BurmaNet News, May 22 - 24, 2010

[Editor]

May 22 – 24, 2010, Issue #3968


INSIDE BURMA
DVB: Rangoon authorities quit en masse
IRIN: Carving out humanitarian space post-Nargis
Reuters: Large fire breaks out in Myanmar market complex
Mizzima News: Journals suspended over Htet Htet Moe Oo alleged assault
Irrawaddy: Power to the people

ON THE BORDER
Kaladan Press: Forced labor for road construction in Maungdaw

INTERNATIONAL
DPA: EU plans to send mission to Myanmar as part of new "dialogue"
Buffalo News (US): Burmese gathering here use newfound freedoms to press
cause
AP: UN Chief urges action against child soldiers

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: Than Shwe's election dilemma – Bamargyi
DVB: What can gas transparency do for Burma? – Matthew Smith and Naing Htoo

INTERVIEW
Irrawaddy: “Donors have their limits”



____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

May 24, Democratic Voice of Burma
Rangoon authorities quit en masse – Maung Too

Lower-ranking administration officials in 10 Rangoon division wards have
resigned from their posts, reportedly in frustration at their maligned
reputation among Burmese citizens.

A member of the Ward Peace and Development Council (WPDC) in Thongwa
township said that “all chairmen from 10 out of 12 wards in town, except
Ward 2 and 9, submitted their resignations”.

“We were hated by people for being part of this organisation but in
reality we don’t have power or hold any authority in our positions,” he
said. He added that officials were forced to adopt “security measures
whenever senior government officials or their wives come here”.

“We have to take action against suspects when bombs explode; we have to go
on duty at teashops and get assigned to the nooks and crannies of
temples,” he said, referring to a Burmese expression which means areas
where drug users and prostitutes reside.

He added that officials were also required to regularly travel to Rangoon
to beef up security.

But it was the people’s “mistrust” of the authorities that forced them to
“bluntly [resign] from our positions”, he said.

Another WPDC member said that members of Village Peace and Development
Councils in Thongwa were also resigning.

“There are 64 villages in Thongwa jurisdiction and officials there are
also seeking resignation at the Township Peace and Development Council.
But as senior authorities are not accepting this, the TPDC chairman is now
in hot water.”

Government authorities in Burma are forced to operate under extreme
bureaucracy, with power heavily centralised by the paranoid ruling
generals in the capital, Naypyidaw.

Another WPDC member said that low-level authorities are “hated by the
people” and “really don’t have any power” but instead act on the orders of
the TPDC

He added however that the Thongwa TPDC chairman, Kyaw Thaung, informed
them that they could not quit until the end of the upcoming elections this
year, but said that they are “still seeking resignation as we don’t want
to continue with this job”.

____________________________________

May 24, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
- Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN)
Carving out humanitarian space post-Nargis

Yangon – Two years after the destruction caused by Cyclone Nargis created
a rare opening for foreign assistance into Myanmar, aid workers say they
still face numerous operating challenges.

Under the Tripartite Core Group (TCG), comprising the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) [http://www.aseansec.org/], the UN and
Myanmar government, unimpeded humanitarian access was granted to the areas
where Nargis struck on 2 May 2008, killing at least 140,000 and affecting
2.4 million.

There were hopes the experience would free up access to other parts of the
country needing aid. However, no major changes have taken place,
humanitarian workers say.

"We have learned a lot and come a long way," Bishow Parajuli, the UN's
Humanitarian Coordinator in Myanmar, told IRIN. "But we have not yet taken
full advantage of the trust that has been cultivated. There are positive
moves, but we need to do more on that front."

Some progress

Aid workers say the Nargis experience did help the government to better
understand the international community's work.

"There are issues that we are considering and discussing with the
government now which we wouldn't have thought possible before Nargis,"
Chris Kaye, country representative for the World Food Programme (WFP) in
Myanmar, told IRIN.

"There is an overall trend to a better working environment for NGOs in
this country and it's largely because of what the international community
was able to do [after Nargis]," added Andrew Kirkwood, country director
for Save the Children in Myanmar.

However, that period of easy access to Nargis-affected areas is
evaporating, aid workers say.

"The issuance of visas is not so streamlined and fast-tracked .The
fluidity of operations is quite different now to what it was a year ago.
That's unfortunate," said Kaye.

Myanmar is also gearing up for its first elections in two decades this
year, and the operating environment is changing.

While the UN says it has not seen more restrictions yet, international
NGOs fear further limits, including restricting domestic travel for
international aid workers.

"In the run-up to the elections in 2010, the government or the ministries
are asking more and more INGOs for their numbers of international staff,
and they are trying to reduce the number of international staff," said
Birke Herzbruch, liaison officer for a forum of INGOs.

Varied access

"It's very difficult for us to say access is not being granted - that's
not true - or access is being granted everywhere, which is also another
extreme. The truth lies somewhere in the middle," said Thierry Delbreuve,
head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
in Myanmar.

For example, access to Myanmar's conflict-affected southeast border is
difficult for agencies, which only deploy national staff there.

"The access and space available differs from agency to agency," said
Ramesh Shrestha, the UN Children Fund's (UNICEF's) Myanmar representative.
"Some agencies have better access than other agencies. It depends on the
scope of work, it depends on the partnering ministries."

Unpredictability over who is allowed to work in the country, and when,
also makes planning difficult, INGOs say.

Obtaining a requisite government letter of invitation to a foreign aid
worker can take months, while there is a constant backlog of visa
applications.

And for an INGO to operate in Myanmar, it must negotiate a memorandum of
understanding with the government, which can take two years.

"Nobody seems to be able to grasp or reflect accurately the situation
because it is also evolving over time. Today you may not have access,
tomorrow you may have it. What is important is to continuously advocate
for humanitarian access to all populations in need," said Delbreuve.

Room for work

Despite these difficulties, UN agencies and INGOs say Myanmar is being
unfairly painted as a country where aid workers cannot operate
effectively, or are co-opted by the military government.

"You can actually work here. Although it is difficult, although we have
all the restrictions . we can all remain and maintain our humanitarian
mandate here without being compromised," Herzbruch said.

Aid workers who have been in Myanmar for a number of years say there are
now agencies in every state and division in the country, despite
variations in access.

Kirkwood referred to the mid-1990s, when agencies were only working in
limited areas, such as around Yangon. "If you look over a 15-year period,
there's a huge opening-up of places we can access," he said. A selection
of IRIN reports are posted on ReliefWeb. Find more IRIN news and analysis
at http://www.irinnews.org

Une sélection d'articles d'IRIN sont publiés sur ReliefWeb. Trouvez
d'autres articles et analyses d'IRIN sur http://www.irinnews.org

This article does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations
or its agencies. Refer to the IRIN copyright page for conditions of use.

Cet article ne reflète pas nécessairement les vues des Nations Unies. Voir
IRIN droits d'auteur pour les conditions d'utilisation.

____________________________________

May 24, Reuters
Large fire breaks out in Myanmar market complex

Yangon – A huge fire broke out in a commercial centre housing 4,000 shops
and stalls in Myanmar's biggest city Monday but no casualties were
reported, firefighters and traders said.

Mingalar Zay, a five-storey market complex in Yangon, burst into flames
around 9 a.m. local time (3:30 a.m. British time) and dozens of fire
trucks were still battling to put out the blaze several hours later.

"Fortunately, there were not many people inside the building when the
first broke out, since the market had just opened," said the owner of
pharmacy at the market. "Otherwise, there would definitely be a very high
death toll."

Local traders said they believed the fire was started by the overheating
of a battery charger on the fourth floor.

Myanmar is plagued almost daily by acute power shortages and factories,
shops, hospitals are often badly affected by blackouts. Many people rely
on batteries during power cuts and fires are common as a result of
chargers overheating.

A total of 719 fires were recorded in Myanmar 2008, killing 28 people and
wounding 52, according to the latest available data.

(Reporting by Aung Hla Tun; Editing by Martin Petty)

____________________________________

May 24, Mizzima News
Journals suspended over Htet Htet Moe Oo alleged assault – Phanida

Chiang Mai – The Burmese junta’s state censor has temporarily suspended
the publishing licences of two journals that reported the filing of an
assault case against actress Htet Htet Moe Oo by a reporter from the Seven
Days journal.

The case filed says  Burma Film Academy award twice winner Htet Htet Moe
Oo allegedly slapped and attempted to strangle Aye Thu San after the
reporter asked her about her private life. The first hearing was held at
Yankin Townhsip court in Rangoon today, at which the complainant and one
eyewitness testified.

The next hearing was set for Thursday.

The Ministry of Information’s Press Registration and Scrutiny Division
(Censor) office at Bahan Township in Rangoon posted a notice that the
publishing licences of The Voice and The First Music had been suspended
temporarily from Saturday (May 22), a journalist who saw the notice said.

The Voice weekly journal volume six, number 28 released on Saturday
reported that Seven Days journal reporter Aye Thu San had filed an assault
complaint against Htet Htet Moe Oo and also printed a transcript of the
interview during which the assault was alleged to have occurred.

Similarly First Music journal had reported the filing of the lawsuit with
a photo of the crying reporter.

The duration of the suspension was as yet unclear but a reporter from The
Voice who requested anonymity told Mizzima it would last one week.

An officer from the Censor in a phone interview told Mizzima: “It’s not
because of the news concerning Htet Htet Moe Oo as they [the journals]
have time and again ignored our warnings on censored news by publishing
them [the cut items]  and now it [the ban] coincided with this news [about
the alleged assault].”

All Burmese publications are required by the State Peace and Development
Council’s (Burma’s ruling junta) laws to submit and receive approval from
the Censor for their front and back pages on A3 paper before the
publications go to print. Censorship and deleting is arbitrary and has led
to headaches, disappointment and often jail terms for many journalists.

Members of the Burmese press often ridicule the Censor, speaking of it as
the “Press Kempeitai”, after the notorious Japanese military intelligence,
units of which were active in Burma during the Japanese occupation during
the second world war.

“We are issued warnings when we publish forbidden photos and news reports
or photos and illustrations on the front page that we have been told to
print inside,” an editor said. “They usually suspend our publishing
licence for one to two weeks if such warnings have accumulated two or
three times”.

If a person who is the subject of such items presents a protest letter on
a news report to the Censor, the board sometimes bans such news as well.
Htet Htet Moe Oo however rejected claims that she had lodged such a
complaint on this occasion.

“I have frequently lodged complaints but the current suspension of
publishing may be due to regulations of the Censor,” she claimed. “I don’t
want to say it again 
 I didn’t lodge a complaint against this latest
incident.”

Ye Naing Moe, a journalist based in Rangoon, said these reports should be
allowed by the Censor as a matter of public interest.

“The public should know the case of a reporter being assaulted in public
while she was doing her job,” he said. “This is not just a case of a
conflict between two people; it’s a case concerning the role of a reporter
in society.”

____________________________________

May 22, Irrawaddy
Power to the people – Aye Chan Myate

Burmese people are getting more and more ingenious at finding ways to cope
without a reliable power supply. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to
say that China is getting better at cashing in on our electricity-starved
lifestyle.

Recently, I spoke with a friend in Burma who told me about the latest
“must-have” item on the market: a battery charger with a rotating lever
that you can use to power your cell phone for up to an hour.

Downtown Rangoon is seen in the evening. (Photo: AP)
Costing between 5,000 and 8,000 kyat (US $5-8), this hand-cranked dynamo
charger is fast becoming an indispensable addition to the long list of
tools used for dealing with the daily blackouts that afflict most of the
country outside of the capital, Naypyidaw, where the ruling generals bask
in 24-hour-a-day access to electricity.

Already, a typical Burmese household relies on an array of equipment to
meet its energy needs, including car batteries, chargers, inverters,
generators and transformers.

Needless to say, the device my friend described was made in China. Few
Burmese can afford better-made products from Japan or elsewhere, so we
have to make do with cheap contraptions produced in Chinese factories or
Burmese-made knock-offs.

Perhaps this is China's way of thanking Burma for helping it to meet its
own energy needs. After all, since the current regime took over in 1988,
Burma's energy output has increased from 529 megawatts (MW) to 2,556 MW,
with most of this going directly into China's power grid.

Why aren't we using more of this energy ourselves? Part of the problem is
that our economy has barely budged for decades. That means it is more
profitable to sell to neighboring countries than to domestic consumers.

In this photo taken Friday, Oct. 23, 2009, the fish sellers uses a
battery-powered lamp at their pavement shops as they waits for customers
in Rangoon. (Photo: AP)
A friend of mine who works at the Ministry of Electric Power once told me
that the Baluchaung dam in Karenni State could easily meet all of
Rangoon's energy needs. The only problem is that this would require new
transmission lines—something that could be paid for with income from
energy exports. But even this seems to be too great an investment for
Burma's generals.

It has been two years since I left Burma, and by all accounts, the
electricity shortage there has gotten worse. But this has only made people
more self-reliant, as they try to find new ways to make up for the
shortfall in local power supplies.

When I was younger, it was common to see people using car batteries to
power foot-long fluorescent lamps. When the batteries died, they had to be
taken to a shop for recharging. But these days, most people have their own
chargers and use batteries to run many different types of appliance.

To run most appliances on a car battery, you need an inverter, which
converts direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC). Inverters
started coming onto the Burmese market about 10 years ago. At first, they
were imported from China, but these days, Burmese-made inverters with
brand names like Matrawnit, Duwon and U Pe Thein are widely available for
around 70,000 kyat (US $70).

Unlike the original inverters from China, the Burmese versions typically
include a charger, so that the battery is always ready for use whenever
the main power supply dies. But this means that you have to be careful not
to let the water level—which falls as the battery is being charged—go too
low. To prevent damage to the battery, everyone—even the children—must
regularly check to see if the water needs to be topped up.

The ideal in most Burmese homes is to have at least two batteries—as the
actress May Tha Nu used to say in commercials: “One for the lights, the
other for the cassette player.” But not everyone can afford such luxury. A
120-volt battery costs around 100,000 kyat ($100), while a 150-volt
battery is about 120,000 kyat ($120).

The problem with using car batteries is that the main power supply is so
irregular—cutting off every five or 10 minutes—that the battery doesn't
know how to store the electricity, often making the inverter useless. Some
people then turn to generators to ensure that they have a steady power
supply.

Generators vary considerably in size. Some are small enough to be carried
by a handle, while others are as big as huts. The smaller ones are used
mainly for charging batteries or making sure the TV doesn't go black at an
inopportune moment (when I was working for a magazine inside Burma in
2006, I edited a story about a fire caused by a child who spilled petrol
while trying to fill a generator so his mother could watch her favorite
Korean soap opera).

These home-use generators range considerably in price, from around 80,000
kyat ($80) for a Chinese model to about double that for a Honda. But the
real expense is fuel. A liter of gasoline costs 900 kyat ($0.90) and will
keep a Honda generator running for just one hour.

For commercial and industrial purposes, however, nothing beats a
made-in-Burma diesel-powered generator. These big, noisy machines are
ubiquitous in Rangoon's downtown business district and in suburban
industrial estates. They aren't cheap, but unlike Chinese generators, they
are built to last.

Apart from the general lack of electricity in Burma, another problem is
voltage fluctuations. Usually, the voltage is too low, especially for
businesses, so there is a great demand for step-up transformers. But power
surges are also common, so many people buy regulators—transformers that
automatically increase or decrease voltage to maintain a steady output.

Transformers can cost as little as 50,000 kyat ($50) or as much as 500,000
kyat ($500). In effect, they are used to steal electricity from the local
power grid. If one house has a transformer, it will get more electricity,
while its neighbors will get less. So as more and more people get
transformers, they are becoming less useful.

These days, some homes even have computers. But in Burma, computer users
must always have a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) to cope with abrupt
power cuts. A UPS will give you enough time to shut down your computer
properly if the main power supply dies; without it, your machine could
suffer irreparable damage.

At the other end of the technological spectrum, even simple lighting
presents difficulties in Burma. People put candles and lighters in several
places around their homes so they always know where to find them when
they're needed. But for reading at night, especially under a mosquito net,
candles can be dangerous, so these days small rechargeable LED lamps are a
popular option.

A Chinese-made lamp with 20 LED bulbs costs just 1,500 kyat ($1.50) and
emits enough light for reading, but not much else. It's very convenient,
but as with most products imported from China, it typically lasts only a
few weeks before it breaks down.

For most Burmese, life is almost unthinkable without all the extra gadgets
that help them to make the most of their limited access to electricity.
Some may even feel a grudging gratitude toward China for supplying many of
the things that make life bearable in one of the world's most
power-starved countries.

But they would probably be much happier if they could do without all of
these devices and enjoy the kind of reliable power supplies that are
available even in remote corners of China—courtesy, in large part, of
Burma.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

May 24, Kaladan Press
Forced labor for road construction in Maungdaw

Maungdaw, Arakan State: The Burma’s border security force-(Nasaka) has
been using villagers in Maungdaw Township as forced labourers for road
construction since the beginning of May, said a local trader.

The commander of Nasaka camp No. 12 of Nasaka area No. 5 ordered nearby
villagers to construct the Pawet Chaung-Sali Pyin village Road, which is a
mile long as of the beginning of this month.

As a result, every day, in turn, around 100 villagers have to go to the
work site.  The authorities are also constructing a bridge across the
Mingala Gyi Chaung River of Nasaka area No. 5 with forced labor from
villagers. Villagers have to provide wooden logs or pillars cut from the
forests to construct the bridge.

“I had to go to the work site five times in one month,” a villager said.

But, non-Rohingya villagers are excluded from forced labour. Villagers,
unable to go to the work site for construction of the road and bridge have
to pay the Nasaka Kyat 2,000 per day.

Poor villagers are having difficulty in supporting their family, when they
go to the work site, said a village elder.

However, the military regime has declared that there is no forced labour
in the country.

Ignoring, international pressure, the junta authorities have been
extracting forced labor from people across the country for a long time.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

May 24, Deutsche Presse-Agentur
EU plans to send mission to Myanmar as part of new "dialogue"

Madrid – The European Union is planning to send a mission to Myanmar as
part of a new approach to press the country's ruling junta to adopt
democracy, sources of the Spanish
EU presidency said Monday.

Over the past few months, the international community has adopted a "new
focus" on Myanmar amid concern that the country's upcoming elections will
not be democratic, diplomats said ahead of a ministerial meeting between
the EU and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Madrid
on Wednesday.

The EU and its allies, such as the United States and Australia, were
maintaining their sanctions and insistence on democracy and human rights
in Myanmar, while "opening the door to dialogue," said Jose Eugenio
Salarich, a Spanish senior official responsible for relations with Asia
and the Pacific.

The EU and Spain "do not believe in a policy of a pure and simple
isolation" of Myanmar, Salarich said.

"There is a tendency towards a Dialogue ," he said, citing the recent
visit of US envoy Kurt Campbell to Yangon as an example.

The EU mission would be the first to Myanmar since 2002, and will only
take place if the junta allows the EU delegates to meet opposition
representatives, Salarich said.

The Myanmar opposition includes Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu
Kyi , who has spent 14 of the past 21 years under house arrest. Myanmar
has been under military rule since 1962.

Suu Kyi's party was dissolved after deciding not to contest the elections
at an as-yet unspecified date this year. The election rules would have
forced the party to expel Suu Kyi as secretary-general.

Officials from the EU and ASEAN will meet in Madrid on Tuesday, following
by a foreign ministers' meeting Wednesday.

The EU will maintain its Insistence on democracy in ASEAN Member Myanmar,
but no "great progress" was expected at the meeting, diplomats said.

The political turmoil in Thailand will not be officially on the agenda,
but Bangkok was expected to inform the EU about the situation in the
country.

ASEAN comprises Brunei, Myanmar , Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia, the
Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
____________________________________

May 24, Buffalo News (US)
Burmese gathering here use newfound freedoms to press cause – Patrick Lakamp

Dozens of exiled Burmese activists committed acts in Buffalo over the
weekend that they say would have got them imprisoned — or worse — had they
done so in their Southeast Asian homeland.

They assembled.

They organized their protest movement.

They participated in political debate.

And they talked about a day when the current military rule in the country
will come to an end.

Some of those attending the two-day conference at Buffalo State College
tell of how soldiers chased them from their homes two decades ago for
leading student uprisings. Others have arrived in the United States more
recently after spending years in refugee camps along the Thailand-Burma
border.

Now resettled in this country, some traveled to the Buffalo conference
from as far away as San Francisco; others from as close as Ithaca.

By Sunday evening, representatives from nearly a dozen pro-Burma democracy
organizations from across the country agreed to form a coalition and to
pick priorities and strategies together.

It’s another step forward, they said, to bringing democratic rule back to
Burma, also known as Myanmar. The military regime changed the name of the
country to Myanmar, but the U. S. government uses Burma in support for the
democratic opposition.

“Definitely, it will change,” said Ko Ko Lay, who owns a photo and design
studio in San Francisco. “Look around the world at how many dictatorships
are left.”

Still, it won’t be easy, said Lay, who was one of the student leaders who
organized mass demonstrations in Burma in 1988, during which military
forces killed thousands of demonstrators.

That’s why conferences like the one in Buffalo are so important, he said.

“To go back, that is my hope,” said Htun Aung Gyaw, who now runs a
catering business in Ithaca.

He remembers friends who were shot and killed, or hanged, for their roles
in the student uprisings more than two decades ago.

Gyaw and Lay were among a group of 17 who escaped Burma in 1988 — a 28-day
trek to the border. When they arrived at the border, their group numbered
400.

Some of those attending the Buffalo conference have known each for
decades, since their student days. Gyaw said meeting his fellow exiles in
Buffalo was like “meeting our brothers.”

Unlike past conferences, rife with rivalries, there was “no infighting at
all” during the weekend conference here, he said.

“We can argue, but we understand each other. We compromised,” he said.

Myo Thant, 42, of Buffalo, spent 18 months under house arrest as a key
aide to Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize recipient in 1991 for her
nonviolent struggle for democracy and human rights.

He eventually fled and now lives on Buffalo’s West Side. Buffalo is home
to some 2,000 Burmese refugees, with the figure climbing quickly, because
Buffalo has become the unofficial state capital for resettling refugees
from Burma and elsewhere.

He spent the weekend in Buffalo doing what is not allowed in Burma.

Political gatherings of more than four persons are banned.

“We would be under arrest,” Myo Thant said of holding such a gathering in
Burma.

____________________________________

May 24, Associated Press
UN Chief urges action against child soldiers – Edith Lederer

United Nations — Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday urged the UN
Security Council to consider tough measures against countries and
insurgent groups that persist in recruiting child soldiers.

The UN chief's annual report to the council for the first time includes a
list of violators that have been monitored for at least five years,
including Somalia's transitional government, Congo's armed forces, Burma's
army, and rebel groups in Congo, Burma, the Philippines, Colombia, Sudan
and Uganda.

The report also names two parties that try to maim or kill children in
conflict—Somalia's government and al-Shabab Islamist militants trying to
overthrow it. And for the first time it names seven parties that commit
rape and sexual violence against youngsters—six in Congo and Uganda's
Lord's Resistance Army, which is notorious for kidnapping children and
using them as fighters and sex slaves.

"We still live in a world with those who would use children as spies,
soldiers and human shields," Radhika Coomaraswamy, the UN special
representative for children in armed conflict, said in a statement. "The
shifting nature of conflict has put many children on the front lines. Too
often children become collateral damage during military operations."

A resolution adopted by the Security Council in 2005 took the first major
step to prevent the victimization of young people in war zones by
addressing the exploitation of children as combatants. Last year, the UN
reported that there were still some 250,000 child soldiers.

The Security Council voted unanimously in August 2009 to name and shame
countries and insurgent groups engaged in conflicts that lead to children
being killed, maimed and raped. The resolution reaffirmed the council's
intention "to take action"—including possible sanctions—against
governments and insurgent groups that continue violating international law
protecting children's rights.

The secretary-general recommended in the report that the council "weigh
more vigorous measures against persistent violators who have been listed
in my annual report for grave violations against children."

The largest number of persistent violators are in Congo, where the report
noted that despite positive steps to investigate and prosecute those
responsible, "known perpetrators of grave crimes against children" have
been appointed to government or senior military positions.

In addition to the Congolese armed forces, the list includes units of the
rebel National Council for the Defense of the People, formerly led by
Laurent Nkunda and Bosco Ntaganda; the Rwandan Hutu militia known as the
FDLR; and the rebel Nationalist and Integrationist Front and Mai-Mai
groups in North and South Kivu.

The report names three separatist groups fighting in the Philippines—Abu
Sayyaf, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, and the New People's Army—as
persistent violators. The Karenni Army and Karen National Liberation Army
fighting the government in Burma are also on the list, as are Uganda's
LRA, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and the country's smaller
National Liberation Army, and the Sudan People's Liberation Army and
Sudan's pro-government militias.

The secretary-general welcomed the signing of action plans to end
recruitment and use of child soldiers by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front
and the Sudan People's Liberation Army, though they remain on the list,
and the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist which has released all
minors.

Ban removed one rebel group from the list—Burundi's National Liberation
Force or Palipehutu-FNL—following UN verification that all children
associated with it have been reunited with their families. But three
groups were added to the list for recruiting children, the Afghan National
Police, the Central African Republic's rebel Committee of Patriots for
Justice and Peace, and Somalia's Hizbul Islam.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

May 24, Irrawaddy
Than Shwe's election dilemma – Bamargyi

Snr-Gen Than Shwe is a worried man. He has called for an election which
will change the course of the nation’s history. He single-handedly created
the Constitution to safeguard his future and to protect his interests,
formulated the election laws and presumably will schedule an election this
year.

Even so, there are many things that could go wrong along the way.

For the past two decades, Than Shwe has eliminated all challenges to his
power, and now, he has near absolute control. However, in spite of his
best efforts, it appears things could still unravel beyond his control.

He is getting very old. These final days are when he must protect his
family and cronies, all of whom have enriched themselves through
questionable means. For the upcoming election, he has to ensure that there
are 166 members of parliament elected from among the army's ranks, who
will ensure the formation a new military-controlled government after the
election.

One of the general's problems is that he is surrounded by corrupt officers
and “Yes” men. Can the 166 new military-backed MPs be trusted? When a new
government is installed, will it question the way the state has dispensed
state-owned property to his family, friends and cronies?

Than Shwe is nearing his final act on the national scene, and the people
he puts in power will affect his fate. He himself was picked by the late
dictator Gen Ne Win for his loyalty, and his seemingly low profile. It
turned out to be Ne Win’s biggest mistake in his life. Than Shwe well
knows how a low-profile subordinate can overthrow the leader.

Apparently, he has picked Lt-Gen Myint Swe, the nephew of his wife Kyaing
Kyaing, to be the  next army chief, who will also be in charge of the
interim government (along with five other young generals including Lt-Gen
Myint Hlaing). Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye and Gen Thura Shwe Mann—junta's No.2
and No.3—are slated for retirement. A high level political position for
Lt-Gen Tin Aye is out of the question because of his so-called
eccentricity.

The problem of picking the right people for the new jobs is difficult
because all the men in the top positions lack real creativity or
intelligence. The brightest people have not been appointed to high level
jobs.

Introducing a new government while his family and his cronies are robbing
the state treasury is a formidable task.

Than Shwe has ordered his current ministers including Thein Sein to take
charge of the new military-created political party, the Union Solidarity
Development Party. However, without vote rigging these people can not be
elected. If they are not elected, Than Shwe grand plan is over. If they
are elected, then he has ensured his safe passage into the future at the
expense of the country which will continue to deteriorate under military
rule.

Another headache for Than Shwe is the conversion of cease-fire groups.
Some super brain in the cabinet promoted the idea that their armies should
be converted into border guards, managed by the junta, which would
effectively remove their independence. If they do not agree, the
government might be forced to go to war or drop the idea.

Today’s army is mainly composed of corrupt officers. A once proud army is
a thing of the past. It is poorly equipped. Morale is at its lowest. For
what purpose hasit waged war on its own people other than for Than Shwe to
hold on to power?

There have been instances of field commanders colluding with with others
to avoid confrontations on the front lines. Than Shwe knows too well he
can not win a war in ethnic regions. Their struggle will go on. If he
presses too hard on the ethnic armies it will backfire, and there will be
a mutiny among the ranks. Perhaps a solution could be found with Aung San
Suu Kyi, who could negotiate with the ethnic armies.

Everyone is now asking why no election date has been set? one explanation
might be the general is still not sure how to negotiate his way to a safe
future. Than Shwe is still not sure what he is going to do.

Although unlikely, there is still time for Than Shwe to come to his senses
and to pull the country out of its long nightmare through some genuine
acts of reconciliation prior to the announcement of the election date.
That type of final act may be the most effective way to ensure his passage
into a safe future.

____________________________________

May 24, Democratic Voice of Burma
What can gas transparency do for Burma? – Matthew Smith and Naing Htoo

International pressure continues to mount on the oil companies Total,
Chevron, and PTTEP of Thailand to practice complete revenue transparency
in connection to the controversial Yadana natural gas pipeline in Burma’s
Tenasserim Division. Non-governmental organizations, scholars, labour
unions, investment firms, and even world leaders have urged the companies
to publish over 18 years of payments to the Burmese military regime,
including taxes, fees, royalties, bonuses, and social benefits since the
project’s first contracts were signed in 1992.

This raises the question: What will this type of transparency actually do,
and not do, for Burma?

Despite its virtues, revenue transparency has limitations. Regardless of
any new policies of transparency in Burma’s gas sector, billion-dollar gas
revenues will continue to line the pockets of the country’s elite for the
foreseeable future, especially as new and lucrative projects come online
in the absence of a real democratic transition. The management of
billion-dollar revenues from the Shwe gas and oil transport pipelines to
China is of particular concern, as these payments, estimated at $US29
billion over the 30 year life-span of the gas project, are set to become
the largest sources of revenue for the state.

Moreover, without a novel scheme for managing and distributing gas
revenues equitably, even transparent multi-billion dollar gas profits
stand to increase inequality between the very few rich and the very many
poor in Burma. This inequality is likely to have a disproportionate effect
on the country’s ethnic nationalities. The United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) and Burma’s own Central Statistical Organization recently
found that more than 30 percent of the entire population had insufficient
income to provide for basic survival, a figure that increased to more than
50 percent in non-Burman states and regions, where most of the country’s
lucrative natural resources are located and have been mined for decades.

Additionally, there is a serious risk that the continued influx of large
amounts of oil and gas revenues, transparent or not, will have adverse
impacts on Burma’s already fledgling economy. Burma is principally an
agricultural society, and a continued sharp rise in the value of gas
exports could exacerbate the regime’s dangerous disincentive against
promoting the agricultural sector, to the detriment of huge parts of the
farming population.

In the short term, revenue transparency will also do little for the
protection of human rights vis-à-vis oil and gas projects. Local land
confiscations as a result of gas pipelines will most likely continue, and
local people will continue to be forced to work on pipeline-related
infrastructure by pipeline security battalions operating on behalf of the
oil companies.

Transparency will mean next to nothing to the families of two men recently
killed in cold blood by Total, Chevron, and PTTEP’s “pipeline security
battalion,” as documented by EarthRights International. For these crimes,
the companies and the military regime need to be held accountable.
Widespread forced labor, forced portering, and other human rights
violations committed by pipeline security forces, directly and indirectly
related to the project, will continue until the companies take full
responsibility and work toward human rights protections.

However, despite its shortcomings, revenue transparency is still
critically important for development and governance in Burma. For
starters, it will shed a critical light on a dark corner of some
exceedingly undemocratic concentrations of power in the country. This
could have positive, long term political implications. Research indicates
that states generating revenues from natural resources are less reliant on
citizens, and this “independence” can erode the civic relationship between
the government and the people, contributing to authoritarianism. Burma
appears to be on the far end of this unfortunate spectrum. Revenue
transparency can help push it in the other direction.

Second, the people of Burma have an intrinsic right to know what foreign
companies have paid to the state for public resources. That is the
underlying principle of the revenue transparency norm in the extractive
sectors worldwide. Total and Chevron already purport to prioritize
transparency and the promotion of human rights. In cooperating with this
initiative, they have an opportunity to advance freedom of information and
the peoples’ “right to know.”

Revenue transparency will also be important for the thorny process of
transitional justice in Burma. Detailed data about the amounts, timing,
and delivery of payments from these oil companies to the junta from 1992
to the present day could eventually improve the prospects for holding the
junta accountable for the past and present mismanagement of the country’s
natural resources. A free Burma will want to know how much money evaded
the population, and its location. The longer the companies wait to
disclose information about their payments to the state, the more troubled
their engagement with future governments of Burma could be.

But beyond these imperatives, there are economic incentives for the
companies to cooperate: Revenue transparency is good for business.

For one, transparency will serve Total, Chevron, and PTTEP’s ailing
reputational agendas, what some analysts refer to as any oil company’s
most important asset. While the companies’ bad reputations for complicity
in forced labour, killings, and torture have been well-earned, and in some
ways are irreparable, their transparency would demonstrate an overdue
regard for freedom of information in Burma, and that would be duly noted
by Burmese citizens, shareholders, non-governmental organizations, and
others.

Reputational repair is something the companies have already spent
considerable resources on in Burma, and to dubious effect. Revenue
transparency, on the other hand, is objective and free; surely that must
have some resonance in the upper corporate echelons.

Moreover, shareholders in multinational oil and mining companies
increasingly understand the straightforward contributions transparency can
make to areas such as corruption control, a much-needed outcome in Burma,
which was ranked by Transparency International’s recent corruption
perceptions index as the world’s third most corrupt country, behind
Afghanistan and Somalia.

Revenue transparency also makes sense in terms of open and free markets.
It would afford investors and capital providers access to previously
unavailable information regarding industry in Burma, including the size
and timing of payments made by these oil companies to the authorities.
This is information deemed vital for decision-making in the investment
community, information oil companies have traditionally withheld.

In other words, transparency is in the interests of even those whose
primary concern is maximizing profit.

What is more, revenue transparency is also in the interests of the home
states of oil companies around the world, improving governance and
contributing to stability in resource-rich states like Burma. This is
noteworthy at a time when palpable political risks stand to threaten
innocent civilians in Burma, the material assets of some oil companies in
the country, and the long-term energy security of their home states.
Specifically, the risk of civil war between the Burmese army and non-state
armed groups in areas surrounding the Shwe gas and oil pipelines to China
stands to threaten not only citizens of Shan state, but also the interests
of Daewoo International, the China National Petroleum Corporation, and the
government of China.

Stability and energy security through revenue transparency is the
rationale behind new bipartisan legislation pending in the US congress,
which will require all oil, gas, and mining companies registered with the
US securities and exchange commission to publish their payments for oil,
gas, and minerals in the countries in which they work, including Burma. If
passed, the Energy Security Through Transparency (ESTT) Act would apply to
a number of oil companies operating in Burma, including Total and Chevron.

However, despite the international application of this proposed
legislation, it will not apply retroactively, meaning it will not require
companies to publish past payments to host governments. This makes Total,
Chevron, and PTTEP’s voluntary cooperation in publishing their last 18
years of payments to the junta critically important.

The good news is that the companies are not legally restricted from
publishing their payments to the junta. Their contracts with Burma’s
state-owned oil and gas enterprise were obtained through the Doe v. Unocal
[Chevron’s former name] human rights lawsuit in the US and were recently
published on the website of EarthRights International. In no way do they
prohibit complete revenue transparency.

The time is now for Total, Chevron, and PTTEP to do the right thing and
practice complete revenue transparency in Burma. If they want a
responsible and level playing field with their Asian competitors, they
need to participate in creating it.

Matthew F. Smith is a senior consultant with EarthRights International,
and Naing Htoo is a program coordinator with EarthRights International.
The organization represented Burmese plaintiffs in the Doe v. Unocal Corp.
lawsuit.

____________________________________
INTERVIEW

May 22, Irrawaddy
“Donors have their limits”

Actor and philanthropist Kyaw Thu has been formally assisting Burma's
neediest citizens for nearly a decade. In January 2001, he started the
Free Funeral Services Society (FFSS) under the patronage of U Thukha, a
well-known writer and movie director. Since March 2007, the FFSS, which
provides free funerals for the poor, has also operated a clinic for those
who can't afford to go to hospitals. Kyaw Thu also played prominent role
in spearheading private relief efforts for victims of Cyclone Nargis,
which devastated the Irrawaddy delta in May 2008.

In April of this year, Kyaw Thu received the “People's Glory” award from
an association representing overseas Burmese communities. In keeping with
his long history of helping the less fortunate, he has recently been
involved in efforts to bring much-needed water to people living in
drought-stricken areas of Rangoon Division.

Irrawaddy correspondent Aye Chan Myate recently spoke with Kyaw Thu about
the challenges now facing aid workers trying to bring relief to areas hit
by severe water shortages.

Question: There have been reports that the Union Solidarity and
Development Party (USDP) is forcing water donors to fly its flags on their
trucks. Have you experienced this?

Kyaw Thu
Answer: No, we haven’t. Some of my colleagues have just gone to Dala
Township. I don’t know what we will hear from them. When we went to Pegu
to donate water, we didn't have any problems like that. Our trucks were
marked “Free Funeral Services Society (Rangoon).” We would not have agreed
to put USDP flags on our vehicles.

Q: There is a lot of rain in the Rangoon area now. Are you still donating
water?

A: Well, things are not getting better yet in some areas. We went to Pegu
a few days ago, then to Warh and Thetkala villages. The rain did not last
long. We had many problems, too. The villagers who received water from us
didn't have enough containers—big jars, buckets and so on. So now we are
thinking about building some brick ponds for them. First, we need to check
how many streets there are in each village, and then we can build the
brick ponds. That way, when the rain comes, they can store the rainwater.
In some areas, we can't even dig wells or drill deep wells because the
ground water is salty.

Q: Which villages are facing with the worst situation?

A: I haven’t been to the worst-hit areas, so I can't tell you how badly
they are doing. My wife has been to some of those places, though. But I
have to stay here all the time to take care of the funeral services. If I
went into the areas affected by the drought, there could be problems with
the local authorities. I don’t want the authorities to think that I'm
trying to make a political issue of the problem, so I stay away.

Whenever we donate water, we get help from people near the affected area.
For example, when we go to the Pegu area, we visit the home of a donor in
the city of Pegu and set up the pump to fill the barrels on our truck.
Each time, we can distribute 2,500 gallons of water for needy people in
villages in Warh and Pegu townships. We do this two times a day, so we can
donate 5,000 gallons a day.

But water donors have their limits. They cannot donate water until their
wells and ponds dry up. In Rangoon, water taps in our area have been
stopped because the main water pipe doesn’t work now. We are all facing
water shortages.

We are doing some assessments to drill deep wells. We have found a place
in the Pegu area. I think we will drill a deep well there. I asked my
colleagues to do some assessments in Dala Township, too. We will cooperate
with some influential persons, such as some senior Buddhist monks. We will
ask those senior monks to lead the water donation effort. I don’t want to
have any influence from other organizations. The donors trust us and our
responsibility is distributing assistance directly into the hands of those
needy people.

Q: Water shortages happen almost every year. How is this year different
from previous years?

A: Well, in past years, the water shortages weren't as bad as they are
now. They usually lasted just a few days. But this year, the temperature
is extremely high and as a result lakes and wells have dried up completely
.

Q: So the worst affected areas are those which rely on lakes and wells?

A: In some areas, they have no deep wells. So they depend on the lakes for
drinking water. When those lakes dry up, there is no more drinking water.
In some areas, the governmental organizations confiscated lakes for
breeding fish. But when the weather is very hot, they cannot breed the
fish there, and at the same time, the water is not clean enough for
drinking.

Q: Do you know how many people have died or fallen ill because of the
water shortages and high temperatures?

A: I don’t know about the situation in faraway townships, but in Rangoon,
our funeral volunteer group is helping with nearly 80 funerals a day right
now. Normally, there would be around 40 or 50 funerals a day at this time
of year. I think the higher temperatures are responsible for many deaths,
especially among the elderly. Ko Bala [actor Thu Maung] had a
liver-related disease; he died because of the high temperature. Painter
Than Myint Aung also died because of the extreme heat.

Q: Are more poor people dying of cholera because of the lack of clean
drinking water?

A: From what I've heard, most of the casualties are people who have died
from blood vessels bursting in their brains. Many bus drivers and rickshaw
drivers have died because of the higher temperatures. For example, one bus
driver had a glass of ice water, and when the bus's conductor told him to
move the bus forward because another bus was behind him, the driver didn't
respond. The conductor checked the driver, and he was already dead.

Q: Which kind of volunteer work is the most difficult?

A: Well, the most difficult work we do is holding funeral services. We
have to rent an air-conditioned morgue to keep the dead bodies until
cremation. Most of the time, the morgue is full of dead bodies. The smell
in there is disgusting. The morgues in the hospitals aren't any better. It
is not hygienic for people who must live near them.

At the moment, we're not having too much trouble with our water donations.
We bought some 2,500-gallon water tanks. When we go to the villages around
Dala, we first go to water donors in the town of Dala. After we fill the
tank with water, we distribute it in the villages. Sometimes, when we
don’t have water donors in Dala, we have to get the water in Rangoon first
and transport it to the Dala area. That makes our work more difficult.

Q: Do you still have many local water donors?

A: Yes. For example, in Pegu, there are local people who care about
helping needy people cooperating with us.

Q: After Cyclone Nargis, there were many volunteers assisting the
survivors of that disaster. Do you see large numbers of volunteers helping
in the water crisis?

A: I have seen quite a few people. But they are working under very tight
control. We got a lot of experience from the Cyclone Nargis relief work.
There are both volunteers and ordinary people trying to help out any way
they can. The most important thing is their desire to help needy people.
After Cyclone Nargis, I wasn’t able to go to every village affected by the
storm, so I sent some volunteers there to bring food, clothing, even
money. Some misused those things and money that we received from different
donors. That’s why this time, we put the tight regulations in place.

Q: You said that you will build reservoirs and drill deep wells for
long-term use. If there is a drought again next year, do you any plans for
how to deal with it?

A: Actually, we don't have the capacity to carry out such big projects.
That is the responsibility of government. As you know, our main job is
helping with funerals and running a clinic. I think the state should
cooperate with experts and go into the field immediately and find out what
they can do for the people. Based on what they find, they might need to
grow trees or dig wells. If they are growing only castor plants, it won’t
work.

We are helping people within our capacity. After the inferno in Hlaing
township, we drilled a deep well for local people. We provided them with
clothes, eating and cooking utensils, and so on. Within out limits, we
also helped needy people after Cyclone Nargis, too.