BurmaNet News, July 13, 2010

[Editor]

July 13, 2010, Issue #3999


INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Junta forms missile force to guard against external threats
DVB: Shan trafficking victims lobby UN

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: Burma closes cross-border bridge at Mae Sot
KIC: Five dead over 500 suffer from flu in Mae La camp

BUSINESS/TRADE
Myanmar Times: Rice exports plummet on strong currency
NLM: SPDC Secretary-1 meets personnel of Chinese Companies
VOV News (Vietnam): Businesses eye Myanmar market

REGIONAL
VOA: Burmese minorities head for safer pastures ahead of poll

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: US skeptical on Myanmar election move

OPINION/OTHER
Mizzima: Football in troubled times - Editorial



____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

July 13, Irrawaddy
Junta forms missile force to guard against external threats – Min Lwin and
Wai Moe

The Burmese military junta has formed a strategic missile force that works
with North Korean suppliers and reports directly to Vice Snr-Gen Maung
Aye, the commander-in-chief of the army, according to military sources who
leaked the classified information to The Irrawaddy.

The Directorate of Missile, formed in September 2009 to work alongside the
Artillery Force and the Air Defense Force, comprises one of Naypyidaw’s
major defense initiatives to strategically prepare for modern warfare and
protect against external threats to the country's long coastline,
strategic defense industries, command centers and air force and naval
bases.

Burma’s missile force is armed with two types of weapons:
surface-to-surface missiles, including short and medium range ballistic
missiles such as the Scud-type Hwasong-6 imported from North Korea, and
122-mm and 240-mm multiple rocket launch systems imported from China and
North Korea.

Known in the Burmese language as Ka Ka Dom, the Directorate of Missile is
currently headed by Maj-Gen Myint Soe, who is reportedly close to Maung
Aye.

There are 10 missile operations commands under the Directorate of Missile:
Kyaukse in the Naypyidaw Regional command; Hmawbi in the Rangoon regional
command; Bilin and Moulmein in the Southeast Regional Command; Dawei and
Myeik in the Coastal Regional Command; Kengtung in the Triangle Regional
Command; Loikaw in the Eastern Regional Command; and Sittwe in the Western
Regional Command.

Under the missile operation commands, mobile battalions are deployed in
locations such as Mong-Hnyin in Kachin State, Nawng-cho in northern Shan
State and Kyaukpadaung in Mandalay Division, as well as other undisclosed
places in the country.

Comprising another important wing of the Directorate of Missile are
electronic battalions, which are deployed within missile operations
commands and have the task of mapping and finding targets with electronic
devices.

The idea for the strategic missile force came in 2007, when the National
Defense College suggested forming a new directorate to better manage
imported missiles and multiple rocket launchers.

The Directorate of Missile was formed as a separate entity from the
Directorate of Artillery. Previously, Burma’s Artillery Force and Armor
Force were under the same command, the Directorate of Artillery and Armor.
However, in 2005, the junta separated the two directorates for better
military mobilization

To protect Burma's 1,385-mile coastline, artillery and missile units are
deployed on strategic off-coast islands.

Lt-Gen Myint Hlaing, the chief of the Directorate of Air Defense who
commands eight air defense operations commands, and Maj-Gen Mya Win, the
chief of the Directorate of Artillery who commands 10 artillery operations
commands, are also reportedly close to  Maung Aye.

____________________________________

July 13, Democratic Voice of Burma
Shan trafficking victims lobby UN – Aye Nai

Two ethnic Shan women who were trafficked and sold as wives to Chinese men
before being released in 2008 have now approached an UN agency to demand
for help in rescuing the remaining victims.

Six women in total from Burma’s northeastern Shan state were sold for
US$1,200 by a ring of Burmese human traffickers in 2008: three reportedly
remain with their captors in China, while the third women released has
since died of AIDS-related diseases.

The two now back in Burma are filing a report to the International Labour
Organisation (ILO), which has offices in Rangoon. Previous reports filed
to the Myanmar Women’s Affairs Federation and local police in Shan state
were fruitless. Thet Wei, chairman of a Rangoon-township National League
for Demcoracy (NLD) committee, is helping the women.

“All six were sold to become wives. [The traffickers] tricked them into
going to China by promising jobs that pay 80,000 kyat [US$80] per month.
After they arrived in China, they were sold to the Chinese men to become
their wives,” he said.

It was only when relatives of three of the women travelled to China to
confront the captors that they were released. The relatives reportedly
cited the harsh penalties that China carries for human traffickers: in the
past year, Beijing has returned more than 300 Burmese trafficking victims.

Julia Marip, of the Kachin Women’s Association Thailand (KWAT), said that
about 60 percent of these were women sold for forced marriages, out of an
estimated total of 50,000 women each year bought by Chinese men.

“If you look at the root of the human trafficking problem, you’ll see that
[Burma] is in a very bad situation with economic downfall and poverty.
These issues must be dealt with first in order to effectively handle the
human trafficking problem,” she said.

Burma became one of the signatory countries to the UN Anti-Human
Trafficking agreement in early 2004,. The country also has its own
anti-human trafficking laws, which at the of June this year saw a racket
in Magwe division’s Chauk township being handed 15-years prison sentences
for selling a 16-year-old girl to Chinese men.

A US report in 2009 said that trafficking of Burmese women into forced
marriages was “a major problem”, although the UN’s resident coordinator in
Burma, Bishow Parajuli, said in January this year that the Southeast Asian
pariah had made good progress in the past six years.

China and Malaysia remain the top destinations for women sold as wives to
men. The US report cited statistics released by the ILO that estimate that
at least 12.3 million people worldwide are in forced labour, bonded labour
or commercial sexual exploitation.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

July 13, Irrawaddy
Burma closes cross-border bridge at Mae Sot – Ba Kaung

A major Thailand-Burma trading post will remain closed until at least
Tuesday and Burmese officials will not allow any goods in or out of the
country, apparently in protest over Thailand's construction of a river
bank erosion project on the Moei  River.

Officials said they have no information on when the bridge would re-open
for trade. The closure seriously affects businesses on both sides of the
river.

“Burmese officials only allow people to cross the border bridge by foot,”
said a Thai customs official on duty at the Thai-Myanmar [Burma]
Friendship Bridge linking the two countries. “They won't allow any goods
to go across. We still don't know why.”

According to a Thai news agency, Burmese officials are reportedly
protesting Thailand's construction of a river bank protection project
which they claim diverts river currents and is eroding embankments on the
Burmese side of the river.

According to the report, Mae Sot District chief Kittisak Tomornsak said
that the construction project was planned under a contract between the
local Public Works and Town and Country Planning office and a private
contractor without formal acknowledgment by the Thai-Myanmar Township
Border Committee (TBC). He said Thai district officials would try to
resolve the issue with Burmese authorities.

Burmese officials shut down the border bridge following the visit of a
senior Burmese military official, Brig-Gen Zaw Min, on Thursday.

A Burmese journalist living on the border said that Burma's low volume of
trade with Thailand allows it to shut down the bridge when it's involved
in bilateral disputes.

Thailand imports teak, furniture, jade, rice and other commodities with
monthly trade valued at 1,000 million baht (US $30 million). Burma imports
unlicensed vehicles and finished products with a monthly trade valued at
10 million baht ($300,000).

“I have been on duty at cross-border posts with Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia
and Burma. But the Burmese border officials are the most unpredictable.
They open and close the border gate at their whim,”said a Thai customs
official on the border.

Mae Sot-based Irrawaddy correspondent Min Lwin contributed to this article.

____________________________________

July 13, Kachin Information Center
Five dead over 500 suffer from flu in Mae La camp – Saw Thein Myint

There have been five deaths from flu with the onset of monsoon among over
500 refugees suffering from fever in Mae La refugee camp 45 kilometers
north of Maesod, Saw Nay Sang, a medical in-charge, said.

"Our medical report states there are over 500 patients. Among them, three
elderly people and two children have died. In the last few days, six to
seven people came to hospital. The patients are between one year old to
elders".

Saw Nay Sang said that even though awareness programmes about flu is being
undertaken in the camp, the number of patients have gone up. Just
sprinkling mosquito repellents in the camp is not enough because refugees
need to be made aware, the medical in-charge said.

At the moment the health situation of patients is under control and they
are being provided treatment in AMI hospital in Mae La camp.

Even though flu is increasing in Mae La camp, medics said there are fewer
afflictions in Mae Tao clinic, Ohm Pham camp and Noe Poe refugee camp.

"At worst, we see one or two patients, suffering from flu, coming to
hospital in a day. There were 22 patients in the hospital in the last two
weeks. Now the number of patients is gradually decreasing," medic Naw Say
Lar Phaw said.

It is learnt that most people suffering from flu in Thai-Burma border
towns are in Three Pagoda town, Myawaddy and Kawka Reik town.

____________________________________
BUSINESS/TRADE

July 13, Myanmar Times
Rice exports plummet on strong currency – Ye Lwin

RICE exports dropped dramatically year-on-year in the first three months
of the financial year despite rising international prices. Industry
sources blamed a strong kyat for the fall.

Rice exporters shipped just 51,277 tonnes in the first 68 days of this
financial year, one-fifth of the amount exported over the same period a
year earlier, said Dr Maung Aung, a senior economist and researcher from
the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry
(UMFCCI).

He cited figures from the federation’s Economic Studies and Research
Institute, which were compiled from data provided by the Ministry of
Commerce.

Its figures show 26,428 tonnes of rice were exported in April, 22,098
tonnes in May and 2596 tonnes in the first week of June.

Exports amounted to 839,358 tonnes during the 2009-10 fiscal year, up 27
percent from 685,436 tonnes a year earlier, Dr Maung Aung added
Exporters attributed the decline to a stronger kyat, which has
strengthened from about K1100 to the US dollar a year ago to less than
K1000 now.

Exporters buy rice locally using kyat but sell it offshore in dollars,
meaning increases in the value of the kyat erode their profit margins.

U Than Aung Kyaw, director of the Directorate of Trade, said exporters
were losing about $30 a tonne compared to a year earlier as a result of
the stronger kyat.

Exporters had a choice between accepting marginal returns or holding back
exports until the situation improves. The majority were taking the second
option, a Myanma Rice Industry Association spokesperson said.

“We will all wait and see what happens with the exchange rate. Only when
it becomes profitable will we see exports pick up again,” the spokesperson
said.

Exports have fallen despite prices on the international market climbing
from about $270 a tonne last year to about $310 a tonne by June.

Dr Maung Aung said exports would not rebound until the kyat weakened or
the value of rice exports increased further. “With such a strong kyat,
exporters can’t make money,” he said.

A senior official from the Ministry of Commerce also blamed the downturn
on the stronger kyat. “This is not a competitive environment for our
exporters because they are losing out in transactions,” the official said.

He said there had been no change to licensing. “There is no ban on rice
exports and we are still approving trade licences but exporters are
finding it difficult to compete in the international market,” he said.

However, some industry watchers have said liberalisation of rules
governing import credits earlier this year have cut off a lucrative source
of additional income for exporters, making exports less attractive.

Until April 1 this year, businesses that wished to import goods needed to
first earn credits from exporting goods or buy export credits from
exporters. “The majority of exporters previously sold their export credits
to importers,” Dr Maung Aung said.

Credits were traded informally but no official mechanism existed, creating
a sellers market. The Central Bank of Myanmar opened up imports to anyone
that could show they had legitimately earned foreign currency from April 1
and on May 31 created a formal mechanism for trade in export credits,
levelling the playing field between buyers and sellers.

____________________________________

July 13, New Light of Myanmar
SPDC Secretary-1 meets personnel of Chinese Companies

Nay Pyi Taw – State Peace and Development Council Secretary-1 General
Thiha Thura Tin Aung Myint Oo who was on a visit in Beijing of the
People’s Republic of China received Chinese companies in cooperation with
Myanmar at Diao Yu Tai State Guest House on 5 July.

On 5 July morning, the Secretary-1 received Vice-Governor Mr Gao Xiging
and party of China Development Bank and discussed matters related to
bilateral economic cooperation of the two countries.

Also present at the call were Minister for National Planning and Economic
Development U Soe Tha, Deputy Ministers U Maung Myint and U Hla Thein Swe,
Myanmar Ambassador to the PRC U Thein Lwin, Director-General U Kyaw Kyaw
Win of the State Peace and Development Council Office, Vice-Governor U Nay
Aye of the Central Bank of Myanmar, Chinese Ambassador Mr Ye Dabo and
officials.

Next, President Mr Ma Zhibin of China National Aero-Technology Import &
Export Corp (CATIC) and party paid a call on the Secretary-1 and the two
sides discussed matters relating to air transportation.

The Secretary-1 then received President Mr Lu Qizhou of China Power
Investment Co Ltd (CPI) and party. The two parties hold discussions about
ongoing hydropower projects jointly implemented by the two countries.

General Manager Mr Zhang Zhi Ming of China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC)
and party called on the Secretary-1 in the afternoon and discussed matters
relating to energy sector with the Secretary- 1.

Also present at the calls together with the Secretary-1 were Deputy
Minister for Foreign Affairs U Maung Myint, Myanmar Ambassador to the
Union of Myanmar U Thein Lwin, Director- General U Kyaw Kyaw Win of the
Peace and Development Council Office and officials. The Chinese side was
accompanied by the Chinese Ambassador.

On 6 July, the Secretary- 1 received Governor Mr Li Ruo Gu of The
Export-Import Bank of China (EXIM) and party. The Chinese side was
accompanied by the Chinese Ambassador and the Secretary- 1 by Minister for
National Planning and Economic Development U Soe Tha, Deputy Ministers U
Aye Myint, U Maung Myint and U Hla Thein Swe, Myanmar Ambassador to the
PRC U Thein Lwin, Director- General U Kyaw Kyaw Win of the State Peace and
Development Council Office, Vice- Governor U Nay Aye of the Central Bank
of Myanmar and officials. – MNA

____________________________________

July 13, VOV News (Vietnam)
Businesses eye Myanmar market

Many Vietnamese businesses gathered at a seminar in Ho Chi Minh City on
July 13 to discuss measures to penetrate the Myanmar market.

They discussed opportunities and challenges in accessing the market. In
recent years, the economic and trade ties between Vietnam and Myanmar have
developed well. Vietnam’s export value to Myanmar reached US$33 million in
2009 and is expected to increase in the following years.

According to economic experts, Myanmar is a market with potential suited
to Vietnamese products. It has a high demand for garments, construction
materials, food and footwear materials.

To boost trade relations with the country, Vietnamese businesses should
conduct market research there and join trade promotion activities held by
the two countries. In addition, the Vietnamese Government and ministries
should help businesses iron out snags in policies, said participants at
the seminar.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

July 13, Voice of America
Burmese minorities head for safer pastures ahead of poll – Luke Hunt

Kuala Lumpur – Burmese military ruler General Than Shwe salutes during
ceremonies marking the 65th Armed Forces Day in Naypitaw, 27 March 2010

In Malaysia, Thailand and Bangladesh, and in countries further afield like
Australia, authorities are bracing for a wave of refugees from Burma.
Thousands are fleeing the military government's crackdown on dissent ahead
of elections.

Human rights groups say pre-election bullying of ethnic groups by Burma's
government has prompted thousands to vote with their feet.

Muslims are among the largest group leaving. However, Temme Lee, refugee
coordinator at the Malaysian human rights organization Suaram, says
members of the Kachin, Karen and Chin ethnic groups also have joined the
cross-border march.

She says Burma's military government is pressuring ethnic communities to
conform to its pre-election demands, which includes merging local ethnic
militias with the government's Border Guard Forces, in return for the
right to vote.

Among those who fled Burma is Hamid bin Hatin, a 17-year-old. He says was
being pressed into the Burmese military to perform menial labor far away
from his home in Rakhine on the country's west coast.

Hatin spent almost $1,000 on agent fees to get to Thailand and then
Malaysia. Here, he has spent two months sleeping on a cement floor in a
detention camp and has been beaten by fellow inmates.

"I come out of Burma because the military recruits young people to join by
force and also since the day we join until we die, we'll never get a
chance to be [in] contact again with our family," he says, "so that I'm
very scared and my parents also are very worried for me and I decided to
leave Burma."

The Burmese are adding to already cramped conditions in the region's
migrant detention camps. That includes Australia's center at Christmas
Island, where Burmese already make-up the third largest group after
Afghans and Sri Lankans.

New efforts by Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia to curb people smuggling
have resulted in a substantial build-up of refugees in detention camps in
Malaysia and Indonesia.

Refugee advocates such as Lee say it is time to reassess how to care for
migrants.

"Asylum seekers usually end up in detention centers for month and months,"
Lee said.  "For us it's quite irresponsible of the Australian government
to only emphasize on the security measures taken by the Malaysian
government but does not address at all - seemingly - the protection issues
for these asylum seekers and refugees, and that is definitely
problematic."

No official date has been set for Burma's election, although many regional
political analysts and Burmese expatriates expect it to be in October.

The opposition National League for Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi,
easily won the last election, in 1990. But the military never allowed it
to take power, and has kept Aung San Suu Kyi under arrest for most of time
since. The NLD not take part in this election.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

July 13, Agence France Presse
US skeptical on Myanmar election move

Washington — The United States said Monday it was deeply worried Myanmar's
upcoming election would be unfair, dismissing the junta's move to allow
former members of the main opposition party to run.

The military regime in Myanmar, also known as Burma, disbanded democracy
icon Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) but last week
gave permission to some of its former members to run under a new name.

"It doesn't change our concern about the electoral process. We think that
this is a flawed electoral process," State Department spokesman Philip
Crowley told reporters.

"We respect decisions that former NLD members have made," he said. "We
certainly do not have any expectation that what proceeds in Burma here
will be anything that remotely resembles a free, fair or legitimate
result."

The NLD plans to boycott the elections this year, believing they are an
attempt for the junta to legitimize its rule.

The polls will be the first since 1990, when the NLD triumphed but was
never allowed to take power. Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate, has spent
most of the past two decades under house arrest.

Some activists believe the junta allowed the registration of the new
National Democratic Force in part to splinter the opposition, weakening
the influence of the NLD and of Suu Kyi.

President Barack Obama's administration has made dialogue with US
adversaries a signature policy and last year opened talks with the junta
aimed at repairing relations.

Crowley acknowledged the talks have not borne fruit on democratization but
said the United States planned to stick with the policy.

"We have years, if not decades, of experience that tells us that isolation
has not worked, either," he said.

"We will continue to engage them not to reward them, but just simply to
make sure that they have clarity that if they envision any different kind
of relationship with the United States, that fundamental processes within
their own country have to change," he said.

____________________________________
OPINION/OTHER

July 14, Mizzima News
Football in troubled times - Editorial

As Nelson Mandela was introduced prior to the kick-off of the 2010 World
Cup finals, the assembled crowd in the heart of Kathmandu erupted into
applause – even as Nepal continues to reel in the face of impunity and
political paralysis. Fifteen years after the historical 1995 rugby World
Cup hosted by post-apartheid South Africa, the football World Cup finals
were in a sense viewed as cementing the spectacle of sport as a unifying
phenomenon.

It is a pleasant sounding hypothesis, but for it to prove accurate the
necessary reforms within society must first be enacted.

This year, viewers were told how for countries such as strife-ridden
Honduras, football could serve to go some distance in healing national
wounds – it patently did not. Meanwhile, the first football match ever
shown in real-time inside North Korea – presumably to ramp-up national
pride – resulted in the 7-0 drubbing of the North Korean side by Portugal.
Kim Jong-Il could not have been pleased.

Now, Burma’s football association is drawing attention to itself as the
chosen hosts of the upcoming Asian Football Confederation President’s Cup,
the selection somehow conferring further legitimacy upon the blighted
country and its leadership.

The visiting list of participants for the finals, however, reads as a
who’s who list of troubled countries – Kyrgyzstan’s Dordoi-Dynamo,
Turkmenistan’s HTTU Ashgabat and Tajikistan’s Vakhsh Qurghonteppa are also
taking part. For the Kyrgyz team, they travel to Burma as the country
continues to broil in the flames of violent ethnic clashes between Kyrgyz
and Uzbeks that have displaced tens of thousands. For Turkmenistan, the
2006 death of self-styled leader for life Sapamurat Niyazov has done
precious little to liberate the lives of the impoverished Central Asian
state.

True this is a club tournament, as opposed to the national stage of such
events as the World Cup, but international football competitions are still
highly political events; to this, the Burmese regime is correct in
assessing a certain degree of political capital gained from being chosen
as the host venue.

But alas, the celebration of international sport as a benchmark of
socio-political modernity is best understood as representative of a
country and its constituent authority’s immediate and relative acceptance
– both internationally and domestically.

While the regime may be able to cling to minimal international plaudits
gained as a result of hosting the competition, the country’s ills remain
remarkably unaddressed, the state’s leadership as nationalistically
paranoid as ever. A recent boxing contest between Burmese and Japanese
pugilists had to be fixed so that a minimum number of Burmese fighters,
the host country, would emerge victorious.

The fact is, until the government in Naypyitaw can guarantee a degree of
reforms directed at embracing democratic modernity and meeting the needs
of the populace, the celebration of sport at the national level will fail
to live up to the international recognition that can be won when citizens
celebrate as equal members with a shared vision of the country’s future.

Football in troubled times is just that – football against a tumultuous
background. And September’s AFC President’s Cup in Burma will undoubtedly
provide yet one more opportunity to gaze upon the well-documented troubles
underlying the Burmese state.