WASHINGTON (AFP) – US envoys who paid a rare visit to Myanmar say the
new dialogue will be slow and cautious, but the junta's plans to hold
2010 elections are casting a shadow that could disrupt the delicate
process.

Kurt Campbell, the top US diplomat for Asia, and his deputy Scot
Marciel spent two days in the country formerly known as Burma, the
highest-level US visit since 1995 as part of a new policy of
engagement.

The State Department duo has been at pains to temper expectations for
any breakthrough and warned the junta that the United States will not
ease economic sanctions without progress on democracy.

But the diplomacy could soon get trickier as the junta prepares
elections next year. The last vote in 1990 was swept by democracy icon
Aung San Suu Kyi, who has since spent most of her time under house
arrest.

Marciel, speaking in Bangkok on Thursday, called for the election --
which some observers believe could be held early in the year -- to be
fair and to include Aung San Suu Kyi's participation.

But the Nobel Peace laureate's National League for Democracy has
called for a boycott of the vote, fearing it would be a sham to
legitimize the junta which last year pushed through a widely
criticized new constitution.

"When US officials tell the regime they must include the opposition in
credible, free and fair elections, they are missing the key point,"
said John Dale, a Myanmar expert at George Mason University.

"For a long time, the opposition has been organizing a boycott of the
election and that's exactly what the regime is trying to overcome --
they want as much participation as possible," he said.

"The longer the United States engages in dialogue about international
monitoring of free and fair elections, the more likely it is that we
end up lending legitimacy to the election process itself," he said.

But Aung San Suu Kyi has changed tact before. As the United States
opened the dialogue, she accepted that actions by the junta could
eventually lead to a relaxation of sanctions, an easing of her strong
past support of such economic measures.

Yet just communicating with her remains difficult. The junta allowed
Aung San Suu Kyi to meet Campbell and Marciel at a Yangon luxury
hotel, marking the first time she has appeared outside her home and
prison since 2003.

"I think that role and the attitude of Aung San Suu Kyi is very
important to a change in US policy toward Burma," said David
Steinberg, a professor at Georgetown University.
Steinberg said the junta may try to release Aung San Suu Kyi just
before or just after the election.

"I don't think that's acceptable to the US, because they want
something more," Steinberg said.

President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have
launched a policy of dialogue around the world, with the motto that
they will extend a hand to all who "unclench their fist."

Senator Jim Webb, a leading proponent of engaging Myanmar who met in
August with junta supremo Than Shwe, said he was encouraged by
Campbell and Marciel's visit to Myanmar.

He said that the administration should take a "step-by-step" approach
to encourage Myanmar "to become a responsible member of the world
community."

"The administration?s engagement with the government of Burma is an
important step toward improving both US-Burma relations and the living
conditions of the Burmese people," he said.

But Aung Din, a former political prisoner who heads the US Campaign
for Burma advocacy group, said that Obama needed to follow up by
raising Myanmar at the highest levels on his upcoming visit to Asia.

Obama will hold a summit with Southeast Asian leaders and travel to
China, which remains a close commercial and military partner of
Myanmar despite the opprobrium for the junta in the West.

"I want to be optimistic. But I will wait until President Obama's
visit to Asia next week," Aung Din said.

"Without strong involvement by President Obama and Secretary Clinton
in organizing our neighbors to stand together on Burma, Kurt's mission
would not be successful," he said.
*************************************************************
Japan pledges $5.5 bln for SEAsia's Mekong region
by Miwa Suzuki  – Fri Nov 6, 7:43 am ET

TOKYO (AFP) – Japan on Friday pledged 5.5 billion dollars in aid over
three years for Southeast Asia's five Mekong River nations, seeking to
deepen ties with the region amid growing influence from China.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who has pushed the concept of an EU-
style Asian community, announced the more than 500 billion yen in
loans and grants to his counterparts from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar,
Thailand and Vietnam.

Eighty percent of the overseas development assistance would be in low-
interest yen loans, for projects ranging from regional highway links
to water projects and technological training, a government official
said.

"The Mekong region holds the key to developing an East Asian
community," said the premier, whose centre-left government took power
in September. "Japan would like to contribute to the stability of the
Mekong region."

Much of the region along the lower stretches of the 4,800-kilometre
(2,980-mile) Mekong River was long isolated by war and political
turmoil and remains poorer than many other parts of Southeast Asia.

The goal of the grouping is to enhance development through cooperation
-- but the summit started under a cloud amid the latest spat between
Thailand and Cambodia who on Thursday recalled their ambassadors from
each others' capitals.

The neighbours have fought deadly skirmishes since July 2008 over
disputed land around a temple. The latest flare-up arose when Cambodia
named the fugitive former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra as a
government adviser.

Thailand threatened Friday to seal the border with Cambodia, accusing
Phnom Penh of "a hard line and uncompromising attitude."

Another guest in Tokyo was the prime minister of military-ruled
Myanmar, Thein Sein, whose country has been criticised for human
rights abuses, including its long detention of pro-democracy leader
Aung San Suu Kyi.

Hatoyama was to meet Thein Sein, Myanmar's first premier to visit
Japan since 2003, on Saturday for bilateral talks.

The meeting will come days after senior US envoys travelled to Myanmar
for Washington's first direct talks with the isolated regime in years
-- an overture which Hatoyama said he welcomed, according to the
official.

Another Japanese official earlier said engagement may bring change in
the country formerly known as Burma, saying: "We need to continue to
encourage the Myanmar government to take positive steps in the process
of democratisation."

The Mekong summit does not include Asian giant China, which has in
recent years stepped up aid and investment in the region, from rubber
plantations and mines in Laos, to trade with Myanmar.

A Japanese official, speaking in a pre-summit media briefing on
condition he not be named, denied Japan was competing with China for
greater influence in the lucrative region of about 220 million people.

"We don't need to compete with others," the official said, arguing
that Tokyo and Beijing have "very good relations" when it comes to
coordinating policies on regional development.

But Takashi Inoguchi, dean of the University of Niigata Prefecture,
said "the Japanese government thinks it is very important" to foster
deeper ties with Southeast Asia in view of China's growing presence.

"The phrase 'big market in Asia' may bring to mind China or India, but
growth is gathering momentum in ASEAN nations," he said, referring to
the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
*************************************************************
Monsters and Critics - US envoy snubs pro-government party on Myanmar
visit
Asia-Pacific News
Nov 6, 2009, 5:08 GMT

Yangon - A high-level US delegation visiting Myanmar on an
'exploratory' diplomatic mission this week failed to meet with
representatives of the pro-junta National Unity Party (NUP), state
media reported Friday.

US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and his deputy in charge
of South-East Asian affairs Scot Marciel visited Myanmar on Tuesday
and Wednesday on what they called an 'exploratory mission' to explain
the Washington's new policy of engagement towards the country's pariah
regime.

The delegation, however, failed to engage with representatives of the
NUP and other pro-junta parties, according to state media reports.

'Although arrangements have been made for Mr Kurt [Campbell] to meet
with central executive committee members of [the] National Unity Party
at its headquarters and representatives of the remaining officially
registered political parties at the hotel where he put up, he did not
meet them,' The New Light of Myanmar reported.

'Instead, he separately met some persons who are still being
scrutinized at the residence of charge d' affairs of [the] US embassy
on their own arrangements,' the government mouthpiece said.

One NUP executive complained that they waiting all day for Campbell to
show up.

In Bangkok on Thursday, Marciel acknowledged that the USA's new policy
of engaging with the notoriously uncooperative Myanmar junta was
unlikely to bear swift results.

'We're going in to this with our eyes wide open,' Marciel said.
'Success is far from guaranteed.'

Past diplomatic efforts to persuade Myanmar's generals to mend their
dictatorial ways, either through sanctions as imposed by the US and
the European Union, or through the tact of 'constructive engagement'
as pursued by Asian governments, have failed.

The country has been under military rule since 1962, and has kept
opposition leader and pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi under house
detention for 14 of the past 20 years.

Campbell and Marciel met with Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein, Suu
Kyi and numerous other government and opposition leaders on their two-
day visit. It as not immediately clear why they gave the NUP leaders a
miss.
*************************************************************
Washington presses Myanmar to open rule
Published: Nov. 5, 2009 at 5:41 PM

YANGON, Myanmar, Nov. 5 (UPI) -- Washington is willing to thaw
relations with Myanmar if its ruling military junta takes tangible
steps toward democracy, a U.S. official said Thursday.

U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Scot Marciel said he and
Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell stressed the need for a
more open government Tuesday and Wednesday when they talked with
senior government officials, including the Southeast Asian country's
prime minister, Gen. Thein Sein, and opposition leader and Nobel Peace
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, during a rare trip to Mayanmar, formerly
known as Burma.

The U.S. officials did not speak with Senior Gen. Than Shwe, the
country's ruler, CNN reported.

"We reaffirmed our commitment to a peaceful, prosperous and democratic
Burma," Marciel said. "We stressed the importance of genuine dialogue
between the government and ethnic minorities. Fundamentally, the main
problem is a lack of an inclusive political process."

But he said he did not know if the junta would take meaningful steps
such as freeing Suu Kyi ahead of next year's elections, Myanmar's
first since 1990.

Washington would demand such measures before it would consider
removing its longstanding sanctions against the country, he said.

"We're willing to move in terms of our bilateral relationship, but
we're only going to do it if there's real progress," he said.

The trip was part of a new U.S. policy intended to restore U.S.
influence there, reversing the Bush administration's shunning of
Myanmar.

The country's military regime, which seized power in 1962, is widely
criticized for human rights violations.

More discussions are expected, including a possible meeting between
President Barack Obama and senior Myanmar officials during an economic
summit in Singapore this month, The Wall Street Journal reported.
*************************************************************
Myanmar generals targeting rebel area
Published: Nov. 5, 2009 at 4:21 PM

YANGON, Myanmar, Nov. 5 (UPI) -- Military generals in Myanmar say
rebel forces should disband along the country's rugged border with
China to pave the way for national unification.

The International Herald Tribune reported Thursday that Myanmar
military leaders are targeting members of the Wa ethnic group in Mong
Hpen as part of the government's ongoing attempts to achieve national
unity.

Military leaders said they are hopeful a new constitution and
elections in 2010 could help Myanmar enjoy national consolidation.

With Wa rebels unresponsive to the military's call for complete
subjugation to the central government, forces on both sides are
preparing for an armed conflict.

"We were told to be ready and to keep a careful watch," United Wa
State Army soldier Ai Yee said.

The Myanmar region along the Chinese border is regularly visited by
Chinese residents looking to satisfy vices and China has remained a
staunch supporter of peace talks for the area.

The Wa rebels are greatly outnumbered by the military forces, led by
Myanmar's top military commanders, Senior Gen. Than Shwe and Vice
Senior Gen.Maung Aye.

The Herald Tribune said the rebels, meanwhile, have the advantage of
knowing the region better as well as a fearsome reputation stemming
from their history of severing rival tribal members' heads.
*************************************************************
Women's eNews - Burmese Traveler Showed Her a Country's Fear
By Stephanie Guyer-Stevens
WeNews correspondent
Friday, November 6, 2009

As the U.S. changes strategy on Myanmar, Stephanie Guyer-Stevens
wonders about what it will mean for the country's women. Last summer,
a young Burmese woman next to her on a plane was afraid to even say
the name Aung San Suu Kyi.

(WOMENSENEWS)--A few weeks ago, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's
office said it would change strategy on Burma, backing off U.S.
economic sanctions of Burma in favor of "engagement" with the military
regime, which calls the country Myanmar.

Clinton is doing so with the support of Aung San Suu Kyi, the
democratically-elected leader of Burma, who marked the 14th
anniversary of her term of house arrest on Oct. 24.

As human rights organizations alternately express concern and hope
about the new policy--hope that it could create the foundation for
real stability in Burma--I can't help recalling a plane trip I took
last summer, when I was flying home from Bangkok to California.

I sat next to a young woman from Burma, or Myanmar, depending on which
name you want to use.

As it turns out, this was her first trip ever outside her country.
"Had I heard about Myanmar?" she asked me.

When I told her I knew about Aung San Suu Kyi she visibly recoiled and
said "I'm not interested in anything political."

I changed the subject.

Later, as our dinner was served, she confided in a low voice, "I
really love Aung San Suu Kyi."

I told her I could understand that.

Circling Back to Politics

We went on to talk about more personal topics, our families and lives
back home. I answered her questions about life in the United States as
best I could. She knew about President Lincoln. Then we discussed
President Obama and soon we circled back to politics.

I picked up a copy of Asia Week from the magazine pocket of the seat
in front of me. It fell open to a photograph of a crowd of Aung San
Suu Kyi supporters staging a demonstration, all wearing masks bearing
her image.

The young woman recoiled again. Eventually her wave of concern seemed
to pass and she looked around the crowded plane. Finally she told me,
"In Myanmar we are not even allowed to look at her picture. We will be
put in jail if we are found with a picture of her."

She said that she sometimes discusses politics with her friends, "but
we have to be very careful, because people get put in jail for talking
about politics."

I told her that now that she was on a plane headed for the United
States, and no longer in Myanmar, no one would do anything to her if
she wanted to have an opinion. She nodded, but obviously was not
completely ready to trust that idea--or me.

She told me she had never been in a place where she could express her
opinions freely. I told her I have never lived somewhere where I
wasn't able to have opinions.
She had opened up as far as she felt she could. She went to sleep.

Asking Hard Questions

Reflecting on my conversation with the young woman from Burma posed
some hard questions for me. If this woman's family had enough money to
send her to the U.S., then she must be from a very wealthy family. Yet
even she is intimidated to speak about politics, much less consider
entering politics herself.

Aung San Suu Kyi has shown unfathomable courage through years of house
arrest, following the military coup that robbed her of a landslide
victory as prime minister.

I want to think that women in Myanmar are inspired by this show of
courage and not slowed down by the rulers who stand in the way of
their freedoms.

But women in Burma, and Southeast Asia in general, have a difficult
road ahead. Their countries are young democracies at best, some more
truthfully dictatorships, muddied with deeply entrenched corruption.
In most areas the education system is extremely limited. Too many
women live in fear of speaking their minds, similar to that of my
seatmate's fears.

What are the options for a young woman in Burma? How can she begin to
think of becoming a leader when Aung San Suu Kyi, her own leader, has
been so forcefully, and effectively, silenced?

As the United States moves to engagement with Myanmar, it's hard to be
hopeful.

But last summer, Sam Rainsy, the leader of the Opposition Party in
Cambodia, did give me hope. He told me that women, because of their
firsthand experience of oppression, have a fundamental role in
challenging dictatorships.

He called women "the spearhead of any fight to bring about democracy
and restore human dignity." Let's hope he's right.

Stephanie Guyer-Stevens is executive producer of Outer Voices. She has
been documenting female leaders in Southeast Asia and the Pacific
Islands since 2003.
*************************************************************
New York Times - The Latest on Myanmar; An Uprising Crushed
Updated: Oct. 23, 2009
Overview

Myanmar, a southeast Asian country of about 50 million people that was
formerly known as Burma, has been under military rule in one form or
another since 1962, when General Ne Win staged a coup that toppled a
civilian government. The current junta, formed in 1988, threw out the
results of a democratic parliamentary election in 1990 that was
overwhelmingly won by the party led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the
daughter of Aung San, one of the heroes of the nation's independence
from the British Empire in 1948.

The junta has weathered popular unrest in 2007, which it put down
violently, and the death and destruction unleashed by Cyclone Nargis
in 2008. A multiparty election, the country's first since 1990, is
planned for 2010 and the generals are hoping to gain a measure of
international legitimacy.

Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi, a 1991 Nobel laureate, has been under house
arrest for most of past two decades. She remains powerful symbol for
the pro-democracy movement in her nation.

After six decades of independence from Britain, much of that time
marked by civil war, Myanmar is still a long way from controlling all
of its borders. Karen militants continue to occupy camps along the
Salween River, north of the border with Thailand. The Kachin and Wa
ethnic groups, among others, have troops stationed on the border with
China.

An Uprising Crushed

In August 2007 a decision by the government to sharply raise fuel
prices led to street protests. After small demonstrations by students,
the situation turned more serious when large numbers of Buddhist
monks, who are widely revered, joined in. Some monks chanted "Release
Suu Kyi." Over 100,000 participated in processions led by the monks,
who marched to the gate of Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi's home where she
greeted them. It was the first time she had been seen in public for
four years.

The resulting government crackdown, witnessed abroad in smuggled
photographs and on videotape, drew worldwide condemnation. Although
the government acknowledged the deaths of a dozen people, the United
Nations said it confirmed at least 31 deaths.

Cyclone Nargis

On May 3, 2008, Cyclone Nargis ripped through the Irrawaddy Delta and
Myanmar's main city, Yangon. Nearly 85,000 people died and 54,000 are
still listed as missing.
The cyclone was one of the deadliest storms in recorded history. It
blew away 700,000 homes in the delta. It killed three-fourths of the
livestock, sank half the fishing fleet and damaged a million acres of
rice paddies with seawater. The magnitude of the disaster forced the
regime to react to outside pressure. The secretive and xenophobic
junta, which fears an invasion by Western powers, agreed to accept air
shipments of foreign aid after international outrage at their initial
failure to help victims.

The Junta Prepares for Elections

In May 2009 Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi was charged with violating the terms
of her house arrest after a bizarre event in which an American man
swam across a lake and spent two days at her villa, claiming that he
had come to save her from assassination. A court sentenced her to 18
months of additional house arrest, ensuring that she would remain in
detention, with limited communications, through a parliamentary
election that is scheduled for 2010.

A successful offensive against the Karen militants in June 2009
brought the Myanmar junta closer to its goal of national consolidation
before the elections. The junta said the multiparty election will
usher in the first civilian government in almost five decades.

Obama Administration Response

In September 2009, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said
that the United States would pursue engagement but maintain the
economic sanctions that have been put in place to punish the
government of Myanmar for its human rights abuses and restrictions on
political freedom.

The shift in policy was the result of a review that was first
announced by Mrs. Clinton in February when she said neither the
sanctions imposed by Western countries nor the “constructive
engagement” of Myanmar’s Asian neighbors had succeeded in affecting
the government’s behavior.

It represented the most significant modification of administration
policy toward Myanmar in decades. But analysts said it was likely to
face opposition in Congress, where many members strongly support an
unflinchingly antagonistic approach to the junta.
*************************************************************
New York Times -  Thai Border on Guard for Drugs From Myanmar
By THOMAS FULLER
Published: November 6, 2009

FANG, Thailand — The heroin and methamphetamine traffickers carry
assault weapons and walk briskly through the night, crossing the
border in small groups and traveling down a spider’s web of footpaths
and dirt roads.

So says Ja Saw, a wiry man in his 20s who should know: Two years ago,
he was one of them.

Mr. Ja Saw spent a year in a Thai prison for trafficking. Now he works
as an undercover agent for the Thai military. In his native Myanmar,
where he travels periodically to glean intelligence, he is known by
another name.

“They would kill me immediately if they knew I was a spy,” Mr. Ja Saw,
who is from the Wa ethnic group, said in an interview at a remote
location several kilometers from the Myanmar border.

Thailand’s northern borderland region is ground zero in the country’s
efforts to interdict the tons of illicit drugs manufactured in the
freewheeling northern reaches of Myanmar. Thailand is also the main
international gateway for heroin bound for the streets of Tokyo, Hong
Kong, Sydney and other major cities in the region, counternarcotics
officials said.

Sending the drugs through China would be the most geographically
direct route to Hong Kong, Tokyo and other points north. But the Thai
and United States counternarcotics authorities said they believed that
most of the drugs move south through Thailand.

“It’s more convenient,” said a senior Thai police official, who
estimated that around 90 percent of illicit drugs produced in northern
Myanmar come through Thailand, sometimes via Laos or down the Mekong
River. He did not want to be quoted by name because of the sensitivity
of the topic.

Economic development in Thailand has facilitated trafficking,
officials said, because evading the police is easier through the
growing network of roads leading to Bangkok and places farther south,
including Malaysia.

The armed ethnic groups in northern Myanmar such as the Wa and Kachin
are wary of antagonizing China because of their reliance on the
Chinese for cross-border business and, in years past, weapons.

“Since the early 1990s, the Chinese have delivered very stern
warnings: Send your powder anywhere else but here,” said Michael
Black, an expert on the Wa and a security writer for Jane’s
Intelligence Review. The ethnic groups, he said, “can’t afford to
anger the Chinese.”

China stepped up pressure on the Wa to shut down trafficking routes
across the mainland in the late 1990s when H.I.V. was identified as a
growing problem spread in large part by intravenous heroin users.

The illicit drugs produced near the Chinese border take a circuitous
route, often shipped down to the southern stronghold of the United Wa
State Army, a group that the Thai and American governments say is
responsible for the lion’s share of the drug trade in Myanmar. Wa Army
camps, perched on hilltops like fortresses from another era, are
visible from the Thai side of the border.

The drug trade has helped turn the poorly delineated border between
Myanmar and Thailand into a treacherous killing zone.

An increase in trafficking this year, related to tensions between the
Myanmar military and the Wa, has left 15 suspected traffickers dead in
the Fang area alone, said Master Sgt. Somsak Taengorn, a member of a
plainclothes counternarcotics unit. Some of those killed were wearing
Wa Army uniforms, he said.

The drugs are often stored near the border and divided into parcels.
But traffickers are so worried that the drugs will be pilfered by
their competitors that they put them in unusual storage facilities.
“Sometimes they dig a hole and bury it,” Sergeant Somsak said.

The drug trade here is lucrative, and Sergeant Somsak said many
families in otherwise impoverished areas have brand-new pickup trucks
and nicely furnished houses made of sturdy materials.

Two years ago, Mr. Ja Saw was paid 10,000 baht, about $300, to carry
20,000 methamphetamine tablets, known in Thailand as ya ba, or “crazy
drugs.” He dropped off the drugs at a Thai village and was paid on
arrival. On his third trafficking run, he was ambushed by the Thai
military and arrested.

Once delivered to the Thai side, the drugs are sent to Bangkok, to the
resort island of Phuket (where yachts are sometimes used to smuggle
the drugs to other countries) and to the provinces bordering Malaysia,
depending on the final destination.

The drugs are shipped using a variety of ruses, some of them creative,
some more pedestrian. Often they are packed inside shipments of corn,
lettuce or other agricultural goods, Sergeant Somsak and other
officials said. In May 2008, Sergeant Somsak helped seize thousands of
methamphetamine pills packaged in condoms and hidden in the vaginas of
eight hill-tribe women who tried to board a plane for Bangkok before
they were arrested.

In September, a Taiwanese trafficker was arrested in Thailand with
boxes of bicycle pedals stuffed with heroin.

The strangest smuggling scheme? Manachai Pongsanae, commander of a
checkpoint on a major road in northern Thailand, remembers stopping a
woman in her 50s with methamphetamine tablets wrapped in plastic and
secreted inside a packet of fermented fish paste.
*************************************************************
Nov 7, 2009
Asia Times Online - US gives Myanmar a tentative embrace
By Brian McCartan

BANGKOK - Senior United States representatives returned from a two-day
fact-finding trip to Myanmar on Thursday without any major
breakthroughs, but then they were not planning on any. In Myanmar, the
United States appears to be opting for a long-term strategy of
dialogue leading to gradual improvements in rights and democracy
rather than demands for instant change.

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, US ambassador to the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Scot Marciel, stressed
the need for dialogue within Myanmar. At the same time, he expressed
little confidence in next year's planned general elections and
emphasized that the US will continue to use sanctions as a powerful
tool in its diplomacy.

Despite the wishful thinking that accompanies high-level diplomatic
visits to Myanmar, the November 3-4 visit by Marciel and US Assistant
Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell
was designed to be "exploratory". The visit aimed at explaining the
Barack Obama administration's new policy on Myanmar to various parties
involved, including the government, democratic opposition and ethnic
groups.

The US delegation met several ministers and government officials,
including Prime Minister Major General Thein Sein, Foreign Affairs
Minister Nyan Win, Minister for Information Brigadier General Kyaw
Hsan and Minister of Science and Technology U Thaung. It was also
allowed to hold separate meetings with ethnic representatives, and
central committee members of the National League for Democracy (NLD),
as well as its general secretary, detained opposition leader Aung San
Suu Kyi.

The visit built on the US announcement in September of a new pro-
engagement policy. An initial exchange occurred on the sidelines of
the opening of the UN General Assembly in New York on September 29
between Campbell and U Thaung. During the recent discussions,
according to Marciel, it was made clear to both the nation's military
leadership and the opposition that despite the new emphasis on
diplomatic engagement the US stance on Myanmar remains unchanged.

Marciel also stated that the new policy has not changed the US
commitment to a peaceful, prosperous, stable, unified and democratic
Myanmar that respects the rights of it citizens. He said the US is
hoping that diplomatic engagement will lead to greater dialogue
between the government, the democratic opposition and ethnic groups,
resulting in change from within. The US, Marciel said, "is willing to
move ahead but there must be progress in the country".

Marciel stressed the need for dialogue between the regime, the
democratic opposition and the ethnic groups to move any process
forward. "Fundamentally, the problem is a lack of inclusive dialogue,"
he said. Dialogue should lead to national reconciliation and a fully
inclusive political process that should allow for Suu Kyi to be free
to meet with her party and others, he said.

Linking dialogue to next year's scheduled general elections, Marciel
said he would not consider the elections credible or legitimate
without an inclusive dialogue and the participation of key parties
from the annulled 1990 elections. Although Marciel said the US does
not yet have a position on next year's election, he also made it clear
on several occasions during the press conference that without the
opposition, the elections would not be considered credible "no matter
how they were conducted". Marciel said the government "could lose a
huge opportunity if the elections are not inclusive".

The ruling military junta's notion of inclusiveness has proven to be
selective. Although the US delegation was allowed to meet some of the
ethnic-based political parties, including the Shan Nationalities
League for Democracy, Arakan League for Democracy and the Mon National
Democracy Party, none of the large groups that have ceasefire
agreements with the government, or the so-called national race
leaders, were invited.

Instead of the United Wa State Army or the Kachin Independence Army -
both of which have thousands of armed soldiers and large areas under
their control, as well as the general support of their populations -
the Americans were met by Kachin, Pa-O, Karenni and Karen who, except
for the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), number only in the
hundreds and are hardly representative of their ethnic groups. Those
groups, however, have agreed to go along with the junta's plan to
incorporate ethnic armies into a border guard force while political
wings from the ethnic groups compete in the elections.

The NLD won the 1990 elections in a landslide, but the regime annulled
the results claiming a constitution must first be drafted. That
constitution was finally "approved" in what was widely viewed as a
rigged national referendum last year. The US and dissident groups have
repeatedly voiced disapproval of the new constitution. Myanmar's main
opposition party has said it wants an amendment of the constitution
before it is willing to take part in the 2010 elections. Marciel said
this again showed the need for dialogue.
Sanctions debate
There has been much contention that the US may be moving towards
dropping economic sanctions against Myanmar that were first imposed in
the late 1990s, in a bid to counterbalance China's influence in the
country. However, Marciel yesterday reaffirmed the US's stance that
sanctions remain a valuable tool in dealing with the regime. His
statement was tempered by acknowledgement that sanctions had not
worked.

This echoes statements made by both Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
and Campbell during the announcement of the new policy and in hearings
before the US Senate on September 30 and the House Foreign Affairs
Committee on October 21. The US has also made it clear in previous
statements that it reserves the right to increase sanctions should
Myanmar's rulers increase their repression, as they did during the
violent crackdown on anti-government demonstrators in September 2007.

In announcing the policy, Campbell said that sanctions would remain in
place until concrete progress is made towards democratic reform.
Although a direct line has not been drawn, it is clear that if the
regime wants any movement on the removal of sanctions it will have to
open serious talks with both the democratic opposition and the ethnic
minority groups.

Marciel noted that new armed offensives against ethnic minority groups
would be a step in the wrong direction. However, he did not say
whether renewed attacks on groups active along the Chinese border
would necessarily warrant increased sanctions.

The Myanmar army was involved in attacks on ethnic Karen insurgents in
eastern Myanmar in July and carried out an offensive against the
ethnic Kokang in August that resulted in some 35,000 refugees fleeing
to China.

America's dialogue, of course, is not based solely on improved human
rights and nudging the generals towards an inclusive political process
and democracy; it also aims to check growing strategic cooperation
between Myanmar and North Korea and the strong inroads China has made
in the country.

Marciel reiterated that reports of military and nuclear cooperation
between Myanmar and North Korea necessitated a need for information
sharing and dialogue. The US previously thanked Myanmar for turning
back a North Korean cargo ship in July carrying probable military
hardware in violation of United Nations resolutions.

China's involvement in Myanmar received no mention during the press
conference. However, many security analysts believe that a new
emphasis on countering Chinese influence in Southeast Asia may be
behind the US's engagement gambit with Myanmar.

Some China watchers have commented that there is a belief among some
Chinese officials that the August meeting between US Senator Jim Webb
and Myanmar leaders may have motivated the assault on the Kokang later
that month. Although that was unlikely, Chinese officials are worried
that engagement with the US could empower the junta to take less
notice of Chinese concerns.

Myanmar's generals have so far appeared eager to engage with the US,
but it is unclear yet how far that will go. Since the US policy
announcement in September, there has been plenty of saber-rattling in
the north of Myanmar to force ethnic ceasefire groups to agree to the
border guard force plan. This plan, however, threatens to push Myanmar
back into a large-scale civil war, even at the risk of angering China,
which has supported the ceasefire groups.

In eastern Myanmar, Karen relief officials claim army operations have
resulted in the displacement of 2,500 Karen villagers since early
October. Speculation is rife along the Thai-Myanmar border of another
offensive by the Myanmar Army and its ally the DKBA later this year
against Karen guerillas.

There has also been little movement on the political front. Around
7,000 prisoners were released in August, but only about 200 had been
detained for political offenses. According to the Thailand-based
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) the total number
of political prisoners has increased by forty-nine in the past month
to 2,168.

Also, Suu Kyi, although allowed to meet several foreign diplomats and
the American delegation, remains under house arrest. An offer by the
junta this week to allow her to meet with her NLD party was declined
since the party's chairman, U Tin Oo, also under house arrest, would
not be allowed to attend.

Marciel claimed that while the Obama administration's new engagement
with Myanmar has been criticized partly on the basis of past failed
diplomatic efforts, the US was going into the process under "no
illusions". He said the US could either not try at all and maintain a
policy based largely on sanctions, or try discussions but with a clear
eye to the failures of the past.

He said he expected a "series of conversations" between US and Myanmar
officials to take place in the future. Initial discussions have been
carried out by Campbell and Marciel, but US legislation introduced in
2007 and known as the Tom Lantos JADE Act calls for the appointment of
a special envoy to Myanmar.

The envoy has yet to be named; Marciel indicated that the process was
in hand. He made it clear that Secretary of State Clinton would not
meet Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein on the sidelines of the
upcoming APEC summit in Singapore later this month, without ruling out
lower level meetings. The summit will also be attended by Obama.

Marciel said talks with Myanmar were in their early days and he
refused to speculate on their impact on future actions of the regime.
"It will take time to see how they respond," he said. "I don't want to
predict progress."

With the 2010 elections only months away and the NLD's participation
doubtful, and threatening postures being taken against the ethnic
groups, immediate progress seems unlikely in the near future.

Brian McCartan is a Bangkok-based freelance journalist. He may be
reached at bria...@comcast.net.
*************************************************************
New Straits Times - Myanmar woman pleads not guilty to bribery
2009/11/06

JOHOR BARU, Fri: A Myanmar woman pleaded not guilty in the Sessions
Court here today to offering a RM862 bribe to a police officer last
April.

Mariyam Hatu Nur Ahmad, 33, who is six-months pregnant and residing in
Kulaijaya, is charged with offering the bribe to ASP Roslan Abdullah,
from the Narcotics Crime Investigation Division, Kulaijaya, as an
inducement for him not to detain her husband, S. Murugan @ Mohd Ali
Abdullah, for a drug offence.

The offence was allegedly committed in front of the Al-Raudah Mosque,
Jalan Saleng, Kulaijaya, about 10.20am on April 19 this year.

Judge Ab Rahmad Adol set bail at RM3,000 in one surety and fixed Jan
12 for mention.

Prosecuting officer from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Mohd
Taufik Khamis prosecuted.
*************************************************************
Storm-hit regions in Myanmar return to normal, Myanmar official media
www.chinaview.cn  2009-11-06 12:02:55

YANGON, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar official media claimed on Friday
that the country's storm-hit regions have returned to normalcy within
one year after these regions were struck by cyclone Nargis in early
May last year, citing the hardest-hit Ayeyawaddy delta areas.

"The government made utmost efforts for enabling storm-ravaged regions
to enjoy new conditions and new life and to stand on their own
strength," said the New Light of Myanmar.

The newspaper also said the state is placing emphasis on the
development of agricultural, fishery, marine and transport sector of
seaside regions and has built necessary infrastructural buildings
including transport ones in order that rescue and relief tasks can be
launched in time if there is natural disaster.

It disclosed that a total of 20 cyclone shelters are being built in
the areas of Letkhokkon, Phyapon, Pathein and Laputta, saying that
these cyclone shelters are designed to be used as schools in normal
times, and in times of natural disaster they can be used as shelters.

Over the last four days since Monday, Myanmar top leader Senior-
General Than Shwe, who is Chairman of the State Peace and Development
Council, made an inspection tour to view the progress of
rehabilitation and reconstruction in storm-ravaged regions of the
Ayeyawaddy delta covering areas of Bogalay, Phypon, Laputta, Pinsalu,
Mawlamyinegyun, Haigyigyun, Pathein and Hinthada, and arrived in
Yangon on Thursday evening.

Deadly tropical cyclone Nargis hit five divisions and states -
Ayeyawaddy, Yangon, Bago, Mon and Kayin on May 2 and 3 last year, of
which Ayeyawaddy and Yangon inflicted the heaviest casualties and
massive infrastructural damage.
*************************************************************
World Security Network - Pakistan, Myanmar, Bangladesh look at nuclear
option
written by: Priyanka Bhardwaj, 05-Nov-09

NEW DELHI: Some call it the bandwagon effect, the impact of India’s
growing nuclear energy program, is being felt in neighboring
countries, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Post the signing of the Indo-US civil nuclear deal last year and other
international approvals, India has announced major nuclear energy
generation initiatives backed by countries such as France, Russia,
Japan, apart from America.

Given the paramount space that India occupies in the South Asian
region, others nations are following suit, though not without
misgivings by the global community that dual use nuclear technology
could be pilfered for clandestine nuclear weapons programs.

India has drawn a mid-term plan to generate 25,000 MW of nuclear power
and wants it to be an important cog in the energy mix that is skewed
towards coal based thermal power.

While India’s nuclear energy business is estimated over US$100
billion, some observers say that Bangladesh, Myanmar and Pakistan
could account for more than US$30 billion, if the plans are
implemented.

US companies such as General Electric and Westinghouse Electric,
Japan’s Toshiba and Hitachi, France’s ‘Areva’, and Russia’s atomic
energy agency ‘Rosatom,’ are among the top players seeking to play
their part.

Bangladesh

Bangladesh has been looking at nuclear energy for sometime now.

Although it was almost five decades back that the first initiative to
install a nuclear power plant was taken in Bangladesh there are signs
of substantial progress now, with the help of countries such as China,
South Korea, Russia, India and America.

Unlike India and Pakistan, Bangladesh is a signatory to the Non
proliferation Treaty (NPT) and feels that it has every right to pursue
nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

The country has decided to build a 600-1000MW nuclear power plant at
Roopur in Pabna by 2015 to meet acute electricity shortages that cause
frequent riots. There is political and popular support for the plant.

The plan has been approved by the International Atomic Energy
Commission (IAEA), the global nuclear watchdog.

Dhaka has sought the help of Russia.

In May 2009, the two countries concluded a MoU to build the Pabna
nuclear plant. Scientists from Russia’s Rosatom atomic energy agency
are scheduled to visit the site from October, as per reports.

The plant will cost up to US$2 billion, with South Korea also offering
to finance a part of the project.

Bangladesh and China signed an agreement in 2005 for cooperation in
exploration of nuclear materials and construction of a new nuclear
power plant.

Last year, Pakistan offered to help Bangladesh in its nuclear energy
efforts, though the country is not a signatory of NPT.

Bangladesh has also secured a grant from IAEA to train 40 personnel.

Pakistan

Pakistan was not offered a nuclear deal by America due to its record
of sheltering terrorists and nuclear know how pilferage to countries
such as North Korea, Libya and Iran that the western world views with
suspicion.

The dubious role of A Q Khan who has led Pakistan’s nuclear program in
this is well known.

However, the country, under democratic rule today is looking at the
nuclear energy option closely, given its crippling energy crisis.

China has been helping Pakistan run its main nuclear power generation
facility at Chashma in Punjab province and also build a second nuclear
power plant. The Chashma complex should thus generate 600 MW.

Recently, the Chinese foreign minister backed Pakistan’s ``right’’ to
produce nuclear energy.

Last month, Pakistan Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Assef Ahmed
Ali said that USA and Pakistan are negotiating transfer of civil
nuclear technology.

Assef Ahmed said Pakistan would welcome a civil nuclear deal with US
similar to the one offered to India.

In May this year, the Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said that
France and Pakistan had agreed cooperate on ‘nuclear energy and
safety.’
The news was initially received with a bit of surprise.

While French President Nicolas Sarkozy did not comment, a spokes
person said that Paris was ready, within the framework of its
international agreements, to cooperate with Pakistan in the field of
nuclear safety.

Myanmar

Myanmar’s nuclear efforts are viewed with suspicion due to the ruling
military junta. There are fears that the country is pushing a nuclear-
weapons program, with the support of North Korea.

In August, Indian authorities intercepted a North Korean ship
suspected to be transporting radioactive material to Myanmar. Analysts
say North Korea could be looking at Myanmar as a safe haven for its
nuclear expertise should Western forces destroy its own sites.

Yangon, however, has said that as a member of the NPT, it has the
right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, regardless of
its record on human rights.
Moscow has clarified that its nuclear cooperation with Myanmar is in
compliance the NPT and IAEA requirements.

Russian technicians are known to be helping Myanmar in the excavation
and refining of uranium in 10 locations apart from ``teaching
plutonium re-processing.’’
In 2007, Rosatom, tried to help Myanmar set up a 10 MW nuclear
reactor.

Indonesia has also aired its support to Myanmar in its nuclear energy
program for civilian use.

(Priyanka Bhardwaj is a journalist based in New Delhi. She can be
reached at priyanka2...@yahoo.co.in)
*************************************************************
The Irrawaddy - Burmese Rally against Then Sein in Tokyo
By SAW YAN NAING - Friday, November 6, 2009

About 200 Burmese dissidents demonstrated outside Japan’s Parliament
House in Tokyo on Friday, the second of three planned protests against
Burma’s military government during a visit by Prime Minster Gen Thein
Sein who arrived in the Japanese capital on Thursday to attend the
first Mekong-Japan Summit.

Burmese pro-democracy demonstrators also launched a protest outside
the New Otani Hotel, where the Burmese premier is staying during the
summit.

Ko Ko Aung, a Burmese dissident living in Tokyo, said that the aim of
the protest was to decry the upcoming election in Burma as a
government ploy to hold onto power in accordance with the sham 2008
constitution.

“We want to give a message to the Japanese government that we don’t
accept the 2010 election or the junta’s Constitution. So, they should
not support the Burmese military government,” he said.

Ko Ko Aung called for the Japanese government to investigate the
details of the current political situation in Burma. Japan’s support
of the Burmese regime will not help the Burmese people, he said.

He said that the demonstrators have also scheduled a protest outside
the Burmese embassy in Tokyo, which Thein Sein will visit on Friday
evening.

Jeff Kingston, the director of Asian Studies at Temple University
Japan Campus, told The Irrawaddy on Friday that Japan wants to step up
human security efforts in the region and sees the Mekong-Japan Summit
as a vehicle for doing so in a coordinated way.

“Japan will promote human security, natural disaster alleviation,
pandemic control and climate initiatives for the nations along the
Mekong,” he said. “It is a safe way for limited engagement with Burma
that allows the [Japanese] government to plausibly deny re-engaging
while at the same time getting some traction in Burma.”

Kingston noted that Japan’s new prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, and
Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada were both well-informed about and
sympathetic to the plight of the Burmese and political prisoners and
said the current government has expressed stronger support for human
rights than previous administrations.

Burma is a member of the six-country Greater Mekong Subregion -
Economic Cooperation Program, along with Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam,
Laos and China.

Japan is traditionally Burma’s largest donor nation.

Japan has invested US $216.76 million in 23 projects since 1988,
according to a Xinhua news agency report on Thursday.
*************************************************************
The Irrawaddy - US Mission's Meeting with Burmese Ethnics Signals
Hope
By MARWAAN MACAN-MARKAR / IPS WRITER
Thursday, November 5, 2009

BANGKOK — The United States government's diplomatic foray into
military-ruled Burma made early inroads into an area sealed off to
United Nations envoys in recent years—meeting the country's oppressed
ethnic minorities.

"We met with seven to eight representatives of ethnic minority groups
in Rangoon," Scot Marciel, US deputy assistant secretary of state,
said Thursday during a meeting with diplomats, academics and
journalists at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University. "They expressed
their concerns about (the 2010) elections and how the government will
treat them militarily."

"We are committed to begin a dialogue with the government, the
(Burmese) opposition and ethnic groups," added Marciel, shortly after
he and US assistant secretary of state Kurt Campbell ended a two-day
visit to Burma, also known as Myanmar. "The purpose of such dialogue
is to move towards national reconciliation."

The visit by Campbell and Marciel, from Nov. 3 to 4, was the first in
14 years by high-ranking officials from Washington. Madeline Albright,
then US ambassador to the UN, was the last to do so in 1995.

The US government's approach towards Burma is in keeping with the new
tone in Washington under President Barak Obama's administration.
Engagement with oppressive regimes to spur political change is one
pillar. It is a contrast to the policies of the former US
administration under George W Bush, where a tough line was the norm.

Yet the Obama administration will follow the Bush position on the
punitive economic sanctions that Washington has imposed on Burma since
the mid-1990s. "We would maintain the existing sanctions pending
progress," said Marciel.

Marciel played down high expectations of change so early in an
"exploratory mission," which also resulted in meetings with Aung San
Suu Kyi, Burma's opposition leader, who has spent over 14 years under
house arrest, and with Burmese Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein.

"We are going into this with eyes wide open. We do not have any
illusions," said Marciel, whose delegation did not meet Burma's all-
important strongman, Senior General Than Shwe. "We did not anticipate
our trip to Burma would solve all of Burma's problems."

But the encounter with representatives of ethnic minorities—who
account for nearly 40 percent of the Southeast Asian nation's 56
million population and occupy 57 percent of the land area—is winning
early praise as a "sign of hope." The hour-long meeting in Burma's
former capital included representatives from the ethnic Shan, Chin,
Mon, Arakan and Kachin.

"It was an important meeting for us; we are very hopeful,” said Chin
Sian Thang, spokesman for the United Nationalities' Alliance (UNA), an
umbrella group representing 12 ethnic political parties. ”We have
never had a meeting like this before.”

"For the last two years we were prohibited from meeting UN envoys,"
added the spokesman, a member of the Chin ethnic minority, during a
telephone interview from Rangoon. "This is a sign of hope that we can
pursue national reconciliation that involves our communities."

The last UN envoy permitted by the oppressive Burmese junta to meet
ethnic representatives of significance was Razali Ismail, a former
Malaysian diplomat. But his successor as the UN special envoy to
Burma, Nigerian diplomat Ibrahim Gambari, has been barred from such
encounters since he took over the job in late 2006.

The ethnic grievances that were discussed with the U.S. envoys ranged
from Burma's 2008 constitution, approved during a flawed referendum,
and a planned election in 2010 to the pressure by the junta for the
armed ethnic groups to be reduced to border guards under the wing of
the country's powerful military.

"We said we do not agree with the 2008 constitution because the
referendum was a sham," Chin Siang Thang revealed. "The new
constitution does not have a single article that offers protection of
ethnic groups."

"Political reconciliation in Burma leading up to next year's election
must include ethnic minorities," said Soe Aung, spokesman for the
Forum for Democracy in Burma, an umbrella group of Burmese political
exiles. "We have always made this case to the UN and to other foreign
envoys."

Denying ethnic minorities a place at the 2010 poll "will undermine the
military regime's need towards legitimacy," added Soe Aung in an
interview. "At the last general elections in 1990, which the regime
refused to recognize, the ethnic parties won 67 seats in the
parliament."

Burma's patchwork of ethnic communities offers a daunting challenge to
Washington's diplomatic adventure.

The country has over 130 ethnic communities, the largest of them being
the Chin, Kachin, Karen, Mon, Rakhine and Shan, who have been victims
of gross human rights violations perpetrated by the Burmese military.

Burma's military has been waging wars with ethnic rebel groups since
it gained independence from the British colonizers in 1948. Ceasefire
agreements have been signed by 17 rebel groups two decades ago, while
five of the larger separatist rebels, like the Karen, have refused to
cave in to the junta's quest to bring the country under its complete
control.

"Ethnic relations have been an incredibly complex issue," says Thant
Myint-U, a Burmese historian who authored the widely acclaimed book
The River of Lost Footstep. "It will be central in any reconciliation
process."

The meeting with ethnic representatives during this first US mission
reveals that "the US administration is mindful of this," Thant told
IPS. "It will be a challenge to address the ethnic grievances and
ending the armed conflicts."
*************************************************************
Mizzima News - Additional charge against Burmese-American
by Mungpi
Friday, 06 November 2009 20:24

New Delhi (Mizzima) - A new charge was added to the existing ones
against Burmese born American, Kyaw Zaw Lwin (alias) Nyi Nyi Aung by a
district court in Rangoon on Friday, his attorney said.

Kyaw Zaw Lwin, who was charged with fraudulence and forgery under
article 420 and 468 of the Criminal Code, has been additionally
charged under the Foreigner Exchange Regulation Act Section 24, his
lawyer Kyi Win told Mizzima.

“We don’t yet know the details of the new charge against Nyi Nyi Aung.
We don’t know for what reason this charge has been added,” Kyi Win
said.

The Burmese born American was arrested on September 3, on arrival at
the Rangoon international airport and has been detained since then. He
was later charged for fraudulence and forgery – cheating the
immigration and possessing a fake Burmese national identity card.

While he was charged and was being tried by the Minglardon Township
court, whose jurisdiction covers the Rangoon International airport,
last week authorities transferred his case to the Southern District
Court without any official reason given.

Kyi Win last week told Mizzima that while transferring the case is not
out of procedure, he expressed his fear that the District court, which
is a step higher than the Township court, would add extra charges.

“We will be collecting the files of Nyi Nyi Aung from the district
court next week. Only then we will know about the additional charge,”
Kyi Win said, adding that the court has scheduled the next hearing of
the prosecution witness for November 13, Friday.

“Today we heard testimonies of the two witnesses, who had testified in
the Township court. Because the case is not being handled by a new
judge, the trial is required to start all over again,” Kyi Win added.

According to his attorney, if found guilty, Nyi Nyi Aung could be
sentenced to 14 years in prison, seven each on charges of fraudulence
and forgery. But Kyi Win said he still does not have any idea what the
new charge is all about.

Nyi Nyi Aung was a student activist in the 1988 nation-wide uprising.
But he fled from Burma for neighbouring Thailand in the wake of the
ruling junta’s crackdown on protesters. He later resettled in the
United States, where he was naturalized as a citizen.

His mother and sister are currently serving prison terms for their
political activism.
*************************************************************
Mizzima News - Junta’s projects destroy lives, environment: report
by Mungpi
Thursday, 05 November 2009 20:58

New Delhi (Mizzima) – The Burmese military junta’s so-called
developmental projects including dam constructions, gas explorations
and mining of natural resources have severely  harmed the environment
and caused mass relocation, uprooting communities, a new report said.

A new report by a coalition of Environmental Groups, Burma Environment
Working Group (BEWG) said the natural environment in Burma has been
severely affected by the junta’s developmental projects and caused
mass relocation, generating refugees and internally displaced people
(IDPs).

The report: “Accessible Alternatives: Ethnic Communities’ Contribution
to Social Development and Environmental Conservation in Burma”,
reveals the harsh impacts inflicted on the environment and the
livelihoods of ethnic people by junta’s current development goals.

Saw Paul Sein Twa, a spokesperson for the BEWG, on Thursday told
Mizzima that the destruction of the natural environment in Burma is
rapid as the ruling regime continues to embark on various projects,
which they dub as developmental projects.

“The junta’s so-called developmental projects are becoming the main
source of destruction of the environment and course of human
livelihood because they are not interested in the people and the
environment but are only concerned about their benefits,” Paul said.

He said such developmental projects comes at the cost of the lives of
ethnic communities as the junta relocates villages, confiscate their
lands for the projects and cause rampant human rights violations.

“But the return from these projects are not entitled to the local
communities but are used to strengthen the military rulers,” he
added.

The report, which includes nine case studies on issues related to
natural resource management in different parts of Burma including
Arakan, Karen, Kachin and Shan States, said while each case study
describes a variety of issues, they all describe a pattern:
Communities have had their own systems of natural resource management
that supported their lives and that also ensured that the resources
were not depleted.

“But inevitably, militarization and development projects in the area
have destroyed the environment and made it impossible for the local
people to continue their traditional way of life,” the report said.

Unless there is a change in the pattern, and if the Burmese junta
continues with its rampant developmental projects, Paul said, grave
danger awaits future generations.

“The international community including neighbouring countries should
come out of the ‘macro’ aspect and look into matters in Burma in the
micro level and urge the Burmese junta to stop their ongoing
environmental destruction,” Paul said.

The BEWG, a coalition of environmental organizations and activists, in
its report takes the cases of the destruction of mangrove forests and
oil explorations in Arakan State, forest reservation in Kachin State,
logging and environmental protection in Karen state and building the
Tasang dam on the Salween river in Shan State.

“We wanted to draw attention to the knowledge and practices of ethnic
communities that ensure sustainable natural resource management,” said
Saw Paul Sein Twa.

“If we want to preserve Burma’s rich environment for our children, the
value of traditional natural resource management methods should be
recognized widely, and serious efforts should be made now to restore
them where they have been destroyed,” he added.
*************************************************************
Imprisoned female activist ‘too weak to speak’

Nov 6, 2009 (DVB)–The health of a female activist serving a five-year
prison sentence in central Burma is rapidly deteriorating, according
to family members who visited her last week.

Nemo Hlaing is one of more than 150 political prisoners in Burma
suffering from poor health, according to the Assistance Association
for Political Prisoners – Burma (AAPP).

Her sister, Su Su Hlaing, told DVB yesterday that she had been ill
since 6 October but that the family was notified only last week.

“We tried to visit her as soon as we got the telegraph on 27 October
but we could not make it there until 31 October,” said Su Su Hlaing.

The 88 Generation Students group and National League for Democracy
(NLD) party member was sentenced in June 2008 on four separate
charges.

She had initially been treated by a prison doctor but was barred from
leaving her cell. The doctor had reportedly given her antibiotics to
treat a gastric complaint but with no result.

“After three days of no improvement, the doctor changed the diagnosis
and gave her six injections for typhoid but her fever never went
down,” said Su Su Haling, whose mother had visited the prison.

“My sister doesn’t know what is happening to her; she asked the doctor
but was not given an answer. She is now too weak to speak.”

Nemo Hlaing had previously suffered from gout and heart disease, her
sister said, and the family was anxious to get her treated.

41 political prisoners were sentenced in October, bringing the total
number of detained activists, journalists, politicians and lawyers in
Burma to 2,168, AAPP said.

On Wednesday it was announced that former Burmese foreign minister Win
Aung, who had served until 2008 under the ousted prime minister,
General Khin Nyunt, had died in Rangoon’s Insein prison. The 65-year-
old is the only former government official to have died in detention.

Only basic health care is provided inside Burmese prisons, and
prisoners have complained of having to bribe doctors to give them
treatment.

Visiting family members are often the only providers of medication,
and illnesses such as diarrhea and malaria spread easily in the dirty
and humid conditions.

Reporting by Naw Say Phaw
*************************************************************
500 migrant workers sue Thai employers

Nov 6, 2009 (DVB)–Hundreds of Burmese migrant workers in a Thai border
town have filed a lawsuit against their employers for allegedly
failing to pay salaries, a migrant organisation said.

The migrant workers in Mae Sot, across the border from Burma’s eastern
Karen state, claim that employers failed to abide by regulations laid
down by Thailand’s Ministry of Labour.

“More than 500 workers from 12 factories have filed their case but the
number of complainants from each factory is as high as 185,” said Ko
Aye, workers’ affairs manager of Migrant Assistance Program (MAP)
Foundation in Mae Sot.

“This 500 is only for this year. There have been 138 similar cases
since 2001 with 2,077 workers involved. The number of women is greater
than that of men.”

In the past, workers filed their complaints at a local labour liaison
office and court, and in some cases, the judges have ruled in favour
of compensation.

Ko Aye said however that the employees had to go on trial whenever
their employers failed to fully abide by the court decision.

MAP Foundation, together with its lawyers, has been conducting
awareness education programmes for workers, focusing on responses to
arbitrary dismissals and closure of factories without prior warning.

Employees from a knitting factory in Mae Sot on Wednesday appeared in
court to testify that they had been denied wages. The employer had
agreed to compensate for six and a half months’ wages but later shut
the factories without prior notice, leaving the workers jobless.

“The complaint includes less than standard, overtime fees and weekend
charges,” a workers’ rights activist told DVB. The workers had
received only 50 Thai baht ($US1.50) out of an eligible 150 Thai baht
($US4.50).

“They should be compensated about 100,000 Thai baht ($US2,995) each
but they said they would be satisfied with 30,000 ($US900). The trial
was adjourned until 21 December.”

Around two million Burmese migrants are estimated to work in Thailand,
the majority in the agricultural, fishery and construction sectors.

According to organisations working on migrant issues, complaints about
denial of wages for migrant workers are common throughout Thailand.