BurmaNet News, August 5, 2009

[Editor]

August 5, 2009 Issue #3769

INSIDE BURMA
AFP: US man in Suu Kyi case 'better' in Myanmar hospital: source
Mizzima: Censor Board alters requirements
DVB: Junta permits new radio stations to air
Irrawaddy: Monks question gov’t use of personal photographs
Kaladan: Security tightened in Buthidaung prison

ON THE BORDER
Canadian Press: Activists say dam in Myanmar will force people from their
homes

BUSINESS / TRADE
Mizzima: Sino-Burmese border trade zone reopened

REGIONAL
Mizzima: Burma, Sri Lanka to counter terrorism

INTERNATIONAL
Irrawaddy: UN Chief to hold ‘Friends of Burma’ meeting
The Age (Melbourne, Australia): UN urged to examine Burma nuclear claims
Reuters: U.N. team to visit Myanmar over child soldiers
Irrawaddy” Rebel groups welcome UN’s child soldiers probe

OPINION / OTHER
Bangkok Post: Editorial: Burma must come clean


____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

August 5, Agence France Presse
US man in Suu Kyi case 'better' in Myanmar hospital: source

The US man on trial in Myanmar for trespassing at Aung San Suu Kyi's home
was said to be feeling better in intensive care Wednesday after having a
seizure in prison, a hospital worker said.

John Yettaw, 54, who has epilepsy and other health problems according to
his lawyer, was taken from Insein prison to Yangon General Hospital on
Monday night, where he was recovering after treatment.

"Mr Yettaw is feeling better now. He is staying in the intensive care
unit," the hospital worker said on condition of anonymity.

The source added that neurological specialists had visited the unit to
give him treatment, but could not give any further details.

Yettaw was being kept under guard away from other patients, a hospital
worker said Tuesday, while a spokesman for the US embassy in Yangon
confirmed he had been taken to the city hospital.

Khin Maung Oo, Yettaw's lawyer, said his client had been staying at the
prison's hospital during his trial, where he had been receiving treatment
for diabetes, epilepsy and a heart complaint by doctors from the health
ministry.

"(But) when I met him for the verdict date on July 31 he said he was
fine," the lawyer told AFP Tuesday.

Yettaw, a former military veteran from Missouri, is on trial alongside
opposition leader Suu Kyi and two of her female aides after he donned
homemade flippers and swam to her home in May.

The devout Mormon said he embarked on his mission to warn Suu Kyi of a
vision he had had that she would be assassinated.

He faces charges of abetting Suu Kyi's breach of security laws,
immigration violations and a municipal charge of illegal swimming. All
four defendants face up to five years in prison.

Yettaw was arrested just days before the most recent, six-year spell of
Suu Kyi's house arrest was due to expire in the military-run nation.

Suu Kyi is accused of breaching the terms of her house arrest by giving
Yettaw refuge at her home, but critics say the charges have been trumped
up to keep her locked away until after elections scheduled for 2010.

A verdict in her case had been expected last week but judges postponed
their pronouncement until August 11, saying they needed time to review the
case.

____________________________________

August 5, Mizzima News
Censor Board alters requirements for presenting draft copy - Nem Davies

New Delhi – Burma’s Censor Board under the Ministry of Information has
imposed a new time limit and altered requirements for weekly journals in
presenting their draft copies.

Starting from the first of this month, the Censor Board directed weekly
journals to present draft journal copies no later than 12 noon.

“Power in Rangoon is unpredictable and unreliable. If the power is not
available when we need it, it will be inconvenient for us. So, we are
unlikely to finish before their deadline,” said one Rangoon-based journal
editor.

However, an editor of a best selling weekly journal welcomed the new scheme.

“This new system is long overdue. It is very much convenient for all media
persons,” he said, indicating that workload would be lightened.

Previously, weekly journals had to present their draft copies in hard
copy, printed on A3 and A4 paper. But, starting last month, they could
present their draft copies in soft copy form, stored on a CD after being
converted to PDF format, along with a paper copy.

Now, only the CD form will be required.

Additionally, journals were also directed to deposit censor fees at the
rate of 200 kyat (1 USD = 1,100 kyat) per page, not significantly
different from former fee rates.

“Even so, it is still cheap for us in comparison with the previous system
of presenting in hard copy printed on paper”, commented one journal
editor.

Some journals estimate they can save over 30,000 kyat per issue from this
new system, as a blank CD costs only 150 kyat, in contrast to the old
system of presenting on A3 and A4 paper.

____________________________________

August 5, Democratic Voice of Burma
Junta permits new radio stations to air - Naw Noreen

Three new FM radio stations will soon begin broadcasting across 10 states
and divisions in Burma in a joint operative between private companies and
the Burmese government.

The stations, named Shwe, Cherry and Padamya, will go on air on 15 August,
adding to the four FM stations already in existence in Burma.

This is the first time stations not fully owned by the government will be
allowed to broadcast in the country, although the three have been given
permission by the ruling junta.

“Now we can say we are stepping into a new era of the broadcasting
service,” said Maung Thit Min, from the Myanmar Music Association (MMA), a
state-formed industry body.

“Before there were only government broadcasting stations but now it is
more like a joint cooperation between the government and the private
companies,” he said.

Shwe FM radio station, which is based in Bago division, will cover the
Bago and Tenasserim divisions, and Karen and Mon state.

Cherry FM will cover Shan state and Karenni state, while Padamya FM will
broadcast across Magwe and Sagaing divisions, and Kachin state and Chin
state.

At present there is no copyright law in Burma and stations can freely use
artists’ music with no financial gains for the creator.

However, in an initiative set up by Mandalay FM, one of the four existing
FM radio stations, fees are being paid individually to artists. The three
new radio stations are currently negotiating with the MMA for a similar
deal.

“Because the broadcasting is becoming more privatised, they start to give
more favour to copyright as well as a profit for [the artists],” said
Maung Thit Min.

It is unclear why the government has given permission for the new
stations, although the looming 2010 elections might provide a reason for
the government to step-up its broadcasts.

Observers have said they expect to see the junta looking for new ways to
spread campaign messages in the run-up to the elections.

Only four opposition radio stations, including DVB, broadcast into Burma
and are picked up on shortwave radio frequencies.

All media in Burma is strictly controlled by the government's Press
Scrutiny and Registration Division, and no opposition media legally
exists.

____________________________________

August 5, Irrawaddy
Monks question gov’t use of personal photographs - Lawi Weng

Buddhist monks in Rangoon and Pegu divisions were ordered to attach a
personal photograph to their government information form, which were
collected by local authorities in July.

A monk in Pegu said, “I feel it is unusual because I had to attach my
picture this time. Last year, I only had to provide information—no photo.”

He said members of the Union Solidarity and Development Association
(USDA), a government-backed volunteer group, collected the information
forms from the monasteries. Pegu, one of the main locations of Buddhist
unrest during the 2007 monk-led uprisings, has an estimated 10,000 monks.

“They told me they have to send my personal file to the Southern Command
in Pegu,” said the monk. “But they didn’t explain the reason. I want to
know, because I don’t want the military to have my photograph.”

An abbot in Pegu said, “They believe we’ll start another uprising. This is
why they collected the pictures with the information forms—in order to
make us afraid of them.”

“I am waiting for another uprising, because we didn’t win the last round,”
he said. “They (the authorities) used baton and guns. For us, we only had
our fists.”

In Pegu, the authorities have ordered Buddhist monasteries to keep a guest
record, said the abbot. “Even our supporters who come to meditate on
Buddhist holidays, I have to keep a record of them.”

The abbot said he recently had to pay a 2,000 kyat fine (US $1.50) for
failure to keep good records. “I’m angry because they dare to take money
from monks,” he said. “They are evil people—those who killed monks. There
will be a time they will be held accountable for the bad things they have
done to monks. I am waiting to see it. In accordance with the Buddhist
religion, they can’t outrun karma.”

Meanwhile, the authorities continue to place more restrictions on the
activities of monks including traveling abroad, giving Dhamma talks and
political activities.

In June, the Ministry of Religious Affairs in Rangoon prohibited monks
from traveling abroad by refusing to issue letters of recommendation, even
for health reasons, according to monks in Rangoon. The government
tightened restrictions on monks traveling within Burma following the
monk-led uprisings of August-September 2007.

A number of leading monks also have been warned during the past year about
speaking out on politics or prominent government figures during Dhamma
talks.

According to official statistics, there are more than 400,000 monks in
Burma. Its community, the Sangha, is considered one of the most
influential bodies in the country.

____________________________________

August 5, Kaladan Press
Security tightened in Buthidaung prison

Buthidaung, Arakan State: Security has been tightened in Buthidaung prison
by the Burmese Army as alleging some prisoners escaped from prison
yesterday night, said an official source.

Some rocks and stones were thrown at the prisoner’s sheds number 4 and 5
yesterday at about 8:40 pm, where there are mostly political prisoners
from 88 uprising groups. The prison authorities informed the military
command office of Buthidaung as the political prisoners were planning to
escape before the forthcoming 88 uprising anniversary with the help of
outside democracy activists group, the official said.

The prison authorities moved prisoners from sheds numbers 4 and 5 to other
places where the prisoners were kept in fetters and then sent to a dark
room, the official added.

The military command office sent troops to the prison after receiving
information from the prison and arranged for tight security outside where
no one is being allowed to pass at night and early morning of today. At
about 7:00 am, the troops withdrew, said an aide of the army from
Buthidaung.

“It is just a plan to keep the political prisoners more secure in the
prison because of the forthcoming 88 uprising anniversary,” said a local
from Buthidaung.

“How did people throw rocks and stones at the sheds from outside with so
many guards in the prison and how did the prisoners escape from prison,”
he asked.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

August 5, The Canadian Press
Activists say dam in Myanmar will force people from their homes, lead to
human rights abuses -  Caroline Stauffer

Bangkok, Thailand — The construction of two dams in Myanmar could displace
thousands of ethnic minorities, put them at greater risk of human rights
abuses and send them fleeing into neighbouring Thailand, activists warned
Wednesday.

The dams - proposed for the 1,500-mile (2,400-kilometre) Salween River,
the last major free-flowing river in Southeast Asia - would generate
electricity that would mostly be bought by Thailand. Thai and Chinese
companies are involved in the construction.

Human rights and environmental activists have long been critical of such
deals with Myanmar's junta, noting that the military often commits human
rights abuses as it tries to clear areas for construction. The proposed
Hatgyi and Tasang dams would be in an area of Myanmar where the military
has brutally suppressed the Karen minority's bid for independence.

Damming the Salween has also raised environmental concerns, both in
Myanmar and in China, where the river is known as the Nu. Activists say
the projects would threaten one-third of the 75 fish species in the river.
In 2004 Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao announced the suspension of all
projects on the Nu River pending further scientific study.

"Construction of the dams at this time will cause extensive environmental
damage, and the Karen people will be displaced," said Vice-President David
Tharckabaw of the Karen National Union on Wednesday. "Thousands could
cross into Thailand as refugees."

The group, which is fighting for autonomy in eastern Myanmar, has
petitioned Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to abandon the proposed
dam projects, but has had no immediate response.

Sommai Kamolyabutra, a representative of the Thai agency in charge of the
project, Electrical Generating Authority of Thailand, or EGAT, said
Tuesday that construction will not begin at either site until a final
power purchase agreement with Myanmar has been reached and the Thai
government approves the deal. Sommai was involved in recent discussions on
the dam.

The Thai Prime Minister's office is expected to release a bipartisan
report on the two dam sites later this month.

EGAT says the dams would generate electrical power necessary for
Thailand's growing economy and neighbouring countries, while curbing
reliance on natural gas as a power source. Environmental groups say the
Tasang would be one of the largest in Southeast Asia, with a 7,110
megawatt capacity. Sommai said the Hatgyi would produce 1,360 megawatts.
Thailand is expected to purchase about 85 per cent of the power generated.

But activists say such benefits come with high costs.

The Shan Women's Action Network says the number of Myanmar troops has
increased fivefold near the proposed site of Tasang dam in Shan State over
the last few years. An official opening ceremony for the Tasang project
was held in 2007, but construction has not begun.

The Thai Burma Border Consortium, a key aid provider for refugees along
the Thai-Myanmar frontier consortium says nearly 500,000 people have been
displaced from their homes in eastern Myanmar - a figure that includes
those forced from at dam sites but also civilians uprooted in military
operations aimed at eradicating insurgents in the area.

Such military buildups are often accompanied by human rights abuses,
according to the network and the border consortium. The groups have
documented sexual violence committed by army troops against hundreds of
women around the Tasang dam site. The government has consistently denied
any violations.

Although the Karen insurgents have also come in for some criticism of
using boy soldiers and other human rights abuses, the United Nations and
international human rights groups have documented atrocities by Myanmar
troops in great detail.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

August 5, Mizzima News
Seven years on Sino-Burmese border trade zone reopened - Phanida

Chiang Mai – A Sino-Burmese border trade zone was reopened on August 1,
after being closed for seven long years.

The Northern Command Commander Maj. Gen. Soe Win attended the opening
ceremony held in Kan Pai Ti village, Sadone Township under the control of
one of the ceasefire groups, the New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K).

“Government officials, including those from the Immigration Department
arrived. This border trade zone was first opened in 2002, but the road was
not good at that time. So operations in this border trade zone had to be
suspended. It has been reopened now,” NDA-K Chairman Sakhon Tin Yin told
Mizzima.

Government officials and staff members from the Immigration Department,
Forest, Border Trade Department and the police among others began arriving
since August 1.

There are four border trade zones along the Sino-Burma border namely Muse
105-mile, Kan Pai Ti, Lai Za and Lwe Je. Among them, the Muse 105-mile
records the biggest flow of goods.

This border trade zone was reopened after the NDA-K accepted the junta’s
proposal of transforming its army to a Border Guard Force.

But a local from Kan Pai Ti said that trade in the region is on the decline.

Myitkyina-Kan Pai Ti Road was built in 2004 and the 168-km Myitkyina-Teng
Chong (China) Road was laid in 2005.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

August 5, Mizzima News
Burma, Sri Lanka to counter terrorism - Mizzima News

Burma and Sri Lanka have agreed to step up bilateral cooperation ranging
from curbing terrorism to going in for investments, trade and tourism
during the second joint bilateral meeting held in Colombo, the capital of
Sri Lanka.

Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win and Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha
Bogollagama during the second joint meeting on bilateral cooperation on
Monday agreed to increase cooperation on counter terrorism and to boost
bilateral investment and trade.

The Sri Lankan Foreign Minister said despite the elimination of the
Liberation Tamil Tiger Elam (LTTE), the outfit’s network overseas
continues to be active and that Sri Lanka is working to neutralise the
group’s networks.

“Both sides condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and
expressed their views on continuing joint and separate actions to curb the
menace which is a threat to regional peace and security and an obstacle to
regional cooperation,” a statement by the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry
said.

Nyan Win, on the other hand, reaffirmed to Sri Lanka that Burma would not
allow any group or individual to use its territory for hostile acts
against Sri Lanka.

Besides, the two foreign ministers during the meeting also agreed to
increase bilateral trade, with Bogollagama inviting Burmese investors to
explore possible business opportunities in the island state.

Nyan Win, who is on his fourth visit to Sri Lanka, is accompanied by
several businessmen including those from the Myanmar Chamber of Commerce,
who are eyeing business ventures.

Bogollagama said Burma and Sri Lanka are also looking into avenues of
providing free visa facilities to pilgrims visiting the two countries.

“Our future discussions in Myanmar [Burma] will try to secure free visas
for pilgrims visiting both countries,” Minister Bogollagama said.

Both Burma and Sri Lanka, being predominantly Buddhist countries, devotees
often visit each others countries on pilgrimage and will benefit from the
two governments agreement to waive visa fee.

At present a Sri Lankan citizen has to pay US $36 for a visa to Burma.

With the two countries having no direct air communication, the ministers
also discussed starting a direct air route to boost tourism, Sri Lankan
Foreign Minister said.

Bogollagama also requested the Burmese delegation to provide a favourable
solution to the currency problem by exploring the possibility of
introducing Asian currency units.

Currently the official value of the Burmese Kyat is about 6 kyat to 1 USD,
while in the black market 1 USD is about 1200 Kyat, leaving a huge gap
between the official and black market exchange rates.

While Sri Lanka has never been an important bilateral trade partner for
Burma, the ruling military junta, faced with increasing international
pressure for its appalling human rights records, has been exploring
diplomatic relationship with the island state.

In June, following the military victory over the LTTE, Sri Lankan
President Mahinda Rajapaksa paid a state visit to Burma and signed several
Memoranda of Understanding on several issues including tourism, and
cultural cooperation.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

August 5, Irrawaddy
UN Chief to hold ‘Friends of Burma’ meeting - Lalit K Jha

Washington — United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will convene a
meeting of the Group of Friends on Burma on Wednesday to review the world
body’s policy on the military-ruled country.

Formed in December 2007, the Group of Friends consists of Australia,
China, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Norway, Russia, Singapore,
Thailand, Britain, the US and Vietnam, as well as the country holding the
presidency of the European Union.

Ban is expected to brief UN ambassadors from these countries on his recent
trip to Burma and the latest developments in the country, including the
ongoing trial of Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has
spent nearly 14 of the last 20 years under house arrest.

Ibrahim Gambari, the UN special envoy to Burma, is also expected to brief
the group.

During the meeting, Ban will seek advice from members of the group on how
the world body can move forward in its efforts to help resolve Burma’s
longstanding political stalemate and other issues.

Meanwhile, in yet another effort to show the world that they are united
against the military regime, pro-democracy organizations from both inside
and outside of Burma have decided to form a common platform and launch a
transition plan.

The plan, known as the “Proposal for National Reconciliation,” will be
formalized at a two-day meeting in Jakarta on August 12-13.

“This is history being made,” said Dr Sein Win, prime minister of the
National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB), the Burmese
government in exile, speaking on behalf of all the groups involved.

“The last time all major ethnic and pro-democracy organizations have
forged a common position was in 1947 when all forces agreed to seek
independence from the British,” he said. “As such, this is the first time
an indigenous coalition has agreed to work together against a homegrown
power.”

Sein Win said the alliance, known as the Movement for Democracy and Rights
for Ethnic Nationalities, believes the proposal provides a means by which
Burma can move through a phase of democratic reform without upheaval and
recrimination.

The proposal envisages opening a process of dialogue with the junta,
effectively offering a sustainable exit strategy for the military rulers.
While it acknowledges a place for a functioning military, it presents a
democratic future in rooted in civilian, not military, rule, said Sein
Win.

____________________________________

August 5, The Age (Melbourne, Australia)
UN urged to examine Burma nuclear claims - Anne Davies

US NON-proliferation experts have called on the International Atomic
Energy Commission to seek clarification from the Burmese Government over
its nuclear program following a report in The Age that quoted defectors
claiming there was a secret military nuclear program.

The Age report, based on interviews by Professor Desmond Ball of the
Australian National University and journalist Phil Thornton with defectors
from Burma, revealed that it was building a secret nuclear reactor, with
North Korea's assistance, at Nuang Laing, close to Mandalay.

The report has prompted intense interest among US security experts,
particularly in the light of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's
comments in Thailand, in which she said there had been "co-operation
between North Korea and Burma in the past" and that North Korea had
provided Burma with high technology materials now barred by the UN
Security Council.

Mrs Clinton made the remarks in the context of praising Burma for having
co-operated in the enforcement of UN Resolution 1874, which is designed to
prevent North Korea shipping nuclear materials to other nations. A North
Korean ship bound for Burma turned back after being shadowed by the US
Navy last month.

Daryl Kimball, of the Arms Control Association, told an online security
report that, although there had been no evidence of a Burmese nuclear
weapons quest, whatever it was the North Koreans were doing must be a
priority for the IAEA, of which Burma is a member. "The report is probably
enough cause for the IAEA director-general [and Russia] to seek
clarification from Myanmar [Burma] and request a special inspection," Mr
Kimball said.

Russia is said to have agreed in 2007 to give the Burmese a small civilian
light-water reactor, which would be subject to IAEA inspections, although
the status of the project is disputed.

David Albright, the head of the Washington-based Institute for Science and
International Security, which monitors nuclear proliferation, pointed to
visits to Burma by executives from the North Korean company Namchongang
Trading Corporation, which is under sanctions for its role in trading
nuclear technology.

Mr Albright also pointed to sales of high-precision technology from North
Korea to Burma used in ballistic missile manufacture.

On Monday, the institute posted links to photos on the YaleGlobal website
that show extensive tunnel construction in Burma overseen by North Korean
engineers. They are understood to be separate to tunnelling related to the
nuclear program at Nuang Laing referred to by the defectors.

There was some scepticism about the defectors' claim that Burma hoped to
have a nuclear weapon within five years, with that time frame considered
too short, unless Burma was more advanced than suspected.

____________________________________

August 4, Reuters
U.N. team to visit Myanmar over child soldiers - Patrick Worsnip

United Nations – The United Nations said on Tuesday it was sending a team
to Myanmar to press for action by the government and rebel groups to end
the practice of using child soldiers.

Reports by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon have accused the army of
Myanmar's military government and ethnic rebel militias, such as Karen
groups in the east of the country, of recruiting children to serve as
fighters.

The latest report, issued in June, said there had been "grave violations"
against children in Myanmar. It accused the junta of failing to provide
proof of measures it said it was taking to end use of child soldiers, and
of blocking U.N. access to rebel groups.

But Radhika Coomaraswamy, U.N. special representative for children and
armed conflict, said on Tuesday there had been some positive developments
and that the government of the Asian country had been releasing some
children.

"We still are not sure how comprehensive that is and the extent of it,"
she told a news conference. "And so I am dispatching a team (to Myanmar)
at the end of this month."

The team would be talking to rebel groups that had started peace
negotiations with the government of Myanmar -- also known as Burma -- and
to the junta, Coomaraswamy said.

She said the aim would be to push for plans that the United Nations seeks
to draw up with armies that use child soldiers in order to halt the
practice. So far it has none with the Myanmar government or rebels.

The United Nations is already seeking to persuade the junta to democratize
and release political prisoners.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited last month but his trip produced no
immediate result and the world body is now awaiting the outcome of a trial
of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Coomaraswamy was speaking shortly before the U.N. Security Council passed
a resolution aimed at stepping up pressure on the issue of children by
expanding a blacklist of government armies and rebel groups contained in
periodic reports by Ban.

The resolution asked Ban to include not just those that recruit child
soldiers but also those that engage "in patterns of killing and maiming of
children and/or rape and other sexual violence against children, in
situations of armed conflict."

The Mexican-drafted resolution mentioned no names, but there have been
allegations of such abuses in Democratic Republic of Congo, the western
Sudan region of Darfur, and elsewhere.

The blacklist aims at "naming and shaming" but does not provide for
sanctions.

(Editing by Xavier Briand)

____________________________________

August 5, Irrawaddy
Rebel groups welcome UN’s child soldiers probe - Saw Yan Naing

Burma’s Karen National Union (KNU) and Karenni National Progressive Party
(KNPP) said Tuesday they would welcome the arrival of a UN team which is
being formed to look into charges that they are recruiting child soldiers.

The UN announced earlier on Tuesday that it was sending a team to Burma in
order to press the ethnic rebel groups and the Burmese regime to stop
using child soldiers.

The announcement followed a recent allegation by UN Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon that the Burmese army and ethnic rebel groups, including the KNU,
are recruiting children to serve as fighters.  The KNU and KNPP both
denied the allegation.

KNU General-Secretary Zipporah Sein said: “I want to tell the UN to come
to our areas and monitor the situation by itself. We will allow them if
they want to come.”

She said the KNU had stopped the recruitment of child soldiers since 2003
and had signed an agreement with UNICEF in 2007 banning the practice.

Zipporah Sein conceded that the KNU had allowed children to serve as
soldiers in the past as some young people wanted to sign up after they and
their families suffered torture and other abuse at the hands of Burmese
army troops.

The KNPP also denied recruiting child soldiers and said the proposed UN
team would be welcome to inspect its territory.

Khu Oo Reh, secretary 1 of the KNPP said: “We warmly welcome them to come
and witness the situation in our area.”

According to an Associated Press report, the UN Security Council voted
unanimously on Tuesday to name and shame nations and rebel groups engaged
in conflicts leading to children being killed, maimed and raped.

The UN stressed the council's intention “to take action,” including
possible sanctions against governments and insurgent groups that continue
violating international law on the rights and protection of children in
armed conflicts.

Mexico’s UN Ambassador, Claude Heller, said: “Notwithstanding, we must
also recognize that there is still much to be done if we want children to
never again fall victim to the spiral of violence that armed conflicts
generate.”

The latest report by Ban in June accused the Burmese junta of failing to
provide proof of measures it said it was taking to stop the use of child
soldiers, and of blocking UN access to its associated rebel groups.

The UN’s special representative for children and armed conflict, Radhika
Coomaraswamy, was quoted by Reuters as saying: “We still are not sure how
comprehensive that is and the extent of it. And so I am dispatching a team
[to Burma] at the end of this month.”

The team would hold talks with Burmese regime and rebel groups that made
peace with the regime, said Coomaraswamy.

Aye Myint, a leader of a social and labor rights group inside Burma,
Guiding Star, said that the recruitment of the child soldiers is still
widely practiced in the Burmese army.

In the last three months, more than 20 children who say they were forced
by Burmese officials to serve as soldiers were helped by Aye Myint’s group
and International Labour Organization to return to their families.

Aye Myint said the latest, Ye Ko Ko, 17, was reunited on Tuesday with his
parents. Another young soldier, Aung Zaw Myo, 14, had contacted his family
on Tuesday but remained in the Burmese army.

According to the UN, there are globally still some 250,000 child soldiers.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

August 5, Bangkok Post
Editorial: Burma must come clean

The evidence is now overwhelming of an alliance between Burma and North
Korea. The vital question for Thailand is whether whatever ventures the
two rogue states have started up pose a threat to our neighbourhood.

In one sense, the answer is a clear "yes", since secrecy breeds suspicion.
But as this newspaper showed in three major reports last Sunday, the
Burma-North Korea alliance vastly increases the stakes of international
diplomacy in our backyard and in the rest of Southeast Asia.

Any project involving nuclear weapons paints a new bull's-eye over the
region, not to mention that Burma would be in gross and unforgivable
violation of the Asean agreements it has signed.

First, the known facts.

Burma, with experts from North Korea, has undertaken huge earthworks in
areas where foreigners and most Burmese are not allowed. Truck-sized
tunnels have been burrowed into the ground and hills in the general region
of the heavily secured new capital, Naypyidaw, in remote central Burma.

Commercial satellite photos show more than 600 tunnel complexes. Other
photographs, taken on the ground and smuggled out of the country, show
that some of the tunnels are fortified with blast-proof doors.

During construction of these tunnels, which was begun by 2003, Burma
renewed official relations with North Korea, cut off in 1983 after
state-sponsored terrorists from Pyongyang attempted to assassinate South
Korean president Chun Doo-hwan in Rangoon with three deadly bombs.

Relations resumed in April, 2007. At the time, the chief concern of
Burma's neighbours and the United Nations was that the twin rogue states
would collude against human rights, chiefly with Burma purchasing weapons
from North Korea.

The Burmese military continues to abuse citizens at the whim or
acquiescence of the ruling junta. But the tunnel projects and increasingly
warm relations between Burma and North Korea raise major questions that
get to the very basis of Southeast Asian diplomacy, cooperation and peace.

Burma and its dictatorship have clearly violated major tenets of Asean.
Indeed, as details of the tunnel projects emerged to the public, Burmese
officials were attending the Asean Regional Forum in the southern Thai
resort island of Phuket. The purpose of the ARF is specifically to
encourage openness among all members in order to build trust.

Even the most peaceful and innocent nuclear project requires Burma - by
Asean and by United Nations law - to fully reveal the work. It must be
remembered that the junta has stated that it wants a small nuclear
reactor, such as the one in Bangkok. Russia announced it would help to
achieve that aim; then the subject was dropped from public discussion. But
even that proposal must be fully public, and conducted through the UN's
International Atomic Energy Agency.

There also has been speculation that the tunnels are part of a plan to
mine uranium, and again Burma would be breaking international law not to
discuss that.

On general principles of regional agreement, Burma must quickly disclose
what it is up to with the tunnel complexes. The generals can prove that
reports of nuclear cooperation with North Korea are wrong.

But by their silence they also can encourage even more distrust and
suspicion about the intentions of their violent regime.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/21476/burma-must-come-clean