BurmaNet News, July 22, 2010

[Editor]

July 22, 2010 Issue #4005


INSIDE BURMA
DVB: Suu Kyi ‘can run if freed’: Burma FM
Irrawaddy: USDP preparing to fix the vote
Independent (UK): Burma's 'three princesses' gird up for electoral fight

ON THE BORDER
ABC News (Australia): Burma junta accused of extortion, rape
Nation (Thailand): BKK hopes Mae Sot-Myawaddy checkpoint reopens soon

HEALTH
Xinhua: Some 17,000 people die of HIV in Myanmar in 2009

ASEAN
AP: Clinton warns Myanmar on NKorea cooperation

REGIONAL
Mizzima: India to keep silent on 2010 election, opposition says

INTERNATIONAL
Bloomberg (US): Myanmar nuclear weapon program claims supported by photos,
Jane's reports
Winston-Salem Journal: Group that fled persecution in Myanmar making rapid
adjustment to life in Triad

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: More of the same at Asean meeting – Kay Latt

PRESS RELEASE
US Campaign For Burma: Burma sanctions extended by Senate and sails
through to the White House for Obama’s  signature




____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

July 22, Democratic Voice of Burma
Suu Kyi ‘can run if freed’: Burma FM – Francis Wade

Burma opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will be free to run in elections
this year once she is released from house arrest, Burma’s foreign minister
has reportedly said.

He also told his Japanese counterpart Katsuya Okada yesterday that North
Korea’s nuclear development programmes “are unacceptable”, Jiji Press
reported.

Nyan Win is at the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in Hanoi this week, where he
has been the focus of criticism from Southeast Asia leaders over planned
elections later this year.

Burma’s constitution does not bar Suu Kyi from competing in the polls,
Nyan Win said. The comments appear to be at odds with recently unveiled
election laws that bar former or serving prisoners and Burmese citizens
who have been married to foreigners from running for office, as Suu Kyi
falls into both categories.

The opposition icon was sentenced in August last year to 18 months under
house arrest for allegedly ’sheltering’ US citizen John Yettaw, who swam
to her lakeside compound in May. She is not due to be released until
November this year.

The head of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations bloc, Surin
Pitsuwan, told reporters on Monday that Nyan Win had got “an earful” from
his regional colleagues on the need for free and fair elections. No date
has yet been set for the polls, but the Burmese government has said they
will be held in the second half of this year.

Allegations of Burma’s nuclear ambitions were likely high on the agenda
yesterday as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined the 27-member
ARF talks. The US has expressed concern about an investigation by DVB that
uncovered evidence of a nuclear programme in Burma, and substantial North
Korean weapons exports to the pariah state.

North Korea is also believed to be helping Burma in the developing of a
vast network of underground military bunkers, and North Korean-made
multi-launcher rocket systems have been sighted in northern Burma in the
past month.

The ARF is the top security forum for the East Asia region, and includes
the 10 ASEAN members, as well as 17 other countries, including China, the
US and North Korea.

Pyongyang sent its foreign minister, Pak Ui Chun, to the talks yesterday
after a two-year hiatus. He skipped last year’s meeting in Thailand, which
followed on the heels of North Korea’s second nuclear test. Along with
Burma’s controversial elections, discussion of North Korea’s alleged
torpedoing of a South Korea ship earlier this year is likely to feature
highly at the summit.

____________________________________

July 22, Irrawaddy
USDP preparing to fix the vote – Ko Htwe

Burma's pro-government Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) is
reportedly conducting its own census in an apparent effort to influence
the result of the general election.

The development, reported in various Burmese townships, was described as
"strange and unheard of in any electoral process in the world" by Bidhayak
Das, an international observer with the Asian Network for Free Elections
(ANFREL).

ANFREL, established in 1997, is a regional network of civil society
organizations that strives to promote and support democratization at
national and regional levels in Asia.

Bidhayak, also a freelance political columnist, said in an email to The
Irrawaddy: “It is the duty of the Election Commission to do anything with
collecting census or family lists for advance voting. Political parties or
any other groups, even governmental agencies other than the Election
Commission, are not allowed by law to do this job.

“Collecting votes by a political party certainly does not augur well for
paving the way for free and fair elections. These allegations must be
verified and if found true then should be brought to the notice of the
Election Commission.”

The USDP was formed by Prime Minister Thein Sein and 26 other ministers on
April 29 after the dissolution of the pro-government mass civil society
the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA). All USDA property
passed into the possession of the USDP, which successfully registered as a
political party on June 8.

 “The conversion of the USDA to USDP is not clear," said Bidhayak. "There
has to be a process in such a transfer and it should be made public.

"Does the USDA cease to exist and will the USDP use the same
administrative structure as the former or will it have a separate
structure? In fact structural changes have to be notified during the
process of changeover from one formation to the other.”

The military junta organized the USDA as a social organization in 1993,
with junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe as its principal patron. Most
government staff and students were forced to become members of
association, which claimed to have 24 million members nationwide.

A USDP official said the party has at least 8 million members.

Thein Sein has been meeting regularly recently in Naypyidaw with leading
officials of the USDP. Party sources said they discussed election
strategy.

In one Burmese township, Tachilek, residents said the purpose of the
census appeared to be to facilitate advance voting.

One Tachileik resident said family details were being collected and then
the listed individuals were told "we don’t need to vote in the coming
election.”

Advance voting was rife in the 2008 referendum, in which authorities
gathered lists of household members and checked them as in favor of the
constitution.

Rangoon based Aung Thet Wine contributed to this article.

____________________________________

July 22, Independent (UK)
Burma's 'three princesses' gird up for electoral fight – Jack Davies

A lifetime of frustration in Burmese politics has not wearied Cho Cho Kyaw
Nyein. Her years as a political prisoner have not blunted her sense of
humour.

"Some people call us the 'three princesses of Burma', but to the
government, we are the three witches," she laughs as, free now, she walks
through the gardens of her once stately, now crumbling colonial home on a
hilltop in the Burmese capital.

The "princesses" – she, Nay Ye Ba Swe, and Mya Than Than Nu – are too old
for fairytales, she says, and the appellation she still finds faintly
humorous.

They are princesses because their fathers were all prime ministers of
Burma, part of the revered generation that fought for, and in 1948 won,
freedom from British rule before it was snatched away again in a military
coup in 1962.

The daughters have been friends since childhood, and have remained part of
each others' lives despite long years in prison and in exile.

All are free now, though they are watched constantly and regularly
harassed by the military's special branch and its network of undercover
spies. Arranging to meet is still fraught with risk. The interview with
the Guardian is the first they have ever given together.

The fourth daughter alongside whom they grew up, Burma's most famous
democracy activist, Aung San Suu Kyi, remains under house arrest.

"She is like a sister to us," Cho Cho Kyaw Nyein says. "Our fathers were
the best of friends with Suu's father."

Nearly half a century since their fathers were in power, the daughters see
themselves as carrying on their families' work, still fighting for
democracy in a country that has known it for only 14 short years of a
troubled history.

They have announced their candidacy as secretaries-general of the newly
formed Democratic party, and will stand in this year's promised elections.

It is a hopeless fight, however, and they know it: three women, backed by
a hastily created, barely funded party against the might of a military
junta which has ruled Burma with an iron fist for 48 years.

But they spend their days, and their shoestring budget, knocking on
village doors, trying to convince people too frightened speak to
politicians of the importance not just of voting for them, but of voting
at all.

This is a country that has not held an election since 1990.
Internationally, this year's poll has been condemned even before a date
has been set as a sham rigged to entrench military rule.

But the daughters see merit in giving people a choice that is not the
military and hope the ballot will be the first step in a gradual move to
democracy.

They have seen too many efforts at sudden revolutionary change – the
student uprising of 1988, the monk-led saffron revolution in 2007 – flare
brightly but ultimately fail amid military violence to be swayed by
promises of instant reform.

Nay Ye Ba Swe says change in Burma will be slow. "To establish a credible
democratic system will take a decade or more. We need to go slowly, step
by step, because we know we are facing a very tough situation. We just
can't go ahead and expect democracy overnight – we have to give it time,
and make sacrifices."

Flawed though these elections will be, the daughters believe participation
is better than boycott.

"I firmly believe 
 without participating in this election, you won't get
democracy smoothly," says Cho Cho Kyaw Nyein. "I want to change the system
and the government 
 but I don't want to go through more bloodshed or a
lot of people being sent to Insein [prison]."

The three women are saddened that their "sister" Aung San Suu Kyi will not
have her name on a ballot paper. Her continuing detention, combined with
electoral laws that appear to have been deliberately written to exclude
her, has meant that she cannot take part in the election. In response, her
party, the National League for Democracy, has chosen to boycott the poll.
"She is very much loved and respected by the Burmese people and boycotting
the election is her own decision. We really hoped that she would
participate together with us in this election, but she said no and we
can't do anything," Cho Cho Kyaw Nyein says.

Like Aung San Suu Kyi, she knows the price of a life in politics in Burma.
She grew up in the heady days after the second world war and watched as
her father reached the post of deputy prime minister during the country's
fractious early days of self-governance.

But after the military seized control of the country her family was
targeted. In 1990 she followed her father, mother and two brothers into
jail for her opposition to the ruling military. She spent seven years in
Rangoon's notorious Insein prison, "a horrible place to live, like hell".

But few people in Burma have her background in politics. No one in the
country under the age of 38 has ever voted before – and the results of the
1990 elections, won in a landslide by Aung San Suu Kyi's party, were
ignored by the junta.

Cho Cho Kyaw Nyein says getting people to the ballot box in a country
where political opposition is violently crushed is the priority for the 31
opposition and ethnic minority parties that have so far registered for the
election.

"When I went around the country, people are very scared of politicians.
They don't want to come near us, they say it is safer to stay away from
the politicians, or they will be bullied by the government.

"I said, 'you've got to know this is your right', we have been deprived of
this right to vote since 1962 
 we have been living under these rules and
hardships under the military regime for so long 
 but this is the right
time."

Mya Than Than Nu's father, U Nu, was Burma's first democratically elected
prime minister, and also its last. During his third stint in office, he
was overthrown in a military coup and jailed. He spent much of the rest of
his life in exile in India and the UK. But before he died in 1995, U Nu
told his daughter there was unfinished business in his homeland.

"My father said to me, 'You have done much for people all over the world.
You need to go back to work for your own people. The people of Burma need
you more'."

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

July 22, ABC News (Australia)
Burma junta accused of extortion, rape – Zoe Daniel

Burma's junta has sent a team of officials to investigate allegations that
militia border guards are committing extortion, rape and assault against
Burmese people being deported from Thailand.

The Thai government is under heavy criticism over the allegations, which
come amid a new crackdown on illegal Burmese workers who are being sent
home.

Some deportees say they have faced beatings and even conscription into a
Burmese militia army.

At an immigration detention centre on the Thai-Burma border, there is a
depressing daily ritual.

"Before we only had one to 200 people per day [being sent home],"
immigration police colonel Montree Manjit said.

"But now we have about six or 700 people per day."

Fifteen thousand illegal migrants from Burma went through the centre last
month. They were then trucked to the border and deported.

Burmese are the biggest migrant group in Thailand. About 900,000 have
legitimate work permits but even they are being sent back.

They are now required to apply for passports and they have to go back home
to get them.

Passport brokers help them with the process but they are only accessible
to those with money.

Those with letters from bona fide employers who are seeking passports
cross at the official border gate.

But labour rights activist Moe Swe says paperless illegal workers with few
means are facing extortion and worse when they get to the other side of
the river.

"I must say 95 per cent of people are facing that problem. Everybody is
extorted at the checkpoint," he said.

The informal checkpoints are run by the Burmese junta's proxy militia, the
Democratic Karen Buddhist Army.

They impose a fee of just over $40 on the deportees before they enter
Burma and most do not have it.

One young woman who was working illegally in Thailand was recently
released after being caught and deported by Thai authorities.

"I was sleeping in the afternoon when I heard a boy shouting 'police are
arresting, police are arresting' and I ran away," she said.

"It was the border police and I got caught by them. They took us away."

After she crossed the border, she says she was held in a cell by the
militia until a friend came to pay the fee.

She left others behind who were told they would be conscripted into the
militia force if they did not find the money.

Mr Swe says it is a common story.

The crackdown is being criticised by human rights groups after some
deportees have reported being beaten and raped.

Despite the risks, the border remains a revolving door for impoverished
Burmese who take great risks crossing back and forth to work.

Thai authorities expect to deport 300,000 people in the next three months.

____________________________________

July 22, The Nation (Thailand)
BKK hopes Mae Sot-Myawaddy checkpoint reopens soon

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on Thursday expressed hope that the
Thai-Burma checkpoint in Tak province would soon be re-opened.

Burma has already received information concerning Thailand's river bank
protection projecton the Moei River, Abhisit said. "Therefore, I hope that
Burma have better understanding on Thailand and our projects," he said.

The border trade and transport at the Mae Sot-Myawaddy border have been
suspended after Burmese government closed down the border checkpoint and
the Thai-Burmese Friendship Bridge crossing the Moei River on July 12.

News reports said that the Burmese authorities were unhappy with
Thailand's construction of river bank protection on the Thai side because
the construction caused soil and stones to fall into the river.

Abhisit said the project was suspended and information of the project was
sent to Burma's authorities.

The premier said Thailand would like Burma to re-open the border first and
believed Burma will do so soon.

He said Burma and Thailand are both concerned about their own river banks
and worry that any construction could affect the river's course and the
border line. Thailand, therefore, decided to stop the project and hold
talks for clarification.

____________________________________
HEALTH

July 22, Xinhua
Some 17,000 people die of HIV in Myanmar in 2009

Yangon – About 17,000 people out of 238,000 infected with HIV/AIDS in
Myanmar died in 2009, the local Biweekly Eleven reported Thursday.

About 21,138 HIV/AIDS patients underwent anti-retroviral therapy (ART)
treatment during the year, accounting for 30 percent of the total.

Myanmar exposed the first HIV/AIDS-infected person in 1988 and began
introducing ART treatment for such patients in 2005.

The authorities have stressed the urgent need for HIV prevention through
education on such groups whose undertakings are posing a high level of
danger to the society, citing those earning their living through sex trade
and their partners, drug users and their close associates.

HIV prevalence rate has reportedly attained the most critical point
especially in the border areas where socio-economic status is complicated.

HIV/AIDS is among the three major communicable diseases of national
concern designated by Myanmar. The other two diseases are tuberculosis and
malaria.

Myanmar treats the three diseases as priority with the main objectives of
reducing the morbidity and mortality in a bid to become no longer a public
problem and meet the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations.

____________________________________
ASEAN

July 22, Associated Press
Clinton warns Myanmar on NKorea cooperation – Matthew Lee

Hanoi, Vietnam — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is warning
Myanmar's military rulers against any cooperation with North Korea on a
nuclear program and calling on the junta to hold free and fair elections
this year.

In Vietnam for regional security talks with senior officials from around
Southeast Asia, Clinton said Thursday the U.S. was concerned about reports
that Myanmar, also known as Burma, is seeking to develop a nuclear weapons
program. She said she would be discussing those concerns and ways to
"alter" such intentions during her talks in Hanoi.

Clinton also said she shared concerns about upcoming elections in Myanmar,
which U.S. officials say hold no hope of being free and fair. Myanmar has
said it will hold elections this year but has not given a date, and it
appears unlikely that opposition figures will be able to participate.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

July 22, Mizzima News
India to keep silent on 2010 election, opposition says – Khai Suu

New Delhi – The Indian government will be tight lipped regarding the
upcoming 2010 Burmese general election, possibly preferring to focus on
their own economic interests, according to pro-democracy activists in New
Delhi.

The assessment comes as a senior Burmese delegation is preparing to visit
India.

During his scheduled visit to India from the 25th to 29th of this month,
Burmese Head-of-State Senior General Than Shwe will meet with Indian
Presdient Pratibha Patel, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other cabinet
ministers. He will also visit Hydrabad, capital city of Andhra Pradesh and
a major car production center for India’s biggest industrial house, TATA.

“After Senior General Than Shwe’s visit, TATA will enter the Burmese
market. This visit might pave the way for it. India will get its economic
interests and the Senior General will be satisfied with India’s silence on
its upcoming general election. So this visit will satisfy both India and
the Senior General,” National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma
(NCGUB) Minister Dr. Tint Swe told Mizzima.

“After adopting their engagement policy with Burma, India will never
partake in any activities which will irritate the Burmese military clique.
Though they know the Burmese election will not be free and fair, India
will not see it as negative. So they will not say anything on the election
which will provide a nuisance for the Senior General,” voiced All Burma
Student League (ABSL) Chairman Kyaw Than.

“The Sino-Burma relation is not as good as before. It has become cold.
Instead of a return visit to China [in the wake of a recent Chinese
delegation to Burma], Than Shwe will make his next visit to India, which
suggests a warmer and closer relation with India than with China,” he
further speculated.

Lobbying for Indian support for the Burmese general election is one of the
major purposes of this visit, but at the same time a major focus might
also be economic issues, Federation of Trade Unions of Burma (FTUB) Joint
General Secretary Dr. Zaw Win Aung said.

“They possibly come here to win support by India on their election, but
focusing on economic issues is more likely. TATA is eager to make a huge
investment in Burma, so I think it might be the major talking point during
this visit,” he said.

TATA wants to sell its Nano car in bulk quantity in Burma at the price of
100,000 rupees, or 3 million kyats, with a final price tag of 4 million
kyats following taxes. However, the junta reportedly wants to reap more
profit by charging more taxes and other costs, which would effectively
raise the final price tag to some 15 million kyats.

Some Burmese observers suspect the visit could further be viewed as an
opportunity to solve obstacles in fixing the price on the model.

“TATA wants mass production at a cheap price. They have been negotiating
with the Burmese junta on this issue for a long time. After this visit,
the Senior General will win the support of the world’s largest democracy
on his upcoming general election and TATA will get all its problems
resolved,” expanded Kim from the Burma Centre Delhi (BCD).

He regards TATA as exploiting this visit by extending support toward its
own interests while the international community is focused on putting
pressure on the Burmese junta and their planned election.

TATA is the fourth biggest truck manufacturing company in the world and
second largest in passenger bus manufacturing. It is implementing its low
priced People’s Car program under the slogan of ‘A car for each family in
India’. India is said to have a population of 1.2 billion.

Following the launch of the Nano in India in 2009, the model has drawn
international attention – beyond its cheap price tag – when two vehicles
caught fire seemingly of their own accord in 2010, while there have also
been three reported cases of the steering wheel spewing black smoke. TATA
contends it is working to prevent any such further mishaps.

The Burmese junta is currently earning hundreds of millions of dollars
annually from French oil giant TOTAL, and how much profit they can earn
from an investment made by TATA must be watched, the Burmese opposition in
New Delhi argues.

“India can do many things to facilitate the restoration of democracy in
Burma. They should play the role model in this regard too. And also India
can provide much technical assistance to Burma to make the upcoming
election free and fair. But I don’t think India will do this work. As a
good neighbor and good friend, India should give good advice to Burma,”
Dr. Tint Swe said.

“India should point out the unjust and unfair matters in this election.
The India Election Commission once provided logistical support and
technical assistance to Bhutan in its first ever multi-party general
election. Similarly they extended their support and encouragement to Nepal
and Sri Lanka too. Only in the case of Burma do they keep silent and keep
tight lipped. A country like India, which is very proud of being the
largest democracy in the world, is much obliged to speak on these issues,”
Kyaw Than furthered.

Burma’s political opposition in New Delhi is planning large-scale protests
to coincide with Than Shwe’s visit.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

July 21, Bloomberg (US)
Myanmar nuclear weapon program claims supported by photos, Jane's reports
– Peter S. Green

Allegations by a Myanmar defector that the military-run country is
pursuing a nuclear program are corroborated by newly available commercial
satellite images, Jane’s Intelligence Review said in an article released
yesterday.

The photos of buildings and security fences near the country’s capital,
Naypyidaw, confirm reports by Major Sai Thein Win of machine tool
factories and other facilities alleged to be part of a nascent program to
build nuclear weapons, the magazine reported from London.

“They will not make a bomb with the technology they currently possess or
the intellectual capability,” Jane’s analyst Allison Puccioni said in an
interview. “The two factors do make it possible to have a route to one.”

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed concern about reports
that North Korea and Myanmar are expanding military ties and sharing
nuclear technology at a meeting of Southeast Asian foreign ministers in
Thailand last year.

Clinton said the U.S. would remain “vigilant” against any military
cooperation between the two countries. Yesterday, Clinton announced
further sanctions against North Korea in an effort to halt the country’s
nuclear-weapons program.

Sai said he worked at two factories involved in the nuclear program. His
report to a Burmese opposition news website, Democratic Voice of Burma,
based in Norway, included documents and color photographs of the interior
of the installations.

The satellite imagery reviewed by Jane’s showed only the exterior of the
buildings, Puccioni said.

‘Overly Ambitious’

Jane’s said Myanmar’s nuclear program is “overly ambitious with limited
expertise,” in a statement yesterday. While Myanmar is a signatory to
international agreements to control nuclear weapons use, it hasn’t agreed
to more recent changes in the treaties and therefore isn’t subject to
international inspections, the magazine said.

“With Myanmar’s current freedom from sanctions and relative economic
prosperity, the junta may be able to outsource the technical know-how and
tools to reach its goals far sooner than expected,” Christian Le Mière,
editor of Jane’s Intelligence Review, said in a statement.

“Someone had to be assisting them, that’s the frightening thing,” said
David Kay, a former United Nations weapons inspector and now a fellow at
the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies in Arlington, Virginia, in an
interview. “Myanmar is uniquely incapable of carrying this through.”

North Korea could be the country providing aid, said Michael J. Green, an
adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and former
senior director for Asia on the National Security Council under President
George W. Bush.

North Korea

During the Bush administration, North Korea discussed delivering
short-range missiles and nuclear capability to Myanmar, Green said.

“We worry about the transfer of nuclear technology” and indications of
clandestine military cooperation between two of Asia’s most secretive
regimes, Clinton said last year. “I’m not saying it is happening, but we
want to be prepared to stand against it.”
State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley said on July 12 that the U.S.
continues “to have concerns about Burma’s relationship with North Korea.
It’s something that we watch very, very carefully and consistently.”

Last year, the U.S. Navy followed the Kang Nam I, a North Korean freighter
headed in the direction of Myanmar with unknown cargo. The ship turned
around and returned home.

The evidence points to a method of uranium enrichment, laser enrichment,
that the North Koreans have never used, Kay said. “If it is laser
enrichment the finger points more toward Chinese assistance or some place
in the former Soviet Union,” he said.

____________________________________

July 22, Winston-Salem Journal
Group that fled persecution in Myanmar making rapid adjustment to life in
Triad – Mary Giunca

They still can't tell junk mail from essential bills, and at least one
family had to be relieved of the rooster it kept in its apartment as a
pet, but for nearly 200 Karenni refugees, their first year in
Winston-Salem has been marked by progress.

Most of the men have jobs in poultry plants. A few of the women are
working in housekeeping in local hotels. The children are learning English
in the local school system. And all of them are comfortably settled into
apartments in the Country Club Road area.

"North Carolina has become the promised land," said Tim Cross, who
co-founded Open Arms Refugee Ministry with his wife, Jody Cross, in 2009.

The Crosses worked with World Relief's High Point office and Calvary
Baptist Church, where they have been members since 1996, to bring the
Karenni here last year. The Karenni are political refugees from Myanmar,
formerly known as Burma.

There are now 45 Karenni families living in the area, with a total of
about 100 children, the Crosses said.

The ministry also works with Iraqi and Bhutan families. The couple spent
eight years living overseas and working for the International Mission
Board of the Southern Baptist Convention before getting involved in
resettlement efforts with the Karenni.

Last week the Karenni children participated in vacation Bible school at
Calvary Baptist Church. They did arts and crafts, played soccer and
learned to read music and play musical instruments.

Inside an activity building, some of Calvary's members gave the women
makeovers.

"We're seeing people get driver's licenses, and we're just so proud," Jody
Cross said. "We feel like proud parents, even though we're not parents.
Watching them make baby steps and then leaps and bounds has been
incredible."

The Karenni arrived in the United States as permanent residents, Cross
said. After a year, they can apply for a green card, which puts them on
the road to citizenship within five to seven years.

They all filed taxes this year, and the children, particularly, are making
a rapid transition into American life, the Crosses said. Last year many of
them took English-as-a-second-language classes, but this year most of the
children's English is good enough that they will be in regular programs in
the school system.

One of the children at Calvary Baptist told Jody Cross: "We used to call
them the Karenni or the refugees, but now we call them friends."

The Karenni men are working at chicken plants in Lumberton and North
Wilkesboro. The Karenni have been offered a chance to move to Lumberton
and avoid the long commutes, but they haven't wanted to do that yet.

"They love it here," Tim Cross said. "They love the connections they've
made in the church."

The Karenni are grateful for the kindness that the community has shown
them, the Crosses said, and they are anxious to contribute. A children's
choir sings at nursing homes and soup kitchens. A group of Karenni
high-school students went on a Calvary mission trip to Clarkston, Ga.,
where they helped and gave encouragement to a group of Karenni and other
refugees. During the makeovers last week, several of the women got their
hair cut to donate to Locks of Love.

Steve Hardy, the associate pastor for missions at Calvary Baptist, said
that Calvary has about 60 members who volunteer in various ways with the
Karenni. They teach English, help the Karenni fill out government
paperwork, take them to doctor's appointments and help furnish apartments.

"When God moves the world to you, you have as much responsibility as if
they're living in Burma," he said.

Lisa Shutt, a member of Calvary and the owner of Hair Performance salon,
said that she has been cutting hair for the Karenni for about a year. Her
other customers have become interested in the Karenni, she said, and have
helped with donations to get people set up in apartments.

She said she has found that she has gotten back far more than she's given
through the experience.

"It's very humbling," she said. "It teaches what's important. It's not
about stuff. It's about relationships."

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

July 22, Irrawaddy
More of the same at Asean meeting – Kay Latt

Six years ago before an Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) meeting in Hanoi,
Nguyen Dy Nien, then Vietnam's foreign minister, promised that “Asean is
trying to democratize Myanmar.” This time in Hanoi, the Asean Regional
Forum (ARF) will have yet another look at Burma's newsest  problems: the
planned elections and its nuclear ambitions.

The 43rd Asean ministerial meeting and other important meetings including
the 17th Asean Regional Forum (ARF) between Asean and its strategic
partners  takes place in Hanoi on July 16-23,  The meeting will be
historic because the Asean Charter and the Asean Intergovernmental
Committee on Human Rights will be approved.

At the16th Asean summit held at Hanoi, the heads of Asean member states
promised to speed up cooperation in deepening regional integration and to
build a resilient, dynamic and sustained Asean community. The problem of
Burma, however, remains as a major impediment.

Kurt Campbell, the US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and
Pacific affairs, recently said that human rights violations by the Burmese
regime will come up during  secretary  of state Hillary Clinton's
bilateral meeting with Asean leaders and those from other Asian countries.
He said Clinton will talk about their concerns on a variety of issues,
including the upcoming steps leading to the [Burmese] elections later this
year.

He said, "We've stated very carefully and clearly on the record that we
are primarily concerned in terms of Burmese activities about its violation
and its activities associated with UN Security Council Resolution 1874."
Last year, at the Asean Ministerial Meeting and the ARF held on the Thai
resort island of Phuket there were no Burma breakthroughs.

At that meeting, Clinton had even suggested the expulsion of the Burmese
regime from Asean if it continued to flout Asean's rules. Thai Prime
Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva as host of the event said in response to that,
"There are not enough grounds to do that. We have already done what we can
under the Asean mechanism. If Burma is expelled it will further isolate
the regime, and would that solve the problems?" He did not mention any
alternatives to solve the problems caused by Burma.

Clinton also said, "We know that there are also growing concerns about
military cooperation between North Korea and Burma, which we take very
seriously. It would be destabilizing for the region. It would pose a
direct threat to Burma's neighbors. And it is something, as a treaty ally
of Thailand, we are taking very seriously."

All members of Asean are signatories of the Southeast Asian Nuclear-Weapon
Free Zone Treaty (SEANWFZ) of 1995, which bars its members from
developing, manufacturing or acquiring or possessing or having control
over nuclear weapons. Burma is believed to be trying to develop or possess
nuclear weapons, according to a report by former IAEA director Robert
Kelly based on documents provided by defectors from the Burmese military.

Regardless of the reports, the claim still lacks credibility in the eyes
of Burma’s friends in Asean. In the case of North Korea, it is eager to
possess nuclear weapons with a clear intent to target Japan, South Korea
and even the US, whereas Burma has no reason to target China, India or
mainland Southeast Asian nations such as Thailand, Cambodia or Vietnam.
Asean friends seem to be smiling with great skepticism at their neighbor,
whose technology and capabilities are at the kindergarten stage.

Another key issue to be discussed will be elections. There are also
different views within Asean and its partner countries. In the last ARF
meeting, Clinton said, “If she [Aung San Suu Kyi] were released, that
would open up opportunities, at least for my country, to expand our
relationship with Burma, including investments in Burma.” Her words
clearly expressed a fundamental shift in US-Burma relations in exchange
for the release of  Suu Kyi.
In a sideline meeting with Burmese officials, the US delegation surely
urged the regime to release her before the elections in order for the
elections to be seen as credible.

In the previous ASEM meeting held in Hanoi, ministers from two regional
blocs called on the regime to make the elections credible, transparent,
democratic, inclusive, and to  release all political prisoners. The
European Union's common position towards Burma was renewed on April 26.

In the region, Indonesia has issued the most critical statements in regard
to the election and the draconian election laws.

Singapore’s foreign ministry released a statement expressing its hope that
“it is not too late for all parties to reach a comprise.” Other Asean
countries have remained largely silent on Burma’s electoral issue. The
Philippine’s Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo only said that the actions
of Burma's government were contrary to the roadmap to democracy that it
has pledged to Asean and to the world.

Asean issued its position on Burma’s election in a chairman’s statement at
the 16th Asean Summit: “We underscored the importance of national
reconciliation in Myanmar and the holding of the general election in a
free, fair, and inclusive manner, thus contributing to Myanmar’s stability
and development.” It has consistently avoided stronger statements or any
talk of censure or other measures.

Ironically, the current Asean meeting will approve the first five-year
plan of the Asean intergovernmental committee on human rights. At the
Asean Regional Forum a vision statement to 2020 will be approved. We will
have to see how such a statement addresses the problem of Burma.

This time around, Burma is again on center stage, but Asean members don't
seem to want to acknowledge its presence, and it will again be dealt with
in official, well-composed statements with meticulously chosen words
designed not to upset its most backward member.

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

July 22, US Campaign For Burma
Burma sanctions extended by Senate and sails through to the White House
for Obama’s  signature

Washington, DC – One week after members of the House of Representatives
unanimously approved the extension of economic sanctions against generals
in Burma; their fellow lawmakers in the Senate today overwhelmingly
approved the measure with a vote of (99-1), and sent it to the White House
for the signature of President Obama. Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) voted in
favor of the resolution and Senator Michael Enzi (R-WY) is the only
senator who voted against it.

The U.S. Campaign for Burma, a leading coalition of Burmese activists in
exile and American human rights campaigners working to promote freedom,
justice and democracy in Burma, today welcomes and supports the unanimous
decision of the U.S. Senate to extend sanctions against the military junta
that rules the Southeast Asian country of Burma with guns, threats and
oppression, and conducts crimes against humanity under a system of
impunity. The House Joint Resolution 83 (H.J. RES. 83), the renewal of
import restrictions contained in the “Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of
2003” and an identical resolution of the one approved by the House
yesterday, was introduced by Senators Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Diane
Feinstein (D-CA), cosponsored by 66 additional Senators, the largest
amount of cosponsorship the legislation has ever received, and approved by
unanimous consent today.

“I am very proud of my country’s Members of Congress. No matter how the
regime attempts to manipulate the world, they do not fall for the regime’s
act. Their support for Aung San Suu Kyi, the National League for Democracy
and ethnic minorities are consistent and stronger than ever,” says
Jennifer Quigley, Advocacy Director of the U.S. Campaign for Burma. “To
continue to cut the economic lifeline of generals who abuse the citizens
of Burma is essential and that is what the U.S. Congress is responsibly
and effectively doing,” Jennifer Quigley continues.

In 2003, after the regime’s failed assassination attempt against Aung San
Suu Kyi during her organizational tour in Depayin, in middle Burma, in
which pro-junta thugs attacked, beat, and killed members of her party, the
U.S. Congress imposed strong and comprehensive sanctions on the junta by
passing the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act. Measures included in the
Act are an import restrictions, a ban on loan and assistance from
international financial institutions, freezing assets of the junta and
their families, expansion of the visa ban to members of the junta, its
militia, and those responsible for killing Aung San Suu Kyi’s supporters.
The import restrictions, which effectively stop the flow of hundreds of
millions of dollars every year to the generals’ pockets, is the only
measure required to renew annually. Since 2003, the U.S. Congress has
never failed to extend the measure as the situation in Burma has not
improved and does not satisfy the concerns of the United States.

While putting Aung San Suu Kyi and over 2,100 democracy activists and
Buddhist monks in prison, and continuing an aggressive military campaign
against ethnic minorities, the junta has been trying to finalize its plan
to create a permanent military dictatorship through a sham constitution
and a showcase election this year. Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, the National
League for Democracy (NLD) that won a landslide victory in the 1990
election, and its allied ethnic political parties decided to boycott the
election and call on the international community to not recognize it. Aung
San Suu Kyi, NLD and ethnic allies have called for the junta to stop its
unilateral action and start negotiations with democracy forces through a
tripartite dialogue between the military, NLD and ethnic representatives.

Media Contact: Aung Din at (202) 234 8022