced
DVB: Activist Su Su Nway’s sentence reduced

BUSINESS / TRADE
Xinhua: Myanmar fruit export through border trade increases in 2008-09

HEALTH / AIDS
VOA: UN: Food shortages, poverty forcing Rohingya to flee Burma

DRUGS
The National (UAE): Myanmar poor turn to poppies

REGIONAL
AFP: 'Regional' solution for Myanmar migrants: Thai PM
Stateless Watch (Thailand): Rohingya traffickers hunted

INTERNATIONAL
DPA: After prisoner release, UN panel blasts Myanmar and its own envoy
Irrawaddy: UN General Assembly President calls for dialogue in Burma

OPINION / OTHER
Washington Post: Burma's clenched fist
IHT: Whom do sanctions hurt? – Stanley A. Weiss

PRESS RELEASE
Not On Our Watch: Not On Our Watch donates $500,000 to lifesaving and
humanitarian programs for Burmese



____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

February 20, Associated Press
Myanmar junta announces 6,300 convicts to be freed

Myanmar's military government announced an amnesty Friday night for more
than 6,000 prisoners but did not mention whether any political detainees
will be among those released.

State radio and television announced that the convicts from various
prisons would be released starting Saturday. The brief announcement said
that 6,313 prisoners were being freed in recognition of their good conduct
and so that they would be able to participate in a general election
planned for next year.

Human rights groups estimate that the regime holds more than 2,100
political detainees, including pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who
is under house arrest. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi has spent 13 of
the past 19 years in detention without trial.

When the junta freed 9,002 prisoners last September, only about a dozen
were political detainees.

In recent months, the junta's courts have sentenced more than 100
dissidents, including some of the country's most prominent activists, to
prison terms that would keep them incarcerated well past the 2010 polls.
The junta says the elections will restore democracy, but critics charge
they will be a sham to keep the military in control.

The top U.N. envoy to Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, who recently visitied the
country, told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York that he had not
received any official communique from the government and was waiting to
see how many of the prisoners were criminals and how many were political
prisoners.

"At the same time I believe it's fair to welcome the release of prisoners,
particularly political prisoners," Gambari said.

Asked for Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's reaction, U.N. spokeswoman
Michele Montas echoed Gambari, saying "it still remains unclear whether
and how many political prisoners this deal may include."

"We encourage the government to release all political prisoners including
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi," she said.

Myanmar, which has been under military rule since 1962, is shunned by
Western nations because of its poor human rights record. The ruling
generals came to power in 1988 after crushing a pro-democracy uprising and
killing as many as 3,000 people.

The junta called elections in 1990 but refused to honor the results when
Suu Kyi's party won overwhelmingly.

____________________________________

February 20, Irrawaddy
NLD criticizes Gambari-Japan joint-statement – Wai Moe

Ahead of the United Nations Security Council’s closed session on Burma on
Friday, the main opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) said it
disagreed with a joint-statement by UN Special Envoy to Burma Ibrahim
Gambari and Japan’s foreign minister on Thursday.

Nyan Win, an NLD spokesperson, told The Irrawaddy, “The party issued two
statements yesterday because we want to response to The United Nations
Special Envoy to Burma Ibrahim Gambari’s co-statement with Japan’s foreign
minister in Tokyo on February 12.”

“As well, as we want to make a clarification on our stand on unconditional
dialogue as well as NLD willingness for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s
trip to the country,” he said.

The joint-statement issued by Gambari and Japanese Foreign Minister
Hirofumi Nakasone said they agreed to encourage the Burmese junta to hold
general elections in 2010 in a form that could be accepted by the
international community.

The NLD said it was concerned that the joint statement was not consistent
with NLD demands as well as resolutions by the UN General Assembly which
honor the 1990 election results.

In the joint-statement , Hirofumi Nakasone said, “Even though there are
few positive moves by the Myanmar [Burma] government, it's a huge step for
them to have announced that they would hold a general election in 2010,
compared with two past decades of silence about its democratization
process.”

“If they [the junta] take favorable action, the international community
should react in a manner that encourages more positive actions,” he said.

Japan is one of the main donor countries to Burma. Japan cut its
assistance to Burma after the crackdown on demonstrators in September
2007. During the crackdown, Japanese videographer Kenji Nagai was killed
by Burmese security forces. Japan has never applied economic sanctions
against the Burmese junta, as have the United States and European
countries.

In early 2006, Japan, along with China and Russian, rejected a proposal to
take the Burma issue to the UN Security Council. Analysts say that Japan
has sometimes worked to tone down criticism of Burma in the UN, because it
wants to counter Beijing’s influence in the regime.

In its statement, the NLD also outlined three policy principles that it
said were presented to Gambari when he met with the NLD leader Aung San
Suu Kyi and other NLD officials during his most recent visit to Burma.

The first was the release of all political prisoners unconditionally.
Human rights groups claim there are more than 2,100 political prisoners in
Burma’s prisons.

The second was face-to-face dialogue between Suu Kyi and the junta’s
leader, Snr-Gen Than Shwe, to resolve political problems in the country.
The third was a review of the 2008 junta-backed-constitution.

The NLD has said it will not take part in the election unless their
demands are met.

When Gambari asked what was the first NLD priority, the officials said it
was the release of all political prisoners, according to the statement.

NLD sources have said that on Gambari’s visit to Burma in August 2008, the
party met with him twice. In the first meeting, Gambari pushed the NLD to
join the 2010 election. Party officials criticized his request, saying it
went beyond his role as a mediator.

The United Nationalities Alliance, which represents ethnic parties in
Burma, declared its support of the NLD on Friday, calling for the release
of political prisoners, a political dialogue and opposition to the 2010
general election.

It urged the UN and the international community “to refrain from
supporting the regime’s unilateral roadmap [to democracy] and planed
election.”

Following Gambari’s recent four-day trip to Burma, the Karen National
Union (KNU) issued a statement on Thursday.

“We are concerned that once again a United Nations envoy has visited Burma
without also meeting with genuine representatives of Burma’s ethnic
nationalities, such as the Karen National Union,” the statement said.

The KNU said ethnic people should not be sidelined in any future
discussion on a national reconciliation process in Burma.

____________________________________

February 20, Mizzima News
UNA opposes junta's proposed 2010 general elections – Ko Wild

The United Nationalities Alliance (UNA) today said that they were opposed
to the Burmese military junta's proposed general elections scheduled to be
held in 2010.

The UNA's announcement coincided with the submission of a report by the UN
Secretary General's special envoy Mr. Ibrahim Gambari at a UN Security
Council closed-door meeting.

"We expressed our stand especially on the proposed general elections in
2010. The UNSC will hold its closed-door meeting today and we expressed
clearly that we would not contest this planned general election.
Previously, we just expressed that we were against this election. The
election should be held only after resolving all issues and deadlocks.
Currently, they have not yet released any (political) prisoners and have
not held dialogue with anyone else," Pu Cing Tsing Thang, UNA spokesperson
and Chairman of 'Zomi National Congress' (ZNC), told Mizzima.

UNA was formed with 12 ethnic political parties, which contested in the
1990 general elections. But, the Burmese regime deregistered 10 parties
and now only two parties, the 'Kokang Democratic Party' and the 'Shan
Nationalities League for Democracy' (SNLD), are officially registered
parties.

In the statement issued today, the UNA said that they would not recognize
the proposed 2010 general elections, which would be held under the
unilaterally drafted and forcibly approved 2008 Constitution.

Moreover, it also said that all the issues of Burma, could be resolved
only by the concerted efforts by the army, 'National League for Democracy'
(NLD), and the representative of ethnic nationalities.

The statement also said that UNA's stand was no different from NLD's
recent Special Statement No. 2, which demanded dialogue without
preconditions, between Senior Gen. Than Shwe and Aung San Suu Kyi. UNA
supported the NLD statement, which also demanded the review of the 2008
constitution.

"There are no differences with NLD's statement. Dialogue means all
inclusive talks and Daw Suu Kyi can represent all pro-democracy forces.
But, this dialogue will not be final and conclusive. And Senior Gen. Than
Shwe can represent the army," Pu Cing Tsing Thang said.

"After the dialogue between both of them, there will be further steps. At
that time, we may join them. With this in view, we said the dialogue
between the two of them should take place first. This first dialogue does
not necessarily exclude us. We support the dialogue, to make this process
workable and give our mandate to produce tangible results from this
dialogue," he added.

The UNA's statement also demands that the UN, UNSC and the international
community should not support the SPDC's seven step roadmap and proposed
general election. The statement also asks for more international pressure
on the SPDC to implement effective measures.

Since the UNA cannot represent all ethnic groups, ceasefire groups, armed
revolutionary groups, so all these ethnics groups must sit together and
hold discussions, Pu Cing Tsing Thang said.
____________________________________

February 20, Democratic Voice of Burma
Blogger Nay Phone Latt’s sentence reduced – Naw Say Phaw

Rangoon divisional court today upheld an appeal by blogger Nay Phone Latt
and reduced his sentence by eight and a half years, according to his
mother Aye Aye Than.

Nay Phone Latt was sentenced to 20 years and six months in prison under
the Electronics Act in November last year.

Aye Aye Than said she was unhappy that her son’s conviction was not
overturned.

"The court decided to reduce his prison terms under the electronic and the
video acts but I'm not satisfied with his yet as my son never did anything
wrong to go to prison," she said.

"I called Pha-an prison after hearing the court's decision and asked
officials there to pass on the good news to my son – hopefully they will
do that."

Nay Phone Latt, a blogger and internet café owner, came to prominence
during the public demonstrations in September 2007 when his blog became an
important source of information on the protests.

He was arrested in January 2008 and is currently being held in Pha-an
prison in Karen state.

____________________________________

February 20, Democratic Voice of Burma
Activist Su Su Nway’s sentence reduced – Nan Kham Kaew

The prison sentence of labour rights activist Su Su Nway, who was jailed
for 12 and a half years in November 2008, has been reduced by four years
by Rangoon division court, according to her lawyer.

Su Su Nway, 36, who rose to prominence after reporting forced labour
practices to the International Labour Organisation, was arrested in
November 2007 and was sentenced to 12 and a half years in prison last
November.

Her lawyers Kyi Win and Khin Htay Kywe lodged a number of appeals on her
behalf, arguing that she had been jailed unfairly as she had done nothing
illegal.

Last week, the sentences of famous comedian Zarganar and journal editor
Zaw Thet Htway were also reduced.

Legal expert and National League for Democracy spokesperson Nyan Win said
he welcomed the decision to shorten the jail terms but said the sentences
had been unjust in the first place.

"They have not reduced the sentences. They have just said the sentences
should be served concurrently so it looks like the sentences have been
reduced,” Nyan Win said.

“As the sentences were extreme, it is good that they have shortened them
but they have still not released the people,” he said.

“They are doing it for political gain, not for legal reasons. If they had
followed the law, there would have been no reason for them to give such
heavy sentences."

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

February 20, Xinhua
Myanmar fruit export through border trade increases in 2008-09

Myanmar's fruit export to neighboring countries through border trade
reached over 35 millionU.S. dollars in the first 11 months of the fiscal
year 2008-09 ending March, increasing by 11 million dollars compared with
the same period of 2007-08, sources with the agricultural department said
on Friday.

The export quantity of various fruits amounted to 180,000 tons during the
period, up 60,000 tons, the sources said.

Myanmar exports seasonal fruits such as water melon, musk melon,grape,
orange, pineapple, mango, plum and so on, while importing such fruits from
other countries like apple, durian, orange, sweettamarine and grape.

Myanmar has been placing emphasis on production of high-yield fruits and
vegetables to boost export, taking advantage of the country's fair
climatic conditions and geographic superiority.

The expanded production of quality fruits and vegetables will not only
satisfy domestic demand but also generate foreign exchange earnings,
thereby contributing to enhancing the socio-economic life of the entire
people.

There are 100 kinds of kitchen crops including over 70 kinds offruits
produced by Myanmar along with vegetables.

Sown areas of fruit trees have reached 729,000 hectares in Myanmar, while
that of vegetable 405,000 hectares and that of kitchen crops such as
chilli, onion and potato 263,250 hectares, according to the official
report.

Myanmar is also rich with other tropical fruit resources such as banana,
strawberry, durian, mangosteen, papaya, coconut and so on.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

February 20, Voice of America
UN: Food shortages, poverty forcing Rohingya to flee Burma – Ron Corben

The United Nation's World Food Program says food insecurity and
malnutrition faced by Burma's Muslim Rohingya people, remains a key reason
for thousands of Rohingya fleeing the region each year. The WFP is calling
on Burma's military government to ease transport restrictions in the
country to improve overall food security.

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) blames poverty and chronic
food shortages as a key factor behind the ongoing exodus of Burma's ethnic
Muslim minority, Rohingya, despite more than a decade of international
assistance to the region.

The Rohingya people, largely live in Burma's northern Rakhine State, the
most western region of the country bordering on Bangladesh. Most have been
denied citizenship. The WFP has been providing food relief to the Rohingya
Rakhine state since 1994.

Paul Risley, WFP's regional communications advisor, says the levels of
food shortages and malnutrition is adding to a sense of desperation among
the Rohingya community.

"Poverty is still the greatest challenge," he said. "The people in Rakhine
State are often found to be without food between harvests. There is a
growing sense of desperation that's measured by the very high malnutrition
rates we found in the recent assessment."

Recent WFP briefing papers say one third of Burma's children under five
are underweight, with over 100,000 of them dying each year.

Currently the WFP plans to provide some 1.6 million people across northern
Rakhine state, Shan state and the Magway Division - covering Chin and
Kachin states - with food assistance.

The WFP is already providing food relief for over one million people in
the Irrawaddy Delta region devastated by cyclone Nargis in May last year.
The cyclone claimed thousands of lives.

Risley called on Burma's authorities to ease restrictions on the movement
of goods and food from elsewhere in the country where the WFP and other
non-government organizations are currently operating.

"Simple markets, that allow food grown in one area to be sold in areas
where food is not present; that is the greatest factor that is holding
back proper food security and an end to high malnutrition rates for people
in Burma today," he said.

The WFP also said that other restrictions placed on the Muslim population
were adversely affecting livelihoods, leaving them "vulnerable."

The Rohingya plight has been highlighted over recent months as hundreds of
the Muslim minority have fled Burma and Bangladesh by boat in the hope of
finding work in Southeast Asia, in particular Malaysia.

Hundreds in the boats have washed up along the shoreline of Thailand and
Indonesia triggering widespread debate and accusations of law enforcement
and military abuses in forcing boatloads of the refugees back into open
waters.

Thailand, preparing to host the regional summit of the Association of
South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) this month, is calling on regional
governments to look to solutions to the problems of the Rohingya in the
run up to the meeting.

____________________________________
DRUGS

February 20, The National (UAE)
Myanmar poor turn to poppies – Larry Jagan

Opium poppy cultivation in Myanmar has increased alarmingly in the past
two years amid fears the region’s worsening economic crisis will encourage
an even greater spurt in growth, the UN warns.

Falling international commodity prices and increasing political
instability in Myanmar’s border areas has fuelled fears that many of the
country’s poppy farmers will find it impossible to resist the temptation
to return to their former ways. There is a real danger of an explosion of
poppy growing and opium production, according to the United Nations Office
on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

In the past few years, there has been a dramatic fall in the area under
poppy cultivation and opium production, but these gains have been reversed
in the past two years, according to the UNODC’s annual survey released
recently.

“The problem of poppy production in the region has been contained but not
solved,” said Gary Lewis, the UNODC regional head based in Bangkok.

“There have been significant increases, especially in Myanmar, which are
threatening to rise further because of the worsening economic conditions
faced by former poppy farmers.”

More than 90 per cent of the poppy grown in South East Asia – Myanmar,
Laos, Thailand and Vietnam – is grown in Myanmar’s north-eastern Shan
State.

Poppy cultivation has fallen from more than 120,000 hectares in 2000 to
about 30,000 in 2008. Opium production has fallen from more than 1300
tonnes to 410 tonnes during this period. This is the equivalent of
producing 40 tonnes of heroin.

The reduction had been largely due to international pressure, particularly
from Beijing, on two of the largest opium producers in Myanmar’s Golden
Triangle – which borders China, Laos and Thailand – the Kokang and the Wa.
Both are rebel ethnic groups, with large guerrilla forces, but have
ceasefire agreements with the Myanmar government. Most poor farmers in the
northern part of the country have grown poppy for several decades.

“The poor peasants in this region needed to have a cash crop to supplement
their meagre income from farming,” said Col Hkham Awang, Myanmar’s
anti-narcotics police chief. “They earned less than US$200 [Dh734] from
each crop – and that all went on necessities, like clothes and shoes, and
extra rice in the lean season.”

The Kokang virtually ceased opium production in 2003 and the Wa in 2006.
But in the past two years both poppy cultivation and opium production have
restarted.

“The trend is certainly upwards with a significant increase in the land
under cultivation in Myanmar,” said Leik Boonwaat, the UNODC chief in
Laos, who has also been stationed in Myanmar.

“For former opium farmers who already live in dire poverty they are facing
twin levers of increasing opium prices and falling commodity prices that
may encourage them to increase poppy growing.”

The prices of most commodities grown or produced in Myanmar as alternative
crops to poppy, particularly maize and rubber, have fallen by more than 50
per cent, according to the UN’s annual drug report.

Most of the Wa and Kokang’s alternative crops – tea, rubber and fruit –
are sold to traders across the border in China. But these merchants are no
longer interested in buying these products. Chinese traders are not even
buying jade from the Pangsan market, near the border with China.

“The price of opium has doubled in the past few years – from $153 a
kilogram in 2004 to $301 currently on the Myanmar market – making it hard
for former opium growers to ignore this incentive to return to poppy
cultivation,” Mr Boonwaat said.

Already there are signs that Myanmar’s poppy growers are returning to
their old trade. The greatest increase has been in southern Shan state,
where the Wa leadership is in the hands of Wei Xiao Gang – an alleged
gangster who is wanted on drug trafficking charges in the United States.

There has also been a steady increase in the north-east of Shan State.
More worrying is the steady increase in cultivation in both Kachin and
Kayah states over the past two years that had been nearly free of poppy
fields for more than five years.

The Wa leaders admit there is pressure to reverse their poppy ban.
“Everything is getting worse,” said a 60-year-old former poppy farmer in
the Wa area. “People are desperate for food and clothes. They want to know
why there was an opium ban in the Wa area when there is no ban in other
places.”

The fragile situation in the northern Wa areas is also of great concern to
international anti-drug agencies, according to senior Thai intelligence
officers.

So far the Wa ban on poppy production, punishable by death, is holding. Wa
leaders have always known that the situation remained precarious – the ban
was never a popular move – and depended on the poor Wa farmers having
greater food security and an alternative source of a cash income.

“The Wa leaders may even be forced to renege on their promises to the UN
and international community if the economic and security situation
deteriorates further,” said a UN drugs official familiar with the problems
in Shan state.

The political problems in Myanmar – the planned elections in 2010 and the
junta’s efforts to disarm certain groups, including the Wa – is increasing
instability in the border regions, which have been the traditional opium
producing areas, putting further pressure on former opium growers to
return to their poppy fields.

“There is no room for complacency,” Mr Lewis said. “There is much more
that needs to be done.”

____________________________________
REGIONAL

February 20, Agence France Presse
'Regional' solution for Myanmar migrants: Thai PM

Thailand's prime minister reaffirmed Friday the need for a "regional"
solution to the fate of hundreds of Muslim boatpeople from Myanmar who
have washed up in neighbouring nations in recent months.

"Essentially, it is a regional problem and must be dealt at a regional
level," Abhisit Vejjajiva told reporters after meeting Indonesian
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono here.

Regional governments would discuss the issue at a March meeting of the
Bali Proces, a ministerial-level forum co-chaired by Indonesia and
Australia on people-smuggling and human trafficking, he said.

"All affected countries must work together to make sure that our national
security is protected and at the same time that these people are treated
in a humane way with their rights and their dignity respected," he added.

Thailand has faced criticism over claims that its security forces abused
migrants from the Rohingya minority, hundreds of whom have been rescued in
Indian and Indonesian waters in recent weeks.

Abhisit has also said the Rohingya will be discussed at a summit of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Thailand starting on
February 27.

Yudhoyono said Indonesia will continue to provide humanitarian assistance
to roughly 400 Rohingya migrants found by fishermen off the northern tip
of Sumatra island on January 7 and February 2.

"We will investigate where they come from, what sort of humanitarian
assistance to give them. And with the International Organization for
Migration, (UN refugee agency) UNHCR and Southeast Asian nations, we will
find a more permanent solution to the plight of the 400 found in Aceh,"
Yudhoyono said.

Abhisit appeared to admit in a television interview last week that the
kingdom's authorities had towed the Rohingya out to sea but later said he
was only referring to Thai authorities letting them drift elsewhere.

Photographs apparently showing the Thai army towing refugees in boats and
lining Rohingya men up on a beach have been published in the international
media this year.

____________________________________

February 20, Stateless Watch (Thailand)
Rohingya traffickers hunted – King-Oua Laohong

Department of Special Investigation officials trying to smash the
smuggling of Rohingya through Thailand to Malaysia hope to be able to seek
arrest warrants for Thai traffickers in coming days. DSI staff are also
questioning Rohingya who work as roti vendors in Bangkok for any clues
about trafficking gangs.

Thirteen illegal Rohingya immigrants were rounded up in Bangkok on Wednesday.

Among the Rohingya who were arrested with their roti vending carts were
three minors who were held by DSI authorities as witnesses to help track
down the traffickers.

According to sources, roti vending provides temporary work for illegal
Rohingya migrants who are waiting in Bangkok and southern provinces for
their departure to Malaysia, which is a favourite destination for them as
they are Muslims.

DSI director-general Thawee Sodsong said yesterday officials and staff
from other agencies were investigating the trafficking and expect to have
enough evidence in three days to seek warrants for the arrest of those
behind the trafficking.

Pol Col Bundit Tungkhaseranee, a superintendent of the Immigration Police,
said illegal migration by Rohingya was caused by demand for workers in
Malaysia.

That resulted in a conspiracy between Rohingya and Malaysian traffickers
as well as officials in Thailand.

He said trafficking was still going on. Since the transit point in Ranong
had been uncovered, the traffickers had moved to Satun province further
south, where the migrants leave for Malaysia.

To get to Malaysia, Rohingya board trains from Bangkok to Sungai Kolok
district of Narathiwat province. Some of those who had been staying in
Bangkok have just been rounded up by Thai immigration police along the
Thai-Burmese border in Mae Sot district of Tak province.

Those who arrived in Ranong province sometimes board passenger buses to
Hat Yai district of Songkhla province from where they travel on to
Malaysia.

While waiting to travel to Malaysia, the Rohingya illegals often sell roti
for Thai employers in Khao Chaison and Pa Bon districts of Phatthalung
province

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

February 20, Deutsche Presse-Agentur
After prisoner release, UN panel blasts Myanmar and its own envoy

France and Britain on Friday strongly criticized Myanmar's military regime
for failing to implement democratic reform and freeing political
prisoners, even though that government has announced the amnesty for 6,000
prisoners.

France's UN Ambassador Jean Maurice Ripert lashed out at Ibrahim Gambari,
the special envoy of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, for an unauthorized
meeting with Myanmar's junta leader Senior General Than Shwe during his
recent visit that country.

Gambari met with the 15-nation council to report on his trip. But Ripert
said progress in the talks presented by Gambari were "very thin and
disappointing."

The UN had demanded the junta implement democratic reform and meet
benchmarks like the release of all political prisoners and institute
national reconciliation and democratic elections. It called for the
release of Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the opposition party National
League for Democracy, who has been under house arrest for more than 10
years.

Myanmar announced Friday amnesty for more than 6,000 prisoners without
much detail about their backgrounds. Suu Kyi was not among them.

Ripert said Gambari received no serious promises from the junta about
meeting the benchmarks set by the international community. Gambari's
Myanmar visit last month apparently was intended to prepare for Ban's
visit to that country, which the council had encouraged him to take at an
appropriate time for political conditions.

British Ambassador John Sawers said Gambari had "better access" in his
last visit.

"We regret that there was no real progress," Sawers told reporters. "In
fact, the situation has gone backwards."

France and Britain are veto-wielding permanent members of the council.

____________________________________

February 20, Irrawaddy
UN General Assembly President calls for dialogue in Burma – Lalit K Jha

The United Nations General Assembly president, Miguel D’Escoto Brockmann,
urged Burma’s military junta and pro-democracy opposition leaders on
Thursday to immediately start substantive dialogue without any
preconditions.

“The president also joins [UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon] in calling on
both the [Burmese] government and the opposition to resume substantive
dialogue without preconditions and without further delay,” said a
statement issued by Brockmann’s office.

The statement was released after a meeting between General Assembly Vice
President Raymond Wolf and the UN special envoy on Burma, Ibrahim Gambari,
at the UN headquarters in New York. It also came on the eve of crucial UN
Security Council consultations on Burma.

It is customary for the UN special envoy, whose mandate flows from the
General Assembly, to brief its president on his activities from time to
time, particularly after completing a trip to Burma. Gambari recently made
a four-day visit to the country that ended on February 3.

It was unclear why Gambari did not meet directly with the General Assembly
president on this occasion. The UN General Assembly has as many as 21 vice
presidents, one of whom happens to be the Burmese ambassador to the UN.
The office of the General Assembly president said the meeting took place
on his behalf.

Brockmann’s statement also reaffirmed the General Assembly’s continued
engagement with Burma and its efforts to promote national reconciliation,
democracy and respect for human rights in the country, as mandated by its
resolutions.

Reiterating his support for the good offices role of the UN
secretary-general and his special envoy, Brockmann also noted the
important role played by neighboring countries, including members of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations, as well as by countries belonging
to the secretary general’s Group of Friends of Myanmar.

In his statement, the president encouraged these countries to remain
engaged in support of the secretary-general’s good offices efforts.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

February 20, Washington Post
Burma's clenched fist

PRESIDENT OBAMA'S inaugural address made the world's tyrants a
proposition. "We will extend a hand," Mr. Obama said, "if you are willing
to unclench your fist." It now appears that Burma could be one of the
first test cases for this approach. For decades, a small group of military
officers has ruled the multiethnic Southeast Asian nation, crushing all
political opposition and exploiting vast natural resources for personal
enrichment. Aung San Suu Kyi, the winner of a free election in 1990 -- and
still the embodiment of the Burmese people's democratic dreams --
languishes under government-imposed house arrest. There are more than
2,000 political prisoners. In response, the United States has maintained
economic sanctions against Burma since the late 1990s; Congress toughened
them last year, with the strong support of then-Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr.
(D-Del.).

Yet Mr. Obama's secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton, has taken the
occasion of a visit to Indonesia to announce a review of U.S. policy
toward Burma. She pointedly did not rule out easing sanctions or other
forms of diplomatic engagement. "Clearly, the path we have taken in
imposing sanctions hasn't influenced the Burmese junta," she said, quickly
adding that the policy of Burma's Asian neighbors -- "reaching out and
trying to engage them" -- has not shown results either. This is consistent
with the recent recommendation of an influential nongovernmental
organization: Citing improved Burmese government cooperation with
international relief organizations in the wake of last year's devastating
cyclone, the International Crisis Group has called on the United States
and other nations to step up development aid and resume imports from
Burma.

President George W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush offered consistent
condemnation of Burma's junta. In the absence of global cooperation with
U.S. sanctions, however, that admirably tough talk was bound to produce
limited results. And the Bush administration was not willing to risk
America's broader relationship with China, the junta's chief patron, by
pressuring Beijing on Burma. So it makes sense, in principle, for the
Obama administration to seek a policy with more practical benefits for the
Burmese people.

We hope that the coming policy review is truly realistic. As Ms. Clinton
noted, so far, no one has figured out a way to democratize Burma from the
outside. The junta is planning a phony election for next year, based on a
new constitution "ratified" by a dubious plebiscite during the cyclone
crisis. And the Burmese opposition itself still supports sanctions --
believing that the ruling clique will profit from increased trade and aid
while also gaining political legitimacy at the expense of Aung San Suu
Kyi. The United States and other countries have been supplying food and
fuel to North Korea for over a decade, with no appreciable change in that
regime's horrific treatment of its people. Mr. Obama should conduct a
policy review, by all means. But he must stick to the priorities implied
in his inaugural address: If the United States is to extend a hand to
Burma, that country's tyrants must first relax their grip on power.

____________________________________

February 20, International Herald Tribune
Whom do sanctions hurt? – Stanley A. Weiss

Watching President Barack Obama's inauguration from my hotel room in
Yangon, in Myanmar, I doubted whether his promise of change was meant for
Myanmar as well.

U.S. relations with this country have stagnated for years, as Washington
strives to sanction the country's brutal leadership into submission.
Meanwhile, the misery of Myanmar's 54 million people deepens by the day.

Yet, the ice may be cracking. This week, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton declared that Washington "is looking at steps that might influence
the current Burmese government" and "ways that we could more effectively
help the Burmese people."

Meanwhile, Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the National League
for Democracy, issued a statement of willingness to begin dialogue with
the regime without preconditions.

But it is time to admit that the regime's full acquiescence to U.S.
demands is not a requirement for improving people's lives. That does not
mean the United States should cease supporting the democratic aspirations
of Myanmar's people, or that Washington should embrace a regime that has
driven a resource-rich country into poverty, used violence to stifle
dissent, jailed more than 2,000 political prisoners, deprived its citizens
of education and health care, and conscripted children into military
service.

But the U.S. policy of isolation is only making the junta more
recalcitrant. A member of a foreign intelligence service told me of
speaking with a top general, who said, "We are not scared of Western
sanctions; we will survive as long as we have rice, salt and ngapi
(fermented fish paste)."

Myanmar has endured colonial rule, foreign invasion, civil war and armed
insurgency; its intensely nationalistic leaders are paranoid and proud in
equal measure. Besides, the junta can count on more than fish paste to see
them through: Myanmar has significant natural gas reserves and neighbors
happy to trade and invest.

Proponents of sanctions counter that the policy needs more time; that
critical loopholes have only recently been tightened; that the answer
isn't to lift the sanctions but to bring more countries - especially China
- on board. Yet there is no reason to think Beijing would be susceptible
to U.S. pressure on Myanmar.

Meanwhile, as Brahma Chellaney, one of India's top strategic thinkers told
me, the United States "doesn't have to live with the consequences of its
actions," but neighboring countries "will not escape the effects of an
unstable Myanmar."

Sanctioning Myanmar may make Americans feel good, but feeling good and
doing good are not the same. If the U.S. intent is to improve people's
lives in Myanmar, it must find a new way forward.

First, to succeed in Myanmar, U.S. officials must think like the Burmese.
Not only have punitive sanctions and relentless public condemnation failed
to moderate the regime's behavior, they have pushed the junta further away
from the West and into Chinese arms.

Too close a relationship between Myanmar and China is in neither the
generals' nor Washington's interests, but the United States has offered
only the back of its hand. The U.S. won't even call Myanmar by its name,
even though "Myanmar" is the Burmese named for their country, while
"Burma" was the name imposed by British colonizers.

As a former Asian diplomat with deep knowledge of Myanmar told me, the
people at large "see the West's persistence in calling the country 'Burma'
not only as childish and petulant but also as a disrespect to the country
and its people." Using "Myanmar" in recognition of the country's difficult
history and independence struggle is a gesture that might alleviate some
of the junta's suspicion of the outside world.

Second, the United States should increase humanitarian assistance,
channeled via the United Nations and NGOs. Myanmar's people endure
grinding poverty; their leaders spend only 0.3 percent of GDP on public
health, as many as 6 million people lack access to food, and UNICEF
reports that 50 percent of infant deaths are from preventable causes. Yet
the country receives less than $3 of official development assistance per
capita - as compared to $38 for Cambodia and $49 for Laos.

A range of Western donors are already working successfully in Myanmar. In
less than two years, the Three Diseases Fund has reached over 93,000
people with HIV prevention activities, provided antiretroviral treatment
to 5,500 people living with HIV, supplied over 800,000 people with bed
nets, and supported drug distribution to 123,000 tuberculosis patients.

As British Ambassador Mark Canning told me, humanitarian assistance "not
only helps people in need, but acts as a medium through which to engage
the more constructive elements in government, exposes thousands of young
people to the way the foreign relief community works, and reminds them
that the international community is out there and there is the promise
some day of a more normal relationship." It offers both moral and material
solidarity with Myanmar's people.

And they want our help. In my quiet conversations with taxi drivers,
shopkeepers and tour guides in Yangon, no one spoke to me of politics.
Instead I was asked, "How can I go to your schools? Will America help us
get medical treatment?" Ma Thanegi, a former aide to Aung San Suu Kyi who
now advocates against sanctions, told me there were only two functioning
radiotherapy machines in this Texas-sized country.

Last year, the major headline out of Myanmar was a deadly cyclone. This
year, let's hope it will be the winds of change.

Stanley A. Weiss is founding chairman of Business Executives for National
Security, a nonpartisan organization based in Washington.

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

February 20, Not On Our Watch
Not On Our Watch donates $500,000 to lifesaving and humanitarian programs
for Burmese

In its continuing efforts to provide aid to the victims of Burma’s ongoing
humanitarian crisis, Not On Our Watch has awarded a combined (US)$500,000
to lifesaving and humanitarian programs reaching tens of thousands of
at-risk Burmese.

Through partnerships with four humanitarian organizations, Not On Our
Watch will support food assistance programs in Burma’s Northern Rakhine
State, as well as emergency medical care programs and basic education
initiatives along the Thailand-Burma border.

“Having just returned from the region, I’ve seen the incredible hardships
faced by men, women, and children as they fight to survive. Basic services
including clean water, food, and medical care are in short supply for many
of the country’s most vulnerable,” said Not On Our Watch co-founder Brad
Pitt. “Survival in times like these continues to be against the odds. We
are proud to support the work of organizations including WFP that combat
these problems, and we remain hopeful that the international community
will take a lead in addressing their causes in the long term.”

-Not On Our Watch funds will feed 40,000 small-scale farmers and their
family members in Burma’s Northern Rakhine State, one of several recently
identified “hunger hotspots” across the country. Several hundred thousand
people are without adequate access to food supplies or the means to pay
for food for their families in these areas.

-Not On Our Watch funds will give Burmese refugees on the Thai-Burma
border access to medical procedures that cannot be performed at basic
border clinics, including Cesarean sections and complicated surgeries.
This grant will also provide supplementary nutrition for children, people
living with HIV/AIDS, and disabled and elderly persons.

-Not On Our Watch funds will further support teacher training along the
Thai-Burma border, as well as provide for the creation and distribution of
learning materials. This grant will likewise provide university
preparation for selected students for university courses in English, as
well as support scholarships directed towards maximizing the number of
Burmese students receiving education in subjects relevant to peace, human
development, and ethnic reconciliation.


Not On Our Watch was founded by George Clooney, Don Cheadle, Matt Damon,
Brad Pitt, Jerry
Weintraub, and David Pressman to focus global attention and resources to
stop and prevent mass atrocities. Drawing upon the voices of cultural
leaders, our mission is to protect and assist the vulnerable,
marginalized, and displaced. Web site: www.notonourwatchproject.org.

For more information, please contact:
AJ Wolosenko, Not On Our Watch/New York
Tel. +1-212-2775257
Email: aj at notonourwatchproject.org

World Food Programme
WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency and the UN’s frontline
agency for hunger solutions. In 2009, WFP aims to feed around 100 million
people in 77 countries.

WFP now provides RSS feeds to help journalists keep up with the latest
press releases, videos and photos as they are published on WFP.org. For
more details see: http://www.wfp.org/english/?n=999.

WFP now has a dedicated ISDN line in Italy for quality two-way interviews
with WFP officials.

For more information please contact:
Jennifer Parmelee, WFP/Washington, Tel. +1-202-6530010 ext. 1149, Cell.
+1-202-4223383
Bettina Luescher, WFP/New York, Cell. +1-646-8241112, luescher at un.org
Natasha Scripture, WFP/Rome, Tel. +39 06 6513 3146, Cell. +39 340 466 3480
Caroline Hurford, WFP/London, Tel. +44-20-72409001, Cell. +44-7968-008474
Emilia Casella, WFP/Geneva, Tel. +41-22-9178564, Cell. +41-792857304
Maria Reppas, Friends of WFP, Tel. (202) 530-1694, mreppas at friendsofwfp.org