BurmaNet News, March 27-29, 2004

[Editor]

March 27-29, 2004 Issue # 2445

BURMANET SPECIAL NOTE: RE: LAST WEEKS MAILING LIST SPAM

INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: KNU Returns Weapons to Burma Army
AP: Three sentenced to death in Myanmar for dealing with U.N.'s labor
organization, ILO says
Xinhua: Myanmar refutes US criticism on democracy roadmap
Yearbook of Experts, Authorities and Spokespersons (R): Aung San Suu Kyi
Meets Junta Envoys, Could Be Free By Mid-April
AFP: Myanmar leader sheds no light on democracy plans in major speech
AFP: Myanmar creates world's largest tiger reserve
JEN: Myanmar to create local language version of Windows

BUSINESS / MONEY
FEER: World Bank Eyes Return to Burma
Xinhua: Myanmar allows free trade of industrial crops
IFI-Burma/Yomiuri Shimbun: Economic growth, not blues for Mekong Delta

REGIONAL
Jiji Press Ticker Service: Myanmar Embassy Collecting "Tax" from
Myanmarese in Japan
Aids Weekly: HIV/AIDS incidence rising faster among women in Mekong region
than men

INTERNATIONAL
Irrawaddy: North Korea Offered Surface-to-Surface Missiles to Rangoon
Dawn: Myanmar lacks basic freedom, says UN

OPINION / OTHER
Boston Globe: No compromise on Burma
National Journal: Burmese Daze

STATEMENT
Burma Today, Burma Online Library: Statement by Mr. Paulo Sergio Pinheiro,
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, 60th
Session of the Commission on Human Rights, Geneva, 26 March 2004


March 29, BurmaNet

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INSIDE BURMA
___________________________________

March 29, Irrawaddy
KNU Returns Weapons to Burma Army - Aung Su Shin/Mae Sot

The Karen National Union has returned weapons to the Burma Army that were
seized during the February 23 attack by the KNU on a Burma Army outpost.

The February assault on the Burma Army’s battalion 589 in Donzayit village
in Pegu Division, about 85 miles from Rangoon, occurred hours before KNU
members were scheduled to hold ceasefire talks with the Burmese military
in Moulmein, Mon State.

The aim of returning the arms is for the promotion of our ceasefire talks
as well as to build confidence. —KNU Intelligence Chief Col Soe Soe

During the attack, weapons and radio communication equipment were seized
by KNU Third Brigade troops. The return of the seized weapons to Burmese
military intelligence officer, Lt-Col Thein Han, included 31 assorted
rifles, six machine guns, two grenade launchers, one radio and one
charger, said Col Soe Soe, the KNU intelligence chief today.

"The aim of returning the arms is for the promotion of our ceasefire talks
as well as to build confidence," Col Soe Soe said.

The attack led to the demotion of KNU operations commander Col Joe and
military intelligence officer Capt Kha Htut, for their responsibility in
the attack that occurred during the tentative ceasefire that was reached
last January.

According to Col Soe Soe, KNU leaders are expected to attend the next
round of talks in the last week of April, in which delegates will continue
to discuss the military positions of both KNU and Burma Army forces,
internally displaced persons and the possibility of a formal ceasefire.
_______________________

March 29, Associated Press
Three sentenced to death in Myanmar for dealing with U.N.'s labor
organization, ILO says – Vijay Joshi

Three people in military-ruled Myanmar have been convicted of high treason
and sentenced to death for having contacts with the U.N.'s International
Labor Organization, according to the ILO.

Representatives of the ILO met with the three men and "consider that they
have been condemned on unsound grounds and thus should be released," said
a statement from the U.N. organization on Monday.

"Under no circumstances should anyone be prosecuted for contacts with the
ILO," it said, demanding "the matter be settled by the government of
Myanmar rapidly."

The ILO has worked for years to end forced labor in Myanmar.

Officials from Myanmar's military government were not immediately
available for comment.

The three were among nine people found guilty of high treason and
sentenced to death last November, it said.

A document, posted on the ILO Web site, identified them as Min Kyi, Aye
Myint and Shwe Mahn.

ILO officials met with Min Kyi and Aye Myint at Yangon's Insein prison on
March 19 with "full cooperation" of prison authorities. The two men
described being interrogated by military intelligence officials for
several days, beaten, deprived of food, water and sleep, the document
said.

Myanmar's junta currently faces widespread international disapproval for
its poor human rights and anti-democracy record. Allegations persist that
villagers are forced to work on government projects or used as army
porters, despite banning forced labor in 1999.

In November 2000, the ILO urged its 175-member countries to impose
sanctions on Myanmar, but eased its position after reaching an agreement
with the junta last year to eliminate forced labor.

The deal was suspended at the end of May 2003, after Myanmar's government
took opposition leader and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi into custody.
She remains under house arrest.

Washington, D.C.-based EarthRights International, a human rights group,
said in a report last year the army forces villagers in eastern Myanmar to
carry supplies, act as guides, and sweep for land mines - all without pay.
_______________________

March 29, Xinhua
Myanmar refutes US criticism on democracy roadmap

The Myanmar government has refuted a criticism of the United States on its
roadmap, saying that its transition to democracy under the roadmap shall
be dealt realistically and responsibly, according to an official
information sheet available here Monday.

Myanmar made the refutation in response to recent criticism made at a US
congressional hearing which described the country's roadmap as a sham.

Myanmar announced a seven-point roadmap last August which includes
reconvening the long-adjourned national convention to draw up a new
constitution, undergoing national referendum, holding a general election
to produce parliament representatives and forming a new democratic
government.

Witnessing the horrific incidents around the world, Myanmar " has resolved
to reach its stated objective in a realistic and step-by-step manner and
to avoid falling into the same pitfalls where many new democracies and
so-called liberated nations have landed in," said the information sheet.

The information sheet maintained that slowing Myanmar's economic
development through sanctions and boycotts will not hasten the transition
to democracy.

It pointed out that "Myanmar is now at a point where a stable democracy is
achievable," citing the fact that peace has been reached with all but one
of its former anti-government armed groups and groundwork has been laid
for a market economy.

The statement added the government appreciated the interest, concerns and
opinions of Myanmar's partners in the international community,
acknowledging that their advices made in the country's transition to
democracy have been invaluable.

The official statement urged Washington "to join with us and our regional
partners in developing a peaceful, prosperous and democratic Myanmar in a
realistic and responsible way."
_______________________

March 29, Yearbook of Experts, Authorities and Spokespersons (R)
Aung San Suu Kyi Meets Junta Envoys, Could Be Free By Mid-April

Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is in good health and has been
meeting monthly with envoys sent by Prime Minister Khin Nyunt, Radio Free
Asia (RFA) reports. The Nobel laureate hopes to be released from house
arrest as early as mid-April.

"Aung San Suu Kyi is willing to work with Khin Nyunt," said Min Nyo, a
Tokyo-based Burmese activist who met with U.N. special envoy Razali Ismael
on Wednesday along with envoys from the Japanese Trade Union
Confederation. "Razali also told us that Khin Nyunt's representatives are
meeting once a month with [Aung San Suu Kyi]," he told RFA's Burmese
service.

"He also said that any new political convention would be different from
1993," when a tightly scripted and controlled convention, in which critics
of the junta were barred from speaking, left Burma's political landscape
unchanged. Both Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) and
Burma's insurgent ethnic minorities have refused to attend any new
convention along the same lines.

Razali said Khin Nyunt was considering Aung San Suu Kyi's request to be
freed from house arrest by the April 13-16 Burmese water festival, Min Nyo
said, adding that junta chairman Than Shwe would likely make the final
decision. "If everything fails--if Aung San Suu Kyi isn't freed and the
convention fails--then Razali said, the international community will not
accept this, and neither will the United Nations," Min Nyo said.

Razali met separately this month with Prime Minister Khin Nyunt and Aung
San Suu Kyi, and he said afterward that both sides were willing to work
with each other to break the political stalemate. Last August the junta
announced a seven-point "roadmap" to democracy, which included a first
step of launching a national convention aimed at drafting a new
constitution this year.

Separately, Razali had asked to meet in Tokyo with Thant Zin Oo, whose
father, NLD vice chairman Tin Oo, remains under house arrest in Burma. In
an interview with RFA's Burmese service, Thant Zin Oo denied reports that
his father had been injured in the deadly May 30, 2003 melee that followed
a junta-directed ambush of Aung San Suu Kyi's convoy. Scores of people
were killed in the clash, which led to Aung San Suu Kyi's new house arrest
order.

"Razali wanted to see me because he had met my father and he knew that I
was in Tokyo and he wanted to talk to me about his meeting with my
father," Thant Zin Oo said. "My father's health is very good--he wasn't
injured. Aung San Suu Kyi is also in good health, he added. "I asked him
if Burma would ever have democracy, and he [Razali] replied, 'Sooner or
later it will happen, but it should happen as soon as possible.'"

Tin Oo, who had been the last senior NLD figure jailed over the May clash
had been languishing in Kale prison in remote northwestern Myanmar before
he was brought back to Rangoon on Feb. 14. He is one of Aung San Suu Kyi's
chief lieutenants. Aside from Aung San Suu Kyi and Tin Oo, top NLD
officials still under confinement include party chairman Aung Shwe and
secretary U Lwin.

On March 11, the U.N. special rapporteur on Burma Paulo Sergio Pinheiro
said the May 30 attack on Aung San Suu Kyi's entourage and the ensuing
crackdown on the NLD "have been a setback for human rights" in Burma.
Earlier progress "although encouraging was not sufficient," he added.

"In order to reverse the regression, all those who have been in detention
or under house arrest since May 30, 2003 should be immediately and
unconditionally released," Pinheiro said in the report. Freedom for Aung
San Suu Kyi and other NLD leaders would allow them to participate in the
early stages of the transition process laid out by the military rulers
last year "and send a powerful signal that the (junta) is genuinely
serious about democratic transition," he added.

The report was based on Pinheiro's fact-finding mission to Burma in
November 2003 and on information received until mid-December.
_______________________

March 27, Agence France Presse
Myanmar leader sheds no light on democracy plans in major speech

Myanmar's leader highlighted the importance of the role of the nation's
military in a keynote speech Saturday, dashing hopes he would give more
details of the junta's stated plans for democratic reform.

Senior General Than Shwe had been expected to discuss the regime's
so-called "road map" to democracy during Armed Forces Day celebrations,
held under extremely tight security after last year's event was marred by
two bomb blasts.

But instead his address to 7,000 hand-picked troops taking part in an
elaborate parade stressed the need to maintain a strong and well-equipped
military to defend the nation and guide it towards development.

"Only when a nation possesses a modern defence capability will it be
possible to ensure the full protection of sovereignty," he said.

Political commentators in Yangon said the speech fell well short of
expectations and shed no further light on when the junta would begin the
first step in the road map, a national convention to draft a new
constitution.

"It was a hard-line speech reiterating the ruling military's determination
to carry on with its peoples' war strategy despite popular demand for
genuine democracy," one analyst told AFP.

There is growing speculation in Yangon and the international community
that democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was taken into detention last
May, will be freed from house arrest next month.

Thailand's government has suggested that the junta could announce a date
for the national convention at around the time of her release.

The United Nations' human rights envoy to Myanmar, Paolo Sergio Pinheiro,
on Friday stepped up pressure on the regime to free political prisoners,
saying the road map would likely fail unless they were released.

"You cannot have a national convention if people are threatened to be
detained because of what they say, you cannot have a national convention
with 1,300 prisoners," Pinheiro said in Geneva.

The United States also said Thursday the so-called democracy road map was
a sham and that Myanmar had made no progress in human rights or political
reform over the past year.

Pinheiro, who last visited Myanmar in November, said he hoped Aung San Suu
Kyi would be freed soon, and that when she was, she should be allowed to
conduct her political activities freely.

The opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) suffered a severe
clampdown after Aung San Suu Kyi and her entourage were attacked by a
junta-backed mob and detained on May 30, 2003.

The party, which won a landslide victory in 1990 general elections that
were never recognised by the ruling military, commemorated Saturday as
"Resistance Day" with plans for low-key celebrations.

The NLD anniversary marks the day in 1945 when General Aung San --
Myanmar's independence hero and Aung San Suu Kyi's father -- called on
resistance fighters to expel Japanese occupying forces.
_______________________

March 29, Agence France Presse
Myanmar creates world's largest tiger reserve

Myanmar has created the world's largest tiger reserve in an effort to
protect the habitat of its remaining 250 big cats and boost their
dwindling population, according to a report here Monday.

The military-run government has set aside 21,890 square kilometres (8,550
sq miles) of tiger habitat in Hukuang Valley in northernmost Kachin state
under a directive signed in early March by forestry minister Brigadier
General Thein Aung, the Myanmar Times reported.

The semi-official weekly said the protection followed a major survey in
1999 by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), an American
non-governmental organisation which identified the valley as an area of
rich biodiversity.

"I never would have dared think we could protect this much land," Alan
Rabinowitz, director of the WCS science and exploration program, told the
Times.

Rabinowitz said the reserve is more than twice the size of the next
biggest tiger sanctuary, in India.

"When it's properly protected, the area has the potential to hold by far
the largest number of tigers in any one place in the world," he said.

The New York-based group helped Myanmar's forest department establish a
core protected area in the valley as a wildlife park in 2001 and has been
instrumental in the creation of the tiger reserve.

Rabinowitz said tiger numbers in Myanmar have been slashed drastically in
recent years, though the country could see its numbers grow with committed
protection measures.

"If we're going to bring back tigers, the core area to bring them back is
in Myanmar," he said.

About 100 tigers are believed to live in the reserve, but it is vast
enough to hold 10 times that many, he said.

Representatives of WCS in Bangkok confirmed Rabinowitz's statements.

U Khin Maung Zaw, director of the forest department's nature and wildlife
conservation division, also said protecting habitat will lead to a surge
in tiger populations there.

"Tiger numbers can increase quite rapidly because of their physiology and
the short gestation period ... they can produce two or three young at one
time," he was quoted as saying.

Eco-tourism in the region could benefit humans and tigers alike by
bringing additional income to the area, while the presence of tourists
could reduce poaching, Rabinowitz said.

Authorities will need to enlist the support of locals, in part by offering
incentives, if the reserve is to flourish, U Khin Maung Zaw said.

Experts say commercial trade in tiger parts and meat, fueled by Chinese
consumer appetites, is the animal's number one threat. Tiger parts fetch
high prices in China where they are used in traditional medicine.
_________________________

March 29, Japan Economic Newswire
Myanmar to create local language version of Windows

Myanmar will develop the local language versions of the Microsoft Windows
operating system to boost the nation's computer literacy rate, the Myanmar
Times reported Monday.

'It will enable people in Myanmar who do not understand English to use
computer applications without a language barrier,' Thein Oo, chairman of
the Myanmar Information and Communication Technology Standardization
Steering Committee, was quoted as telling the semiofficial weekly.

A 15-member working group formed by the committee started its project to
create a Myanmar-language version of Microsoft Windows in October last
year, and it is expected to be finished by the end of this year, the
report said.

According to information technology industry estimates, there are more
than 300,000 personal computers in Myanmar, and some 30,000 are sold here
annually. Currently, Myanmar has two Internet service providers with about
20,000 subscribers.


BUSINESS / MONEY
_____________________________________

April 1, Far Eastern Economic Review
World Bank Eyes Return to Burma

The World Bank is quietly paving the way for a possible return to Burma
more than a decade after cutting ties with the military-run country. In
early March, Bangkok-based World Bank representatives visited the country
on a fact-finding trip aimed at building up a data base on Burma's social
and economic indicators, according to a senior bank official. World Bank
and International Monetary Fund officials also conducted some official
appointments in Burma last December.

The World Bank official says that due to U.S. pressure to support the
economic sanctions it has slapped on the military government for its poor
human-rights record, the financial institution is instead working closely
with Japanese and European lending agencies to plan a possible return to
Burma.

The World Bank pulled out of Burma in 1988 after soldiers opened fire on
pro-democracy supporters. The World Bank's move comes as international
pressure mounts on the military regime to reopen negotiations with
pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house
arrest. Western diplomats say the prospect of renewed multilateral aid
could be used as a carrot to push Burma's generals toward the negotiating
table.
_______________________

March 29, Xinhua
Myanmar allows free trade of industrial crops

The Myanmar government has allowed free trade of three major industrial
crops --sugarcane, cotton and rubber, aiming at raising the farmers'
enthusiasm, Myanmar Times reported Monday.

The government would no longer buy these crops from the growers nor fix
prices on them under its recent decision.

However, while rubber is allowed trading on both domestic and
international markets, sugarcane and cotton are restricted to trading on
the domestic market only, a senior member of the State Peace and
Development Council was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

The government's decision on liberalizing the trade on these three
industrial crops comes about a year after it introduced a new rice trade
policy in last April with the same aim to enhance the farmers' enthusiasm
and local entrepreneurs to boost paddy production and rice export.

Official statistics show that the government bought about 700, 000 tons of
sugarcane and 13,000 tons of cotton from the farmers annually during the
last few years.

Meanwhile, the country produces about 35,000 tons of rubber a year, of
which about 23,000 tons are exported, mainly to China, Singapore, South
Korea and Japan, the figures reveal.

As far as sugarcane is concerned, Myanmar needs about 3.7 million tons of
the crop for supply to run its 15 state-operated sugar mills at full
capacity, according to the Myanma Sugarcane Enterprise.

Myanmar cultivated 149,850 hectares of sugarcane last year, of which about
56,700 hectares were grown in the most productive areas near the mills.
The crop is mainly cultivated in Mandalay, Bago, Magway and Sagaing
divisions and Shan state.

Meanwhile, Myanmar has designated a special cotton belt area across Magway
and Sagaing divisions, and expanded rubber crop cultivation area to four
divisions and states from two to promote their respective production.
_______________________

March 29, IFI-Burma/Yomiuri Shimbun
IFI-Burma/Yomiuri Shimbun

Compiler's note:

The subject of this article is the East-West Economic Corridor (EWEC), one
of the "flagship initiatives" of the Greater Mekong Subregion economic
cooperation program, which is strongly promoted by the Asian Development
Bank (ADB).  A key goal of the EWEC is to reduce significantly travel time
and transport costs between the Andaman Sea and the South China Sea by
establishing a land route through Burma, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam.  The
ADB identifies the building of an industrial port at Mawlamyine (Moulmein)
in southern Burma on the Andaman Sea, as well as a road leading to it from
the east, eventually connecting to Da Nang on the South China Sea in
Vietnam, as a component of the EWEC.

For more information on the GMS, EWEC and Burma, see:
www.bicusa.org/bicusa/issues/status_of_burma_at_the_mdbs/index.php#adb

**********
Yomiuri Shimbun (Japan) March 24, 2004.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20040324wo12.htm

Economic growth, not blues for Mekong Delta
Junichi Fukazawa - Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

An initiative to expand an economic zone around the Mekong River basin in
the Indochina Peninsula is making progress with three highways—two running
east-west and the other north-south--expected to open in two years.

Japan and China both have strong interests in promoting the initiative to
build economic corridors along the arterial roads to boost trade and
investment in a region they consider strategically important to their
economies. But while Japan has its eye on the east-west routes, China
intends to strengthen its support for the north-south project.

Late last month, about 50 representatives of the Asian Development Bank,
Japan Bank for International Cooperation and the governments of Japan,
Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam held a conference in Savannakhet.  It
takes only about 15 minutes to get to Savannakhet from Mukdahan in
neighboring Thailand, crossing the river on a boat carrying itinerant
traders for 50 baht (about 140 yen). Although there are some vendors
selling vegetables and daily necessities, the streets are usually not
busy, like so many countryside towns in Asia.

With Japan's financial assistance of 8.1 billion yen, the construction of
a 1,600-meter-long bridge connecting Savannakhet and Mukdahan has started.
Once the construction is completed, scheduled for the end of 2006, the
port city of Da Nang in central Vietnam will be connected westward through
the Myanmar city of Mawlamyine, which faces the Indian
Ocean.
At the meeting, the participants discussed ways to enhance the economic
effects of the bridge's construction. They agreed to gradually introduce a
system that meant people using the bridge would only be subjected to
customs clearance at one checkpoint, making life easier for truck drivers
and others passing through several countries.

The Laotian government is to set up a special economic zone in
Savannakhet, which lacks industries other than mining, in an attempt to
lure foreign firms by defining the zone as a distribution center. A senior
official of the city government of Da Nang expressed hope that the
1,450-kilometer East-West Economic Corridor (EWEC) will serve as a
trigger to boost developing the economies in the region as "the new Silk
Road to connect the world by land and sea."

Japanese firms promoting businesses in Southeastern Asia also intend to
take advantage of the EWEC. As for the second East-West Economic Corridor,
which connects Ho Chi Minh City through Bangkok via Phnom Penh, there are
about 1,200 Japanese-affiliated firms in Bangkok and 250 in Ho Chi Minh
City. These firms have strong business interests in the area.

"While it takes five days by sea from Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh City, it will
take only a day by land," a senior official of the ADB's Mekong Department
said. The land route will help firms develop more efficient and
specialized operations and reorganize their production bases.

Also late last month, an inspection group from the Japanese Chamber of
Commerce and Industry in Thailand, which included officials of Toyota
Motor Corp., Sumitomo Corp., Itochu Corp. and Obayashi Corp., visited
Cambodia to investigate the feasibility of developing businesses there.  
The Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry intends to further strengthen
economic cooperation with Cambodia, where roads and other industrial
infrastructure have yet to be developed, so that an industrial belt
linking Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam can be formed. The ministry intends
to help Japanese firms diversify their investment targets, ministry
officials said.

China, for its part, has been leading development of the North-South
Economic Corridor connecting Kunming in Yunnan Province through Bangkok. 
Defining it as an important artery for southward expansion into Southeast
Asia, China has been extending financial aid to Laos. China aims to sign a
free trade agreement with the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations, and already has opened some of its own markets to
countries from the ASEAN region.

"The North-South Corridor will be the major route (for Chinese exports to
ASEAN markets) from Yunnan Province," the ADB senior official said,
adding, "China could transport goods to port facilities in Thailand, from
which the goods could be exported to nations overseas."

He Xuan, vice director of the Development Research Center, Yunnan
Province, said, "With the FTA and improved roads, the role of Yunnan as a
connecting point between China and Southeast Asia will increase."

China has announced that it plans to hold a summit meeting of the
countries around the basin in 2005. During the meeting, Beijing is
expected to propose measures to support economic cooperation and the
improvement of infrastructure, as well as increasing its economic
influence in the Indochina region.


REGIONAL
_____________________________________

March 28, Jiji Press Ticker Service
Myanmar Embassy Collecting "Tax" from Myanmarese in Japan

Myanmar's embassy in Tokyo has been collecting what it calls an "income
tax" from Myanmarese people living in Japan as conditions for renewing
their passports, informed sources told Jiji Press Sunday.

Japan's Foreign Ministry has requested the embassy to submit information
about the "tax," because it believes the practice may be in violation of
the customary international law that bans foreign institutions from
collecting taxes or engaging in other practices that infringe on the
sovereign rights of host countries.

According to the ministry, the Myanmarese embassy requires Myanmarese
residents in Japan to pay 200,000 yen in "income tax" when it renews their
passports which expired one to four years ago. The fee rises to 300,000
yen if five or more years have passed since the expiry.

The embassy issued the measure through its website Dec. 28 last year.

The step will remain in force until Tuesday. From Jan. 1 to Feb. 15, 452
Myanmarese people paid at least 95 million yen in total. The embassy has
admitted to collecting the "tax" to Japan's Foreign Ministry, which came
to know of the practice in January.

The embassy also requested Myanmarese residents in Japan to pay 10 pct of
their income or a fixed fee of 10,000 yen every month to the embassy as
"income tax," according to the Burma Office Japan, a residents' group to
promote the country's democratization.

The embassy basically rejects renewals of passports unless those payments
are made, excluding only those who have special reasons such as serious
illness.

Myanmar's other embassies in foreign countries collect such "taxes" as
part of the ruling military junta's policy of acquiring foreign
currencies, officials of the Burma Office Japan said.

The money-collection system dates back to the late 1960s, the officials
said. Japan appears to have been lukewarm toward the issue because it does
not want to worsen ties with the military junta, they said.

Jiji Press sent a questionnaire on the matter to the embassy, but it has
yet to reply to the inquiry.
_________________________

March 29, Aids Weekly
HIV/AIDS incidence rising faster among women in Mekong region than men

Women in some areas of Asia are contracting HIV infection at a faster rate
than men.

"Lack of attention to women's rights is fueling the HIV epidemic," said
Kathleen Cravero, deputy executive director of the Joint United Nations
Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), speaking at the Mekong Leaders' Consultative
Meeting on Women and AIDS on the occasion of International Women's Day,
March 8, 2004.

"More young women are becoming infected due, in large part, to a failure
to encourage sex education or condom use. Furthermore, prevention
strategies that focus exclusively on abstinence, faithfulness, and condom
use - all of which are beyond the control of most women and girls - are
obviously inadequate to protect them from HIV infection," she said. While
men still represent a majority of those infected in the Mekong region,
women are becoming infected at a much faster rate than men. Effective
prevention messages and services often do not reach young people,
particularly girls, who are the most vulnerable to HIV. Cultural
traditions can make it difficult for girls and women to access the
information and services required to protect themselves from HIV,
according to UNAIDS.

They can also exacerbate the burden of care on women.

"Women carry the burden of care for other family members with AIDS. When
women fall ill, however, they are more likely than men to suffer ostracism
in their community once their HIV status becomes known. Many lose social
protections. HIV positive mothers with infants may continue breastfeeding
from fear of being stigmatized if they stop," said Innes Zalitis, country
representative for UNICEF in Thailand.

In the Mekong River region - southern China, plus the countries of
Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam - 30% of infected adults
are women, but the numbers are rising, according to ESCAP, the U.N.
Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.

In Thailand, which has been one of the countries worst affected by AIDS,
6.9 times as many men as woman were infected with HIV in 1990, Adriana
Gomez-Saguez, a UNAIDS official, told The Associated Press. This meant
that only 12.7% of HIV infections were found among women.

But by 2003, the ratio of male to female infections had narrowed to 1.8 to
1, meaning the percentage of Thais with HIV who were women had risen to
35.7%. Gomez-Saguez said UNAIDS projects the ratio to narrow further to
1.5 to 1 by 2005, meaning that 40 out of every 100 Thais infected with HIV
would be women.

Globally, women account for half of the 40 million people living with
HIV/AIDS. In sub-Saharan Africa at the end of 2003, 58% of those living
with HIV were women and young women aged 15 to 24 were 2.5 times more
likely to be infected than young men.

The Asia Pacific region already has one country, Papua New Guinea, where
men and women are equally affected by HIV. In the 15-29 age group in Papua
New Guinea, the number of infections in women outnumbers those in men.

Women are particularly vulnerable to HIV due to insufficient access to HIV
prevention services, inability to negotiate safer sex, a lack of
female-controlled HIV prevention methods such as microbicides, and
inadequate knowledge about AIDS. In Cambodia and Vietnam, almost 50% of
the young women aged 15-24 surveyed believed they could contract HIV from
a mosquito bite, around 30% believed that HIV could be contracted by
supernatural means, and nearly 35% believed a healthy-looking person could
not be infected.

The lack of employment opportunities for women also increases their
vulnerability to HIV infection. Significant numbers of women in the Mekong
region who have limited options for income generation may engage in sex
work, heightening the risk of HIV. Even though they may be aware about HIV
and sexually transmitted infections, they are often powerless to demand
that their clients use condoms. When a brothel-based sex worker is found
to be HIV positive, she is often dismissed and loses her livelihood, with
little or no social safety net to support her.

In societies where it is common or accepted for men to have more than one
partner, wives also run the risk of being infected by their husbands. In
the Mekong region, most sexually transmitted HIV infections among women
and girls occur either inside marriage or in relationships women believe
to be monogamous.

"Studies in antenatal clinics in Thailand show that over 80% of HIV
positive women report only one sexual partner. Increasing rates of sexual
violence and rape in countries like Cambodia are also putting women at
risk," said Lucita S. Lazo, UNIFEM's regional program director.

In preparation for the Mekong Leaders' Consultative Meeting, UNIFEM,
UNICEF, and UNAIDS brought together a select group of leaders from five
countries in the region - men and women - to explore how regional and
national leaders can begin to address the complex issue of women and AIDS
in the Mekong region within the context of the community, national, and
global responses to AIDS.

The Mekong Leaders' Consultative Meeting on Women and AIDS is the first
initiative of the newly-formed Mekong Coalition on Women and AIDS, a
regional offshoot of the Global Coalition of Women and AIDS which was
launched in London in early February 2004.

This article was prepared by AIDS Weekly editors from staff and other
reports. Copyright 2004, AIDS Weekly via NewsRx.com &  NewsRx.net.


INTERNATIONAL
_____________________________________

March 28, Dawn
Myanmar lacks basic freedom, says UN  - Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA: The most disturbing indicators of the human rights situation in
Myanmar are the absence of basic freedoms and the prolonged imprisonment
of political dissidents, who in some cases have been behind bars for 14 or
15 years , said United Nations expert Paulo Sergio Pinheiro.

The UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar (as it is officially
known under the military junta) said, "There are no basic freedoms" in the
Asian country, and called for the immediate release of political
prisoners.

The report Pinheiro presented on Friday to the UN Commission on Human
Rights estimates there are 1,300 political prisoners in Burma and states
that arrests have continued this year.

Pinheiro's latest mission to Burma took place in November 2003. A request
for another visit was denied by the country's military authorities with
the argument that it would overlap with other delegations from
multilateral organizations.

Rangoon was referring to a March 1-4 visit by Malaysian Razali Ismail,
special representative of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and the mission
sent by the International Labour Organization (ILO).

Razali visited Burma as part of the mandate from the UN General Assembly
to facilitate national reconstruction and democratization in the country,
which has been in the hands of military governments since July 1988.

The ILO, meanwhile, has been assessing the military government's response
to reports that forced labour continued to take place inside its borders.

Pinheiro's mandate, meanwhile, comes from the UN's highest human rights
authority - the Commission - and forms part of the country-specific
proceedings, which in this year's six-week sessions also involve Burundi,
Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo and the occupied Palestinian
territories.

He told IPS that just a few days ago the Rangoon authorities had
communicated their willingness to receive him. "We are discussing mutually
convenient dates," he said.

The UN special rapporteur received information from envoy Razali about the
military junta's plans to convene a national convention in the latter half
of 2004 to draft a constitution.

Pinheiro said he is taking them at their word, adding, "They have started
the process, they are going ahead."

In this apparent process of democratization, the Brazilian human rights
expert underscored the importance of the Bangkok Initiative, an
international forum of support for national reconciliation in Burma, which
last December won a commitment from Rangoon to organise the national
constitutional convention.

"The Bangkok Initiative is a positive thing... but I hope that its members
will help me to demonstrate to the Myanmar authorities that it is very
convenient to include human rights requirements in the plan," Pinheiro
said.

The plan for transition to democracy, dubbed the "roadmap", was announced
in August 2003 Prime Minister Khin Nyunt.

If the political transition moves forward, "and basic freedoms begin to be
implemented," Pinheiro says he sees no reason to oppose restoring foreign
assistance for the country.

He says it would be a mistake to wait for the consolidation of democracy
before helping the country.

"If this process goes on, I think that the obstacles for engaging,
helping, supporting" Myanmar will disappear. "The main concern is the
rights of the population." I would highly recommend cooperation, "If the
government demonstrates that it is willing to engage," said the special
rapporteur.

Dawn/The InterPress News Service.
_______________________

March 26, Irrawaddy
North Korea Offered Surface-to-Surface Missiles to Rangoon - Min
Zin/Washington

The US administration has reason to believe that North Korea has offered
surface-to-surface missiles to the Burmese military regime, a senior US
State Department official said yesterday.

The official made the allegation prior to the joint hearing of the
Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific and the Subcommittee on International
Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Human Rights, held yesterday at the US
Congress in Washington.

 We have raised this issue of possible missile transfers with senior
Burmese officials and registered our concerns in unambiguous language.
—Matthew Daley, deputy assistant secretary for East Asia and the Pacific

"We have raised this issue of possible missile transfers with senior
Burmese officials and registered our concerns in unambiguous language,"
said Matthew Daley, deputy assistant secretary for East Asia and the
Pacific, who presented his testimony to both subcommittees.

Burmese officials have indicated that they have not accepted offers of the
weapons, according to Daley. He said the US administration will continue
to monitor the situation and deal with it vigorously and rapidly. "Burma
and North Korea do have a military and trade relationship," Daley said.

Daley added that the administration is aware of Burmese military interest
in acquiring a nuclear research reactor, however, he denied press reports
that suggested Burma has provided heroin in exchange for military or
nuclear technology or equipment, noting that available evidence does not
support this conclusion. "News reports of construction activities are not
well founded," said Daley.

Lorne Craner, assistant secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor,
also presented his testimony at the joint hearing, called Developments in
Burma, which condemned the worsening human rights situation in Burma.

During the hearing, Daw San San, an NLD elected MP from Burma, Thomas
Malinowski of Human Rights Watch and Veronica Martin of the US Committee
for Refugees, presented cases of human rights violations in Burma to the
panel and advocated a tougher stance on Rangoon and the renewal of current
US sanctions, which took effect in September and ban bilateral trade and
financial transactions.

Two invited representatives who support an engagement policy with
Burma—David Steinberg, director of Asian Studies at Georgetown University,
and Morten Pedersen of the International Crisis Group—explained how
tightened US sanctions are counterproductive and undermine US intended
objectives to restore democracy to Burma.

The trading of missiles between the two countries was reported in
November, 2003, when an article published in the Far Eastern Economic
Review indicated North Korea was supplying or planning to supply missiles
to Burma, possibly in exchange for heroin.

Daley told the Congressional panel that Burma’s drug trade profits could
be financing the military government.

Prior to renewed ties between the two countries, Burma and North Korea
abolished diplomatic relations in 1983, when North Korea assassinated 17
South Korean officials in Rangoon in an attempt to kill the South Korean
President Chun Doo Hwan on his visit to the country. Meanwhile,
international efforts to ensure North Korea freezes its nuclear programs
remain to be resolved.


OPINION / OTHER
_____________________________________

March 29, Boston Globe
No compromise on Burma

THE BRUTAL criminality of the military junta ruling Burma has unified
disparate elements along the American political spectrum. In hearings on
Burma held by subcommittees of the House International Relations Committee
last week, a rare solidariity among both Democrats and Republicans was on
display.

The current regime in Rangoon is complicit in narcotics trafficking,
ethnic cleansing, forced labor, gruesome abuse of ethnic minorities, and
the violent suppression of free speech and political opposition.

In response to a deliberate massacre of fellow democrats traveling last
May with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, the Bush
administration last July signed into law tough sanctions that ban imports
from Burma. The House hearings were in preparation for renewal of those
sanctions.

Without mincing his words, Lorne Craner, the State Department's assistant
secretary for human rights, told the lawmakers that notwithstanding hints
about democratization dropped by the junta's chairman,Than Shwe, and his
accomplices, the outlaw regime in Rangoon has not taken steps that would
justify the lifting of sanctions. "For all the hype about a `road map for
democracy,' nothing has changed forthe better for democracy or human
rights in Burma," Craner said.

The junta has intimated it might release Suu Kyi from house arrest in
April. This would be a gesture the people of Burma would welcome, as would
everyone around the world who cherishes human rights and democracy. Suu
Kyi narrowly escaped being killed in the assault that the regime staged
last May. Over the years she has accepted painful personal sacrifices for
the sake of democracy in Burma --without ever deviating from her devotion
to the principles of nonviolence.

As much as her compatriots long for the release of Suu Kyi, however, that
will not by itself be enough to justify the lifting of US sanctions on the
junta. Her party, the National League for Democracy, won 80 percent of the
seats in Parliament in a 1990 election -- a popular verdict the military
regime still refuses to accept. Until Than Shwe and the other uniformed
thugs on the junta complete what assistant secretary Craner called "an
irreversible transition to democracy," sanctions should remain in place.

Suu Kyi's fellow Nobel peace prize winner Desmond Tutu has written: "As in
South Africa, the people and legitimate leaders of Burma have called for
sanctions . . . To dismantle apartheid took not only commitment, faith and
hard work, but also intense international pressure and sanctions."

Tutu's wisdom should be heeded not only by Washington but also by the
European Union, which is currently considering targeted sanctions on
timber and gems, direct sources of junta revenue.

© Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.
_______________________

March 20, National Journal
Burmese Daze- Steve Hirsch

Rangoon-Burma: Burma’s regime is one of those governments that is
constantly trying to convince the world that is not the dictatorship that
human-rights groups say it is and that it is striving to bring democracy
to its citizens.  It is clear, however, that from four week’s travel in
Southeast Asia that Burma is not headed towards substantive political
reform anytime soon.

[Please click or copy/paste the link below in your browser address filed
to view the full article-Ed]

www.burmanet.org/NJ_Burma story.pdf
_______________________

STATEMENT

March 26, Burma Today, Burma Online Library
Statement by Mr. Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, Special Rapporteur on the
situation of human rights in Myanmar, 60th Session of the Commission on
Human Rights.

Mr. Chairperson, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I have the honour to introduce my report on the situation of human rights
in Myanmar. As the report was based on information received up to 17
December 2003, I would like to present it now in the light of subsequent
developments.

At the outset, I would like to inform the Commission that although I have
not been able to visit Myanmar before this session, the Myanmar
authorities have now agreed in principle to my next visit, and I am trying
to work out with the Myanmar side mutually convenient dates.

I think that it is in the best interests of Member States to be open to
fair, objective and independent assessments of the situation of human
rights in their countries and to welcome recommendations for change. It is
time that all Member States follow the example of those 49 States that
have extended standing invitations to the special procedures of the
Commission on Human Rights. A basic requirement for becoming a member of
this Commission should be to extend such an invitation and it is
regrettable that only 19 present members of the Commission have done so. I
appeal to all other members of the Commission to follow their example.

Mr. Chairperson,

I have had the honour to be the Special Rapporteur of this Commission on
the situation of human rights in Myanmar for over three years now. During
this period I have always been mindful of my main obligation never to
forget the sufferings of the voiceless victims of human rights violations
in that country. In discharging my mandate, I have always taken into
account the situation of all human rights, economic, social and cultural,
as well as civil and political, and have initiated consultation and
dialogue and built principled partnerships with all those, both inside and
outside Myanmar, who aspire to contribute to the promotion and protection
of human rights and the well-being of the people in the country.

In this report, I highlight civil and political rights in the context of
the process of political transition and democratization. I reported that
violations of human rights were carried out during the events in Depayin
on 30 May 2003 and that this constituted a setback for the overall human
rights situation in Myanmar. To reverse the situation resulting from the
Depayin attack, I call again for the immediate and unconditional release
of all those who have been detained or put under house arrest since 30 May
2003; compensation for the surviving victims and the families of those who
lost their lives; and the reopening of the offices of the National League
for Democracy (NLD).

To date, according to government figures, out of 153 people arrested in
connection with the Depayin incident, 151 have been released. I welcome
these releases. However, as I mentioned in my report, I received
information from other sources according to which there have been over 250
arrests since 30 May 2003. I therefore appeal once again to the Government
to free all those who remain in detention since their arrest after that
date for the peaceful exercise of their right to freedoms of expression,
movement, information, assembly and association. In particular, freedom of
Aung San Suu Kyi and three members of the NLD Central Executive Committee,
U Tin Oo, U Aung Shwe and U Lwin, must be restored with immediate effect.

Mr. Chairperson,

The announcement of the road map by the Prime Minister in August 2003 was
acknowledged by some members of the international community as a positive
initiative towards a process of political transition.

During my November 2003 mission, I was given to understand that the
starting point of the National Convention would be the 104 Principles that
had been developed by the previous National Convention and that all
political parties, including the NLD, would be able to participate equally
in the Convention as one of the eight eligible categories of participants
in the earlier National Convention. Moreover, the Government had
reconstituted three bodies charged with preparing the reconvening of the
National Convention. The membership of these bodies did not, however,
include any members of NLD or any other political party, or any
representatives of ethnic nationalities, at the time of their
establishment and I have received no information on any change in their
membership.

I hope that the commitments made by the Myanmar Government in Bangkok last
December at the Forum on International Support for National Reconciliation
in Myanmar regarding a time frame for the National Convention and the
details of who, other than some ethnic nationalities ceasefire groups,
will be invited to attend will be made clear without further delay. I also
hope that following my next visit I will be able to report fully on any
new developments.

With regard to the National Convention process, it should be recalled that
the historical records from the previous National Convention (1993-1996)
were documented by my predecessors. A number of fundamental human rights
requirements must be fulfilled in order to initiate a genuine process of
political transition. Delegates to the Convention should be freely chosen
and represent the full range of political parties and ethnic minority
groups, and should proportionally reflect the results of the 1990
elections. Freedom of speech and to meet others without hindrance, and to
bring in and distribute documents and other materials should be
guaranteed. Delegates should also have freedom of movement and not be
confined to their dormitories and be able to return to their
constituencies to consult during the Convention. They should not be
arrested for peaceful activities carried out in relation to the
Convention. Political parties or other groupings should not be expelled
from the Convention for what they say or advocate peacefully. Political
parties should not be deregistered or otherwise disqualified.

I stated during my November 2003 mission - and my view remains the same
today - that the implementation of the road map must also be accompanied
by real and tangible changes on the ground towards a genuinely free,
transparent and inclusive process involving all political parties, ethnic
nationalities and members of civil society. Political rights and freedoms
must be respected in order to create an enabling

environment conducive to a successful democratic transition.   The
implementation of human rights reforms proposed in my reports and letters
to the Myanmar authorities would help create such an environment.

In this regard, I continue to believe that the most urgent requirements
remain the lifting of all remaining restrictions on the freedoms of
expression, movement, information, assembly and association; the repeal of
the related "security" legislation; the reopening of NLD offices; and
allowing other political parties to open their offices. Moreover, all
political prisoners must be released immediately and unconditionally so
that they can play a positive role in the future political process of
transition; no one should be arrested or punished for engaging in peaceful
political activities. In that connection, I am disturbed by reported
arrests and sentences for such activities. For instance, since my visit
last November, a group of students have reportedly received sentences
ranging from 7 to 17 years of imprisonment for distributing leaflets
criticizing the road map and the National Convention. Nine persons were
sentenced to death for treason for allegedly conspiring to bomb government
buildings, assassinate SPDC members, having contact with political groups
in exile, and disseminating "false information" about the authorities
overseas, allegedly including through contacts with the International
Labour Organization.

I also remain concerned about continuing allegations of human rights
violations in ethnic minority areas, including Shan State. Despite my
efforts to pursue the implementation of my proposed independent assessment
in Shan State, an agreement on its proposed modalities has not yet been
reached.

I do welcome, however, the positive cooperation of the Myanmar authorities
with the International Committee of the Red Cross in ethnic minority
areas. I also welcome the recent agreement of the authorities to allow the
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) access to border
areas in the eastern part of the country, namely Karen and Mon States and
Tenasserim Division. A UNHCR presence in these areas, and its efforts to
create conditions conducive to the return of refugees, would contribute to
the national reconciliation process. Among other related positive
developments, the most notable is the resumption of peace talks between
the Government and the largest armed opposition group, the Karen National
Union. Were human rights commitments to be built into an agreement, this
process could significantly improve not only the human rights situation in
ethnic minority areas, but also the political climate throughout Myanmar.
I take note of the ILO mission to Myanmar earned out earlier this month
with a view to undertaking in the next phase a full evaluation of the
situation in the country and determining whether the conditions for the
implementation of the Joint Plan of Action initialled in May 2003 have
been met.

Mr. Chairperson,

I am convinced that this Commission must act fast to strengthen the
credibility of its special procedures. What is the value of making
recommendations if Member States neglect most of what we report or
recommend? I must confess that I have made efforts always to include in my
reports recommendations that are both concrete and realistic. I
acknowledge the cooperation of the Government of Myanmar with my mandate,
and particularly with my past six visits, during which I was granted full
access to all persons and places I requested to see. I must nonetheless
report that the implementation of my recommendations by the Government has
been limited. My earlier remarks attest to this.

I cannot continue requesting indefinitely the immediate and unconditional
release of all political prisoners. I have done so many times. Since my
appointment to this mandate, about 460 common prisoners

have been released on humanitarian grounds, mostly pregnant women or
mothers with young children, which I have welcomed. About 700 political
prisoners have also been released. This number includes also those
arrested in connection with the Depayin events. However, the number of
remaining political prisoners continues to be estimated at about 1300, and
arrests have continued in 2004. I am distressed that my numerous appeals
for the release on humanitarian grounds of elderly political prisoners
have had little impact. I renew my appeal for an immediate general amnesty
for political prisoners as the best path to pursue in building national
reconciliation.

As I stated on a number of occasions to my interlocutors in the Government
of Myanmar, improving the human rights situation in Myanmar will be a
gradual process, although, as I have outlined, there are immediate steps
that can and must be taken which would dramatically improve respect for
human rights and signal the future direction the Government is taking. I
am also aware that transition from a long military regime to a democratic
one is a difficult and painful process. But a political transition towards
democracy that does not respect human rights principles risks failure.

Mr. Chairperson,

I was encouraged to hear the observations made recently by the Special
Envoy of the Secretary-General for Myanmar. He visited the country from 1
to 4 March 2004 and indicated that Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt is
committed to implementing the road map and that he will try to make the
process as inclusive and credible as possible. If this is the commitment
of the Prime Minister, it must be welcomed. However, it is essential that
human rights elements be firmly entrenched in the political process.
Should the Government of Myanmar show more concrete signs of addressing
the existing human rights concerns, it would minimize obstacles to the
international community's engagement with the country.