BurmaNet News, September 29, 2009

[Editor]

September 29, 2009 Issue #3808


INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: A rising four-star General
Kachin News Group: Eighth meeting between Burmese and KIO officials
IMNA: Children from Moulmein Township forced into Burmese Army

ON THE BORDER
Reuters: Myanmar says restive China border area now stable

BUSINESS / TRADE
DVB: Daewoo shares soar despite Burma criticism
Xinhua: China's foreign policy evolves over past 60 years: ambassador

DRUGS
SHAN: Boom days over for Wa

ASEAN
Bangkok Post: Asean scraps plan to appeal over Suu Kyi; Kasit denies UN
putting pressure on grouping

REGIONAL
Press Trust of India: US to consult India, China on its Burma policy

INTERNATIONAL
Reuters: U.S., Myanmar to meet in New York on Tuesday
Reuters: Myanmar PM meets U.S. Senator, promises reforms

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: “Friends of the Regime” meet in New York
VOA: Engaging Burma – Editorial
The Straits Times (Singapore): Myanmar: Asean stands vindicated – Editorial




____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

September 29, Irrawaddy
A rising four-star General – Min Lwin

To win high rank in the Burmese military, you have to work hard to carry
out your commanding officer’s orders, whether they are right or wrong.
This has been the key to the success of Gen Tin Aung Myint Oo, the fourth
most powerful member of Burma’s armed forces.

A bold nationalist, Tin Aung Myint Oo rose to prominence in September
1988, when his commander was killed by insurgents in the battle of Mong
Yawn, in the Communist Party of Burma’s War Zone 815 in eastern Shan
State.
Gen Tin Aung Myint Oo salutes during celebrations of Burma's Independence
Day in Naypyidaw on Jan. 4. (Photo: Getty Images)

After Maj Thura Soe Lwin was killed by a 57 mm recoilless rifle, Tin Aung
Myint Oo, who was also a major at that time, assumed command. Facing a
fierce attack from 2,000 CPB insurgents, he refused to surrender and
ordered his troops not to retreat.

Fighting continued for 12 days, claiming the lives of 50 government
soldiers and 202 CPB troops. Tin Aung Myint Oo’s courage and determination
on the battlefield earned him the title of Thiha Thura (“courageous as a
lion”).

He quickly rose through the ranks as a protégé of Maung Aye, who was a
brigadier general at the time and a leading member of the newly installed
military junta. Within six years, Tin Aung Myint Oo was a brigadier
general himself, while Maung Aye also continued his rise in power.

Tin Aung Myint Oo served first as the commanding officer of Light Infantry
Battalion 111 in Wun Thoe, Sagaing Division in 1990, then as commander of
Tactical Operations Command under the Northern Military Command in 1992.
In 1994, he served No 1 Military Operation Command, based in Kyaukme
Township, northern Shan State, as a brigadier general.

Within three years, he was commander of the Northeast Military Region in
Lashio, Shan State. A decade later, in 2007, he replaced Gen Thein Sein,
who now serves as prime minister, as secretary 1 of the ruling military
council.

In recent years, Tin Aung Myint Oo has caught the attention of Snr-Gen
Than Shwe, the regime’s most powerful figure. In March of this year, Than
Shwe promoted him to the rank of four-star general.

Burmese military observers believe that the promotion of Tin Aung Myint Oo
is part of Than Shwe’s strategy of creating three rival factions, each one
loyal to him as the commander in chief of the armed forces.

Tin Aung Myint Oo leads one of the factions, while the other two are
headed by Gen Thura Shwe Mann, the coordinator of Special Operations,
Army, Navy and Air Force, and Aung Thaung, the minister of industry (1).

Since his promotion to the rank of four-star general, Tin Aung Myint Oo
has become more influential among regional military commanders and the
commanders of the Bureau of Special Operations.

Military observers say that Tin Aung Myint Oo is being groomed to take
over the most powerful position in the military council, as Than Shwe
prepares to choose a president and commander in chief after the
military-sponsored 2010 election.

Sources inside Burma dismissed any speculation that these rising figures
might stage a coup, noting that all three are loyal to Than Shwe and close
to his family.

Shwe Mann is seen as protégé of Than Shwe and is close to some businessmen
and scholars, while Tin Aung Myint Oo is loyal to both Than Shwe and Maung
Aye.

____________________________________

September 29, Kachin News Group
Eighth meeting between Burmese and KIO officials

The eighth meeting between Burmese military officials and the Kachin
Independence Organization (KIO) got off the ground today in Myitkyina, the
capital of Burma's northern Kachin State, said KIO sources.

The meeting is on at the Mali Hka Hall in the Burmese Army's Northern
Regional Command headquarters based in Myitkyina. The meeting began at 10
a.m. local time, said KIO officials in the group's Laiza headquarters on
the Sino-Burma border in Kachin State.
KIO sources said this time, the meeting will mainly focus on issues
related to civil departments under the KIO rather than the contentious
Border Guard Force issue.

The KIO delegates are meeting Maj-Gen Soe Win, the junta's commander of
the Myitkyina-based Northern Regional Command and a local chief negotiator
to the KIO and other pro-junta Kachin militia and armed groups in Kachin
State, said KIO sources.

The KIO delegates are led by Vice-president No. 1 Lt-Gen Gauri Zau Seng,
those in-charge and their deputies in the Education, Health, Forestry,
Rural Reconstruction and Military Departments of the KIO, a KIO officer in
Laiza said.

In this meeting and every meeting in the past since April, Maj-Gen
Gunhtang Gam Shawng, Chief of Staff of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA)
was especially invited by the junta, but he did not attend all the
meetings, said KIA sources.

The KIA Chief of Staff maintained at the public meeting in Laiza HQ that
he firmly believes that the KIA issue should not be resolved before the
political issues are sorted out between the KIO and the junta, according
to residents of Laiza.

The KIO has proposed the space and administrative power of its civil
departments.  The junta in turn has told the KIO that these issues are
negotiable except the Border Guard Force issue, said KIO officials.

The junta has set October 31 as the deadline for transforming the KIA, the
armed wing of the KIO to the Burmese Army-controlled Border Guard Force
along with other ethnic ceasefire groups in the country.

The KIO has accepted transformation of its armed-wing in principle but it
does not want it to be put under the control of the Burmese Army. The KIO
has proposed to the junta to allow it to transform KIA to a brigade level
Kachin Regional Guard Force (KRGF).

In April, the junta officially told all ethnic ceasefire groups in the
country to transform to the junta-controlled BGFs as a step towards having
only one military command in the country before the 2010 elections.

The KIO is aware that the junta's BGF strategy is meant to gradually
disarm all ethnic armed groups who have fought against the
Burman-dominated successive governments for decades, said KIO officers.

In a surprise move since September 24, China is constructing three refugee
camps for the Burmese in Yunnan province near the Burma border despite no
signs of strife on the border between Burmese troops and border-based
ethnic armed groups. No Burmese refugee has fled to the China border
either.

____________________________________

September 29, Independent Mon News Agency
Children from Moulmein Township forced into Burmese Army

Youths under the age of 18, from Moulmein Township in Mon State, are being
forcibly enlisted into the Burmese Army, according to soldiers from the
South East Command (SEC).

IMNA learned from an informant in the SEC that the children in question
are as young as 14 years old, and are from the Pegu and Irrawaddy
divisions as well as Arakan State.

“The South East Command hired brokers to find children, and brokers spend
2000,00 kyat for 1 child. The children’s parents are poor and they can’t
support their children to go to school, therefore they exchanged their
children for money. Parents think that their children will become soldiers
and they don’t know how badly their children will fare as soldiers, “said
a soldier from the South East command.

Since January of this year, the SEC has asked its brokers to procure two
children a month, added the soldier.

According to residents from Moulmein Township, SEC also kidnapped ten
children while they were walking on the road in the Moulmein township
area.

The Human Right Education Institution of Burma (HREIB) and ethnic minority
groups have welcomed UN investigations into the use of child soldiers in
Burma. Various exile media groups reported on the UN’s announcement on
this past August 4th that it was sending a team to Burma, in order to
pressure ethnic minority armed groups and the Burmese army into stopping
thier use of child soldiers.

On July 22, Yoma news group released a report called “Child Soldiers
Burma's Sons of Sorrow”, which highlighted how the Burmese Army is
recruiting under-aged children to supplement the dwindling numbers of the
Burmese Army. The Burmese government announced in 2008 that it need to
increase its army’s numbers to a total of 500, 000 troops.

A Yoma news report estimated that between 20 and 30 soldiers run away from
the 500 Burmese Battalion in the 14th commander division every month.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

September 29, Reuters
Myanmar says restive China border area now stable

Beijing – Peace has now more or less returned to a part of Myanmar which
erupted in violence last month, pushing thousands of refugees into China,
the country's ambassador to Beijing was quoted as saying on Tuesday.

In August, Myanmar's army overran Kokang, a territory that lies along the
border with the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan and was controlled
for years by an ethnic Chinese militia that paid little heed to the
central government.

Many of the refugees were ethnic Chinese, some of whom were Chinese
citizens, and complained their houses and businesses had been sacked and
looted during the violence.

Last week, China rapped the former Burma over the violence, demanding the
government protect Chinese citizens and make sure such an incident did not
happen again.

Myanmar's ambassador to China, Thein Lwin, told the official China News
Service that Kokang was now peaceful again, and that he had "sympathy" for
residents' losses caused by the clashes.

He said he was "deeply grieved" at the death of two Chinese during the
unrest.

"At present, Kokang has basically returned to normal, and all legal
Chinese enterprises have already reopened," he was paraphrased as saying.

"The Myanmar embassy in China has kept in close touch and cooperated with
the Chinese Foreign Ministry, and have worked hard together to make sure
this incident was solved in the most appropriate way."

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

September 29, Democratic Voice of Burma
Daewoo shares soar despite Burma criticism – Joseph Allchin

The Korean company heading the construction of a controversial pipeline
project in Burma has announced a rise in shares after acquisition interest
from one of the world’s largest steel companies.

Daewoo International has attracted interest after nine financial
institutions put their collective 68 percent stake in the company up for
sale, Reuters reported.

The shares, worth $US1.8 billion, pushed the world’s sixth largest steel
firm, POSCO, to express interest in the company.

The news comes despite heavy criticism of Daewoo’s role in the
construction of a $US6.7 billion oil and gas pipeline project in Burma,
known as the Shwe Gas Project.

Daewoo is heading a consortium of companies building pipelines to connect
Burma’s Bay of Bengal gas fields to China’s southern Yunnan province. The
pipelines will also transport Middle Eastern oil cargo across the breadth
of Burma.

Daewoo’s surge in success has been attributed largely to its Burmese
assets, stemming from a project that has received strong support from the
Burmese government and Beijing.

Extraction costs in Burma are believed to be amongst the lowest in the
world, with many complaining that this is partly due to a lack of
environmental and labour regulations.

Campaigners have warned that the human and environmental costs could be
huge, with intense militarisation along the length of the pipeline and
damage to ecosystems likely.

The campaign group, Shwe Gas Movement, have quoted the International
Labour Organisation (ILO) as estimating that “more than 800,000 Burmese
are currently conscripted in slave-like conditions with little or no pay”
in various projects across Burma that come under the banner of
‘development’.

The military junta has also been accused recently by EarthRights
International of siphoning off up to $US4.83 billion in profits to
Singaporean banks.

It was also accused of utilizing exchange rate irregularities to hide
funds from the public accounts.

____________________________________

September 29, Xinhua
China's foreign policy evolves over past 60 years: ambassador

Yangon – Over the past 60 years, China's foreign relations not only scored
numerous achievements but also made contribution to the establishment of
just and reasonable international order, Chinese Ambassador to Myanmar Ye
Dabo said on Tuesday.

Ye made the remark in an exclusive interview with Xinhua on Tuesday, two
days ahead of 60th founding anniversary of People's Republic of China.

Recalling the history, Ye said late Premier Zhou Enlai proposed for the
first time the "Five Principles for Peaceful Coexistence" when he met with
an Indian government delegation on Dec. 31, 1953.

At the end of June 1954, Premier Zhou visited India and Myanmar, and had
talks with prime ministers of the two countries separately. A joint
statement after the talks reiterated that the five principles for peaceful
coexistence serve as guiding principles for bilateral relations.

In April, 1955, an Afro-Asian Conference was held in Bandung, Indonesia
and the five principles for peaceful coexistence was introduced in the
press communique.

Since then, the said five principles have become a basic principle
governing China's relations with all countries and also served as a base
for its independent and peaceful foreign policy.

For the past over 50 years, the five principles for peaceful coexistence
have also become an important principle for international relations
acknowledged by the international community.

Ambassador Ye pointed out that China also actively initiated a principle
for establishing new international political and economic order, guided by
the five principles.

China's leadership, in accordance with the development of the situation,
continuously enriched these principles.

In April 2005, President Hu Jintao raised, at the Afro-Asian Summit in
Jakarta, establishment of a "Harmonious World" and on Sept. 15 the same
year, under the title of "Making great efforts to build a harmonious world
with long-lasting peace and common prosperity", President Hu delivered an
important speech at a summit of the United Nations marking its 60th
anniversary of establishment.

The new ideology of "harmonious world" places emphasis on dialogue between
countries, coordination and cooperation, Ye said, stressing the importance
on the equality, mutual coexistence and abiding by international rules
which reflects the wishes of the peaceful coexistence and the creative
application and development of the five principles.

Ye emphasized that over the past 60 years, China's foreign relations
experienced the critical test of changing international climate, making
achievements that drew world attention.

With the all-sided development of friendly ties with countries in the
world, China's international position continued to rise, prompting the
increase of the number of countries with which China has established
diplomatic ties to 171 from 18 when in the early phase of New China's
founding, he noted.

For the past 60 years, upholding an independent and peaceful foreign
policy, China made efforts in promoting the cause of world peace,
development and cooperation, and during the period, China took the
development of relations with surrounding and neighboring countries as the
priority as its main responsibility in its foreign relations and endeavors
for a harmonious surrounding with long-lasting peace and common
prosperity, he pointed out.

Entering the new century, he said, China abided by a policy of dealing on
good terms with and making partner with neighboring countries, actively
pushing the friendly and neighborly cooperation as well as regional
cooperation. As a result, bilateral economic and trade ties have become
closer, making achievements in every sector.

Commenting on Sino-Myanmar relations, Ye said China and Myanmar are
friendly neighbors linked by mountains and rivers, enjoying a deep
"Paukphaw" (fraternal) friendship. Myanmar stood one of the earliest
countries which forged diplomatic ties with China after its founding.

In the 1960s, China and Myanmar took the lead in smooth and total
settlement of boundary issue left by the history with a spirit of friendly
coordination, mutual understanding and mutual accommodation.

In 2000, China and Myanmar signed a joint statement relating to the
framework of future cooperation of the two countries, introducing a
direction for the development of the two countries' bilateral ties in the
21st century.

Ye pointed out that in recent years, China and Myanmar continuously
expanded the cooperation and exchange in the sectors of politics, economy,
trade and culture. In 2008, the bilateral trade of China and Myanmar
reached 2.66 billion U.S. dollars. China became the 5th largest foreign
investor of Myanmar.

In anticipation of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic
ties between China and Myanmar next year, Ye said China would push deeply
the continuous development of friendly and mutually-beneficial cooperation
of the two countries in every sector.

Ye believes that through joint efforts, there could be better future
prospects of cooperation between the two countries.

Ye concluded that in the past 60 years, China adopted an independent and
peaceful foreign policy, safeguarding national sovereignty, security and
benefit of development as well as making great contributions to the world
peace, development and cooperation.

The 60 years also marked China's launch of friendly cooperation with world
nations to seek mutually-beneficial "win-win" situation and joint
development, Ye added.

____________________________________
DRUGS

September 29, Shan Herald Agency for News
Boom days over for Wa

Meeting with the Wa leaders in Shan State North’s Tangyan in April,
Naypyitaw’s chief negotiator Lt-Gen Ye Myint reportedly told them in
effect that the ceasefire era was finished.

When the Wa undiplomatically turned down his proposal to transform the
United Wa State Army (UWSA) into a Burma Army-run Border Guard Force,
Naypyitaw went on to prove they meant business.

In 2005, a shipment of 496 kg of heroin was seized from the Wa in
Mongpiang. The culprits among whom was Bao Ai Pan, the supreme Wa leader’s
relative, were sent to jail, but the overall Wa relations with Naypyitaw
did not change significantly.

But following the Wa’s rejection of the BGF proposal, things were no
longer the same.

On 11 September, 3 million yaba pills were seized in Tachilek, opposite
Thailand’s Maesai. The police source, when interviewed by Irrawaddy, said
the pills came from the Wa capital Panghsang. His unexpected answer had
reportedly stunned veteran Burma watchers in Thailand.

On 27 September, another 200 packets (400,000 pills) were seized at
Wanpong, east of Tachilek and on the Gold Triangle, were seized together
with 7 villagers working at the Wa agricultural project. “The Wa days (as
drug entrepreneurs) are definitely numbered,” said a border watcher.

On the same day, a location near the ceasefire Shan State Army (SSA)
North’s 7th Brigade base in Kunhing had a surprise raid by Burma Army
troops. “The place was reported to have been the site of a refinery,” said
a source close to the SSA North. “But they found nothing.”

An official document received by SHAN also accuses the Kachin Independence
Army (KIA)’s Shan State –based 4th Brigade of involvement in the drug
trade. As for the reputedly pro-junta Kachin Democratic Army (KDA), the
document says it has been cooperating with the military government in drug
suppression activities.

The KDA became notorious when it attacked a police column in Kutkhai on 27
May 2007 after their financial officer Yaw Chang Wa was arrested with
drugs, killing 5 and wounding at least 5, according to exile media
agencies.

“The message is clear,” a businessman working in Taunggyi told SHAN. “To
deal in drugs, you must first place yourself on the right side – the
junta’s side.”

On the issue of drugs, Senior General Than Shwe’s mantra has always been
‘narcotics harm no Burmese. Drugs harm only the United States and
Thailand. So let the Americans and Thai die!’ wrote Aung Lynn Tut, former
intelligence officer and Charge’d Affairs in Washington.

____________________________________
ASEAN

September 29, Bangkok Post
Asean scraps plan to appeal over Suu Kyi; Kasit denies UN putting pressure
on grouping

Asean has scrapped a plan to appeal to Burma for the release of opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya says.

Thailand, as chairman of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations,
planned to send a letter to the Burmese government last month asking for a
pardon for Mrs Suu Kyi who is under house arrest.

But Mr Kasit said from New York yesterday the appeal was now unnecessary
as the United Nations, the US and the European Union had reviewed their
policies and there were signs they would engage more with Burma.

The US and EU have long boycotted Burma but plan to offer humanitarian and
development aid in a major revision to their approach to the
military-ruled country, he said.

Mrs Suu Kyi was sentenced in July to another 18 months under house arrest
for violating house arrest rules after an American man swam to her house
and stayed two nights there.

Thailand's idea to send the letter failed to win the support of Laos,
Cambodia, Brunei, Burma and Vietnam because they did not want to interfere
in Burma's internal affairs, a Foreign Ministry source said.

Mr Kasit's original plan was to lobby the five Asean members to reverse
their position at the meeting of Asean foreign ministers in New York on
Saturday.

Mr Kasit denied UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon wanted Asean to take a
tougher line on Burma, saying all parties would like Asean to continue to
engage with the Burmese military junta.

"I have met Mr Ban many times and he did not ask Asean to take tougher
action against Burma," the minister said.

"All parties want Asean to continue engagement with Burma and ask Burma to
cooperate with the grouping."

Bangkok-based Burmese pro-democracy activists welcomed the UN
secretary-general's call at the weekend for Asean to take a tougher stance
on Burma.

Nai Tun Lin, secretary-general of the Burmese Refugee Helping Body, was
hopeful a change in Burma would take place in the future with closer
cooperation between the UN and Asean.

Than Pe, chairman of the Overseas National Students' Organisation of
Burma, said he was still uncertain whether Asean would respond well to Mr
Ban's request.

"Asean is not giving as much importance to problems in Burma as it is to
economic cooperation in the region," he said.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

September 29, Press Trust of India
US to consult India, China on its Burma policy – Lalit K Jha

Washington – Announcing its policy to enter into a dialogue with Myanmar's
military junta, the Obama Administration today said it would actively
consult and seek the help of countries like India and China as part of its
new Burma policy.

"We will intensify our engagement with ASEAN, China, and India to press
the Burmese leadership to reform and to participate responsibly in the
international community," Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and
Public Affairs Kurt Campbell said.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

September 29, Reuters
U.S., Myanmar to meet in New York on Tuesday

Washington - The United States and Myanmar plan to open a high-level
dialogue on Tuesday at a meeting in New York, a source familiar with the
matter said.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell plans to meet U Thaung,
Myanmar's minister of science, technology and labour, said the source, who
spoke on condition that he not be identified because the meeting has yet
to be made public.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week said that the United
States would pursue deeper engagement with Myanmar's military rulers to
try to spur democratic reform but will not ease sanctions for now.

While acknowledging economic sanctions had failed to bring about change in
Myanmar, Clinton said Washington had concluded in a policy review that it
had to maintain them while enhancing its dialogue with the isolated
Southeast Asian nation.

Myanmar plans next year to hold its first election in two decades, which
the junta says will bring an end to almost five decades of unbroken
military rule. Many analysts suspect the generals will still hold the real
power.

Washington has gradually tightened sanctions on the generals who rule the
country, formerly known as Burma, to try to force them into political
rapprochement with Nobel laureate and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
____________________________________

September 28, Reuters
Myanmar PM meets U.S. Senator, promises reforms

United Nations - Myanmar's prime minister met U.S. Senator Jim Webb on
Monday after telling the U.N. General Assembly that the military rulers
are pressing ahead with democratic reforms but want an end to sanctions.

Webb, who visited Myanmar in August, held talks with General Thein Sein,
prime minister of the country formerly known as Burma, in New York on the
sidelines of the General Assembly.

"The meeting was a continuation of a dialogue begun last month," Webb, the
Democratic chairman of the Senate subcommittee on East Asia and the
Pacific, said in a statement after the meeting.

"The (U.S.) administration's new policy and the commitment of the Myanmar
government to holding elections next year are both signals that we have
the potential to change the dynamic of this important relationship."

The administration of President Barack Obama has decided to pursue
dialogue with Myanmar's military rulers while leaving open the possibility
that it could expand U.S. sanctions.

Webb traveled to Myanmar last month and secured the release of an American
tourist whose unsolicited visit to opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's
house in Yangon was the reason cited by the government to prosecute her
and the tourist for violating a new security law.

Thein Sein is the highest ranking Myanmar official to address the General
Assembly since the junta's second-in-command, Maung Aye, spoke at the
annual gathering of world leaders in New York in 1995. In his speech, he
brushed aside attempts by outsiders to dictate reforms to the junta.

"Democracy cannot be imposed from the outside and a system suitable for
Myanmar can only be born out of Myanmar society," Thein Sein told the
192-nation Assembly. "The transition to democracy is proceeding."

U.S. TO OPEN DIRECT TALKS WITH MYANMAR

Myanmar is to hold multiparty elections next year, although the recent
sentencing of Suu Kyi to a further 18 months of detention has led the West
to question whether the elections will be a sham.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also met Thein Sein at U.N.
headquarters and told him his government needs to hold "credible and
inclusive elections" and release Suu Kyi and all other political
prisoners, Ban's press office said.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell told reporters in
Washington that the United States has agreed to engage diplomatically with
Myanmar after the junta expressed an interest in reopening discussions
with Washington.

Campbell said the first direct contacts would take place this week on the
sidelines of the General Assembly and that he would be part of the U.S.
team.

"We recognized that ultimately we need to change our methods but not our
goals," Campbell said, noting that concern about Myanmar's relationship
with North Korea was among the factors behind the decision.

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party said in Yangon the
Nobel Peace Prize laureate has requested a meeting with U.S., European
Union and Australian diplomats to discuss the sanctions imposed on her
country.

The United States approved sanctions against Myanmar in 1988, when an
estimated 3,000 people were killed when the army crushed pro-democracy
demonstrations. The EU and Australia also have sanctions in place.

Thein Sein told the Assembly the sanctions against Myanmar were "unjust"
and "must be stopped."

Campbell said the United States would look for concrete signs of progress
before moving to drop sanctions and he held out the possibility that more
targeted sanctions could be imposed if the situation in Myanmar took a
turn for the worse.

Western governments and the United Nations have urged the junta to free
all political prisoners, including Suu Kyi, who has been detained in some
way for 14 of the past 20 years.

(Additional reporting by Aung Hla Tun in Yangon and Andy Quinn in
Washington; Editing by John O'Callaghan)

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

September 29, Irrawaddy
“Friends of the Regime” meet in New York

While Burmese Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein’s speech at the United Nations
assembly was nothing earth-shattering, his meetings on the sidelines
should not be overlooked.

At the invitation of UN Under-Secretary-General Ambassador Joseph Verner
Reed, Thein Sein met with US Senator Jim Webb on Monday.

The Burmese premier and Webb met in Naypyidaw in August during the US
senator’s controversial trip to Burma, soon after which the US agreed to a
policy of engagement with the Burmese junta.

“I appreciate Ambassador Reed's initiative in arranging this meeting, and
I look forward to continuing the dialogue with Prime Minister Thein Sein
that was begun last month,” Webb said in a statement prior to the meeting.

Ambassador Reed, for his part, is not unfamiliar with the Burmese regime.
As a special adviser to former UN chief Kofi Annan and now to Ban Ki-moon,
the high-ranking UN official is known to be close to some senior junta
officers.

Sources said that Reed met with Gen Maung Aye in 1995 at the UN General
Assembly and, in 2002, he attended an event marking United Nations Day in
Rangoon as the guest of then Prime Minister Gen Khin Nyunt.

Ambassador Reed has a Burmese assistant working for him and his strong
ties to the regime “cannot be discounted,” warned Maj Aung Lynn Htut, a
former intelligence officer who was the second highest ranking Burmese
official at the Burmese embassy in Washington until he defected in 2005.

During Aung Lynn Htut’s tenure in Washington, the Burmese embassy agreed
to provide a visa to Sen Webb and an American businessman to visit Burma
in 2001. Webb visited the country as a private citizen soon after.

Aung Lynn Htut defected to the US after Khin Nyunt was purged by Snr-Gen
Than Shwe. He said he feared for his life if he returned to Burma.

He has since revealed that as soon as US President George W Bush came to
power in 2001, Burmese and Americans who were sympathetic to the regime
hired lobby firms in the US capital to improve the regime’s souring ties
with the new US administration.

However, when the regime’s thugs attacked and ambushed Aung San Suu Kyi’s
convoy in May 2003 in Depayin, the US tightened sanctions instead.

The former intelligence officer said the Burmese military government sent
several unofficial delegations to the US in 2001 and 2002 to lobby for an
easing of sanctions.

He said that many of the trips were sponsored by Burmese business tycoon
Khin Shwe.

In 1997, Khin Shwe hired an American public relations company, Bain and
Associates Inc, to improve relations with the US. Khin Shwe’s daughter is
married to the younger son of junta no 3 Gen Thura Shwe Mann. In 2007,
Khin Shwe was placed on the US sanctions list for his close ties to the
regime.

Over the next few years, the ruling Burmese generals also hired lobby
groups Jefferson Waterman International and the DCI Group in 1997 and 2001
respectively, in an attempt to soften their public image abroad, in
particular by steering the Bush administration away from criticism of the
regime’s human rights abuses and the continued detention of Suu Kyi, and
to push for lifting US sanctions.

Aung Lynn Htut revealed that around 2001 and 2002 in Washington, the
Burmese embassy and intelligence faction hosted several Burmese
businessmen, former activists, and foreign scholars, including David
Steinberg, Thant Myint-U (the grandson of U Thant), Aye Aye Thant (U
Thant’s daughter), Professor Kyaw Yin Hlaing, former CIA officers
stationed in Rangoon, and several US businessmen and representatives of
oil companies, including UNOCAL.

He said the agenda was always the same—to lift US sanctions and to
sideline Suu Kyi.

The regime also invited Japanese diplomats who harbored negative feelings
toward the detained opposition leader. “We knew that Japanese diplomats
and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi didn’t have good relations, so we exploited it,”
said Aung Lynn Htut.

When asked why the regime had chosen to align itself with Ambassador Reed,
he told The Irrawaddy in January: “We gathered information that he didn’t
like Aung San Suu Kyi.”

Aung Lynn Htut said that the propaganda against Suu Kyi was subtle and
aimed to demonstrate to the international community that Suu Kyi was
stubborn and was an obstacle to progress in Burma.

Another old friend on the delegation to the US is Minister for Science and
Technology and former Burmese ambassador to Washington U Thaung, who has
previously worked with Reed in efforts to improve the regime’s brutal
image.

As they gather for closed door talks once again, this time the old friends
can pat each other on the back—now that the new US administration has
pledged to engage directly with the junta in Naypyidaw.

____________________________________

September 29, Voice of America
Engaging Burma – Editorial

For years a military government has ruled Burma wielding repressive power
that denies its people basic freedoms, persecutes ethnic minorities, jails
political opponents and quashes even peaceful protests with at times
deadly force. And for years the United States and other nations have
responded with economic, travel and other sanctions against the Rangoon
government, its leaders and financial supporters in an effort to persuade
them to ease their grip and pave the way for a democratic, peaceful and
prosperous Burma.

This approach has done little to bring about such changes, however. So
after a lengthy review of these policies the United States has decided to
engage with Burmese leaders to promote democracy there, while still
maintaining its program of sanctions.

“Engagement versus sanctions is a false choice,” Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton said in previewing the conclusions of the review at the
United Nations. “Going forward, we will be employing both of those tools.”

High level talks between our 2 governments may be held as the new approach
moves forward, but there will be no softening of longstanding goals of
democratic reforms. The U.S. will continue to press for a Burmese
government that responds to the needs of its people, the immediate and
unconditional release of political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi,
and serious dialogue by government leaders with their political opponents
and minority ethnic groups.

It is well understood, however, that change takes time and no dramatic or
immediate results are likely forthcoming. The Burmese military has been in
power since 1962 and its leaders have much at stake in maintaining the
status quo. But by tailoring an approach aimed at opening the country to
new ideas and new thinking, rather than seeking continued isolation, the
chance of success will grow over time.
____________________________________

September 29, The Straits Times (Singapore)
Myanmar: Asean stands vindicated – Editorial

MYANMAR was firmly placed among the 'outposts of tyranny' in a selective
form of colour coding the Bush White House used to indulge in, to denote
troublesome nations. To be so installed meant economic and diplomatic
sanctions, non-contact and extreme suspicion of intent. It was the deep
freeze of the 1950s Cold War era all over again. The new United States
government has now abandoned the ill-conceived policy in favour of direct
negotiations in order to promote peaceful change. It is a calculated
gamble that extends to trademarked 'tyrannies' such as North Korea and
Iran, besides Myanmar. The reaction of governments and the free-Myanmar
lobby of non-governmental organisations and exiles says clearly which
approach they think will have a better chance of bringing hope and light
to the blighted land. A strong endorsement comes from the detained Aung
San Suu Kyi herself, who has been more flexible in her martyr-like
opposition to the junta. She acknowledges wisely that the military should
have a role in a permanent solution.

Asean can take satisfaction in the Obama administration's new tack. The
grouping has been no less aggrieved over the junta's abuse of the
constitutional process and the long detention of Ms Suu Kyi, but it stuck
by its policy of engagement and it disputed the usefulness of sanctions.
It now stands vindicated. After it has begun talks with the Yangon
generals, the US should scrap sanctions as well because they have harmed
the people, not the junta. It is understandable the US wishes to retain
sanctions as a tool with which to steer the generals towards an
accommodation, which is what the State Department has said.

It is better to own up to the self-deception now, and get on with helping
Asean to bring Myanmar back into the fold of nations which honour the
rights of their citizens. Ms Suu Kyi has reportedly written to Senior
General Than Shwe, head of the junta, recommending how he could get
Myanmar off sanctions. The US needs no further justification for wiping
the slate clean.

But it will discover, as Asean has, that progress with antediluvian
personages in the Yangon power structure will be slow. A starting point
has to be the restoration of rights to Ms Suu Kyi and the National League
for Democracy, so that they can participate in next year's planned
election. The NLD should not shoot itself in the foot by boycotting the
polls, as advocated by some quarters. There has to be room for both
civilians and uniformed people in a future free Myanmar. The US will find
Asean an indispensable partner in its undertaking, for the local knowledge
it has gathered.