BurmaNet News, October 7, 2004

[Editor]

October 7, 2004, Issue # 2575


INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Rebels to hold third round of peace talks with Myanmar junta next week

BUSINESS
Dow Jones: India's ONGC-GAIL may get 30% stake in Myanmar gas block
FN Web Daily News: Government supports planned Thai-Myanmar joint special
economic zone

REGIONAL
AP: Cambodia’s King abdicates

INTERNATIONAL
Reuters: EU to tighten Myanmar sanctions next week
Reuters: Asia-Europe forum grows, Myanmar irritates
AFP: Asia-Europe club stages controversial expansion

OPINION / OTHER
House of Representatives: Remarks by Hon. Frank R. Wolf of Virginia
International Herald Tribune: The Burmese dictatorship

______________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

October 7, Agence France Presse
Rebels to hold third round of peace talks with Myanmar junta next week

Myanmar's largest rebel group said Thursday it will hold a third round of
talks with the ruling junta next week on ending one of the world's
longest-running insurgencies.

The Karen National Union (KNU) will send an 11-member delegation led by
KNU first secretary Htoo Htoo Lay to the town of Mawlamyine next Thursday
for the talks, spokesman Nierdah Mya told AFP.

The negotiations, expected to last more than one week, would follow on
from a brief meeting in late August during which the two sides reached a
"gentleman's agreement" to extend an open-ended ceasefire.

Nierdah Mya, son of General Bo Mya who commands the KNU's military wing,
said the KNU aimed to address the relocation of troops from both sides,
the delineation of KNU territory and the fate of some 200,000 Karen
displaced by the years of bitter fighting.

"We will try to find solutions to these topics as much as we can," he said.

After a surprise December agreement to end hostilities, General Bo Mya led
a delegation on an historic trip to Yangon in January which produced a
provisional ceasefire deal.

However, the second round of talks held in February appeared to have made
little progress towards ending the insurgency.

The KNU is the largest of a handful of rebel groups still resisting
Yangon's rule. The junta estimates there are 7,000 rebels in the insurgent
group which took up arms 53 years ago.

_____________________________________
BUSINESS / MONEY

October 7, Dow Jones International News
India's ONGC-GAIL May Get 30% Stake In Myanmar Gas Block

Myanmar may allow an Indian consortium of state-run firms Oil & Natural
Gas Corp. (500312.BY) and GAIL India Ltd. (532155.BY) to buy a 30% stake
in one of its offshore natural gas exploration blocks.

"The indication from the Myanmar government is that in the A-3 block we
will be allowed to buy a stake similar to what we already have in another
offshore block in Myanmar," an ONGC official said late Thursday.

Earlier this week, the ONGC-GAIL consortium signed an agreement with South
Korea's Daewoo International Corp. (47050.SE) for the joint exploration of
the A-3 gas exploration block.

The Myanmar government is expected to ask Daewoo, which operates the A-3
block, to sell part of its stake to the Indian consortium, the official
added.

At present, geological and seismic data study of block A-3 is in progress.
New seismic data will be acquired in 2005 for firming up the prospects.

The A-3 block lies adjacent to the A-1 block, where ONGC unit ONGC Videsh
Ltd. and GAIL have a combined 30% stake. The A-1 block is estimated to
hold gas reserves of up to six trillion cubic feet.

GAIL is a state-run gas transmission utility which runs a countrywide
pipeline network of more than 5,000 kilometers, supplying gas to industry.

Indian oil and gas companies are looking overseas to supplement flagging
domestic output.

_____________________________________

October 7, FN Web Daily News
Government supports planned Thai-Myanmar joint special economic zone

The local Federation of Thai Industries in Tak province plans to push
ahead with a scheme to establish a special economic zone across the Thai
and Myanmar border after the two cities of Mae Sot and Myawaddy are
twinned.

The Thai government is scheduled to discuss making the two border towns
the basis of a special economic area when the cabinet has its mobile
meeting in Tak on 19 October, Amnart Nanthahan, the chairman of the Tak
branch of the Federation of Thai Industries.

Thai exports to Myanmar through the Mae Sot-Myawaddy border checkpoint are
expected to reach ten billion baht at the end of this year, Mr. Amnart
said.

This is much higher than at any of the other checkpoints along the Myanmar
border. If the Cabinet approves the project, there will be further
infrastructural development, including an industrial estate and a new
airport, Mr. Amnart said.

The planned economic zone is expected to help boost bilateral trade and
investment. It would also help create employment for Myanmar labourers so
that they don't have to cross into Thailand looking for work, Mr. Amnart
said.

Meanwhile, the local authorities in Thailand's border province of Mae Hong
Son plan to hold a rally to promote cross-border trade between Thailand
and Myanmar.

The rally is designed to promote a new border market in Muang district,
scheduled to be opened early next year, the provincial governor, Supoj
Laowansiri.

Although the actual date has not been set, it will be held later this year
before the Ban Huay Phueng Market opens next January, he said.

The rally’s route will run from Mae Hong Son's Muang district to Myanmar's
Doi Kor and Tong Kee provinces.

The local authorities expect the new market to help boost local
Thai-Myanmar trade ties.

Local Myanmar products will be available at the new the Ban Huay Phueng
Market, according to Phoolsak Suthornphanichkij, a member of the Thai
Chamber of Commerce and former Chairman of the Mae Hong Son Chamber of
Commerce.

In related development, Malaysian and Thai leaders are scheduled to meet
next week to discuss cooperation in the development of their common border
areas, according to the Thai Foreign Minister, Surakiart Sathirathai.

The two prime ministers will lead the talks on development at the summit
to be held on Thailand's southern resort island of Phuket between 13-14
October.

Thailand and Malaysia recently signed a Joint Development Strategy for
Border Areas (JDS), aimed at boosting the standard of living of residents
in five southern provinces of Thailand and four northern states of
Malaysia.

During the summit, the two leaders will attend a ceremony to lay the
foundation stones of a new bridge across the Kolok river, linking
Thailand’s Narathiwat province with Malaysia’s Kelantan state.

_____________________________________
REGIONAL

October 7, Irrawaddy
Cambodia’s King Abdicates

Cambodia's King Norodom Sihanouk has abdicated, citing poor health, and
asked the country to begin searching for his successor, the head of the
National Assembly said Thursday.
Sihanouk, 81, announced his retirement in a letter sent from Beijing which
his son, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, read to the legislature Thursday.

"According to the statement that I have received and just read, His
Majesty has already abdicated," Ranariddh told reporters, adding that the
news was "very regrettable and shocking for all Cambodians who love him
and regard him as sacred."

Sihanouk has repeatedly threatened to step down following inconclusive
elections in July last year, expressing frustration at squabbling between
Cambodia's main political parties.

Ranariddh said leaders of the ruling coalition planned "to beg" the king
to stay on as monarch. He said he would join Prime Minister Hun Sen and
acting head of state and ruling party leader Chea Sim in seeking
permission to visit Sihanouk in Beijing.

Sihanouk had been scheduled to return home Thursday, Ranariddh said.

Hun Sen was in Vietnam Thursday to attend a summit of Asian and European
leaders.

Ranariddh said the king's decision was prompted by a letter he received
from opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who complained that his party was being
unfairly blamed for protests scheduled to coincide with the monarch's
return to Cambodia on Thursday.

But Sam Rainsy said his letter was not to blame.

"The king is ... not a child. He cannot be influenced by anybody and be
led that easily to make such a dramatic decision," Rainsy said, calling
Ranariddh's allegation "irresponsible."

The king in Cambodia is not a hereditary title, but all candidates must
have a royal bloodline. Ranariddh could be a candidate, but has already
said he is not interested.

Sihanouk has been an influential figure in Cambodian politics for more
than half a century, leading the country to independence from French
colonialism in the 1950s.

He left Cambodia in January after trying and failing to end the months of
political feuding.
The letter from the king asked the country to form a nine-member throne
council _ as set in Cambodian law _ to choose the next monarch. Hun Sen
and other political leaders would be included in the council.

A similar statement also appeared on Sihanouk's Web site, where he often
posts handwritten messages in French about current affairs. With that
statement was a Sept. 4 letter jointly signed by Hun Sen and Ranariddh,
who are partners in the current government, proposing another prince,
Norodom Sihamoni, as the future king.

The king asked that he be allowed to step down because of his fragile
health, saying doctors have detected a "new and serious ailment" in his
stomach. The letter did not elaborate.

"I ask all compatriots to please allow me to retire," he said.

Chea Sim will remain the acting head of state until a new monarch is
selected.

Lao Monghay, legal director for the Center for Social Development, a local
group, said the king's abdication was not surprising "considering his age
and frustration over ... the political developments in the country" and
the lack of respect shown him by leaders.

"He seems to be sick and tired" of the political and economic situation
facing the country, Lao Monghay said.


_____________________________________
REGIONAL

October 7, Associated Press
Cambodia’s King abdicates - Ker Munthit

Phnom Penh: Cambodia's King Norodom Sihanouk has abdicated, citing poor
health, and asked the country to begin searching for his successor, the
head of the National Assembly said Thursday.

Sihanouk, 81, announced his retirement in a letter sent from Beijing which
his son, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, read to the legislature Thursday.

"According to the statement that I have received and just read, His
Majesty has already abdicated," Ranariddh told reporters, adding that the
news was "very regrettable and shocking for all Cambodians who love him
and regard him as sacred."

Sihanouk has repeatedly threatened to step down following inconclusive
elections in July last year, expressing frustration at squabbling between
Cambodia's main political parties.

Ranariddh said leaders of the ruling coalition planned "to beg" the king
to stay on as monarch. He said he would join Prime Minister Hun Sen and
acting head of state and ruling party leader Chea Sim in seeking
permission to visit Sihanouk in Beijing.

Sihanouk had been scheduled to return home Thursday, Ranariddh said.

Hun Sen was in Vietnam Thursday to attend a summit of Asian and European
leaders.

Ranariddh said the king's decision was prompted by a letter he received
from opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who complained that his party was being
unfairly blamed for protests scheduled to coincide with the monarch's
return to Cambodia on Thursday.

But Sam Rainsy said his letter was not to blame.

"The king is ... not a child. He cannot be influenced by anybody and be
led that easily to make such a dramatic decision," Rainsy said, calling
Ranariddh's allegation "irresponsible."

The king in Cambodia is not a hereditary title, but all candidates must
have a royal bloodline. Ranariddh could be a candidate, but has already
said he is not interested.

Sihanouk has been an influential figure in Cambodian politics for more
than half a century, leading the country to independence from French
colonialism in the 1950s.

He left Cambodia in January after trying and failing to end the months of
political feuding.

The letter from the king asked the country to form a nine-member throne
council _ as set in Cambodian law _ to choose the next monarch. Hun Sen
and other political leaders would be included in the council.

A similar statement also appeared on Sihanouk's Web site, where he often
posts handwritten messages in French about current affairs. With that
statement was a Sept. 4 letter jointly signed by Hun Sen and Ranariddh,
who are partners in the current government, proposing another prince,
Norodom Sihamoni, as the future king.

The king asked that he be allowed to step down because of his fragile
health, saying doctors have detected a "new and serious ailment" in his
stomach. The letter did not elaborate.

"I ask all compatriots to please allow me to retire," he said.

Chea Sim will remain the acting head of state until a new monarch is
selected.

Lao Monghay, legal director for the Center for Social Development, a local
group, said the king's abdication was not surprising "considering his age
and frustration over ... the political developments in the country" and
the lack of respect shown him by leaders.

"He seems to be sick and tired" of the political and economic situation
facing the country, Lao Monghay said.

_____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

October 7, Reuters
EU to tighten Myanmar sanctions next week

The European Union will tighten sanctions against Myanmar next week after
it failed to release democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi and recognise
her National League for Democracy Party (NLD), the EU said on Thursday.

Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi has spent more than half of the past 15 years
under house arrest. Her party won elections by a landslide in 1990 but the
military ignored the result and locked up many of her supporters.

"Today, Oct. 7, these conditions have not been met. As a result the EU
will, at a meeting on Oct. 11, impose stricter sanctions on the regime in
Myanmar," Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot said in a statement.

The Netherlands holds the rotating presidency of the 25-member-state EU.
Bot is attending an Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Vietnam at which
developments in Myanmar are likely to dominate.

The EU will expand its visa ban, prohibit EU-registered countries from
financing state-owned companies in Myanmar and vote against international
organisations extending loans to Myanmar.

The EU is also to draw up proposals to curb the export of teak from
Myanmar. It also plans to increase funding for health and education in
Myanmar in consultation with the NLD.

The EU had warned Myanmar that it would impose sanctions unless Suu Kyi
was released and her party recognised and allowed to take part in a
national convention. The 25-member-state bloc also called for the
convention to be an open forum.

__________________________________

October 7, Reuters
Asia-Europe forum grows, Myanmar irritates

An Asia-Europe forum accepted Myanmar and 12 other new members on Thursday
ahead of a summit strained by Yangon's human rights record and detention
of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.

Some diplomats hope differences over Myanmar can be set aside when the
Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) begins on Friday after a hard-won compromise on
the military ruled country's attendance.

But as leaders gathered in Vietnam's capital, Hanoi, the European Union
said it would be tightening sanctions against Myanmar next week because
the regime had not released Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi.

Earlier, at a lavish ceremony at a five-star Hanoi hotel, the ASEM
formally inducted 10 more European members and three from Asia, including
Myanmar, into the informal grouping both regions see as a way to promote
trade and security.

"With this, ASEM emerges as a political economic entity fully capable of
playing an important role in world peace, security and development,"
Vietnam's Prime Minister Phan Van Khai said in an address from a stage
built over the hotel swimming pool.

Before he spoke, flags of the new members were raised to music from a
military band as leaders including French President Jacques Chirac and
China's Premier Wen Jiabao looked on.

After Thursday's ceremony, ASEM comprises 39 members: 25 from Europe, 13
from Asia and the European Commission. Together, ASEM members represent
about three billion people and about 60 percent of world trade. It is one
of the few major groupings that does not include the United States.

The Hanoi summit is ASEM's fifth biennial gathering and North Korea's
nuclear ambitions, greater cooperation in the fight against terrorism and
trade will be key themes, but Myanmar - the former Burma - is likely to
dominate.

Suu Kyi has spent more than half of the past 15 years under house arrest.
Her National League for Democracy won elections by a landslide in 1990 but
the military ignored the result and locked up many of her supporters.

After months of bickering nearly scuttled the gathering Yangon agreed to
send minister-level officials to Hanoi instead of Prime Minister Khin
Nyunt. Labour Minister Tin Winn, a senior official in Khin Nyunt's office,
is leading the delegation.

The EU said in a statement issued in Europe it would tighten sanctions
against Myanmar next week after it failed to release Suu Kyi and recognise
her party, as demanded by the EU.

"Today, Oct. 7, these conditions have not been met. As a result the EU
will, at a meeting on Oct. 11, impose stricter sanctions on the regime in
Myanmar," Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot said in the statement.

The Netherlands holds the rotating presidency of the 25-member-state EU.
Bot is attending the Hanoi meeting.

The EU will expand a visa ban, prohibit EU-registered countries from
financing state-owned companies in Myanmar and vote against international
organisations extending it loans.

The EU is also to draw up proposals to curb the export of teak from Myanmar.

"STATE TERRORISTS"

Suu Kyi's fellow Nobel prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu accused world
leaders of ignoring oppression in Myanmar and her plight.

"The words of protest at her detention from world leaders ring hollow when
they do not translate into action," the South African anti-apartheid icon
wrote in the International Herald Tribune newspaper on Thursday.

"There in Hanoi, state terrorists from Myanmar will sit and dine with you
leaders," Tutu wrote.

British Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said in a statement he would
press concerns about what he called the unacceptable situation in Myanmar
and its continued lack of progress towards democracy.

Despite the harsh language used by the EU to pressure Myanmar to free Suu
Kyi, a leaked draft of the ASEM chairman's statement to be issued on
Saturday used much more diplomatic words.

Japan's Kyodo news agency, citing the draft, said in a report late on
Wednesday the EU would welcome the early lifting of restrictions on Suu
Kyi and her party and called on Myanmar to include all political groups in
its declared national reconciliation process.

One diplomat in Hanoi told Reuters that senior officials of the ASEM
delegations would discuss over dinner on Thursday whether or not to
specifically name Suu Kyi and her party in the chairman's final statement.

__________________________________

October 7, Agence France Presse
Asia-Europe club stages controversial expansion

The ASEM club of Asian and European nations expanded Thursday, with
Myanmar among 13 countries joining the grouping despite deep hostility
from the European Union to its military rulers.

The Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), a forum for dialogue mainly focused on
trade issues, grew to 39 members including the 10 countries that joined
the European Union in May.

Myanmar was one of three members of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) also to join the club alongside Cambodia and Laos.

Leaders from both regions attended a flag-raising ceremony in the
Vietnamese capital Hanoi to mark the expansion, after the EU agreed not to
boycott the gathering on condition Myanmar's top generals stayed away.

But the EU's Dutch presidency ratcheted up the pressure by saying the bloc
would tighten its tough sanctions against Myanmar next week after the
junta ignored a series of demands for democratic reform.

Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot said in Hanoi that EU nations were
reluctantly sitting down for talks with Myanmar at the ASEM summit partly
"to exert pressure directly on the regime".

"Secondly (to say) that we will impose a new set of sanctions and also
make that crystal clear at the same meeting," he said.

EU foreign ministers are expected on Monday to expand a visa blacklist
against Myanmar officials, ban EU companies from financing state-owned
firms and oppose lending by international institutions such as the World
Bank.

"I think it is also very important not only to give a political signal to
Myanmar itself but also to other countries participating in this ASEM
meeting that the European Union does not condone this behaviour," Bot
said.

The ASEM summit proper was to open Friday for two days of talks on issues
such as trade, Iraq, North Korea, weapons non-proliferation, reform of the
United Nations, disease control and cultural diversity.

Estonian Prime Minister Juhan Parts, whose Baltic country was among the EU
entrants newly admitted to ASEM, said the enlargement was "an important
milestone for all of us".

"We will work towards fulfilling common goals in order to achieve greater
economic integration in Asia and more rapid economic reforms in the EU,"
he said.

But the efforts by Asia and Europe to upgrade their contacts have been
overshadowed yet again by the Myanmar question.

Britain, Myanmar's former colonial power which has been at the forefront
of the EU's diplomatic offensive against the junta, was represented in
Hanoi by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.

"We will be taking the opportunity of the summit to underline -- not least
to the regime itself -- our concerns about the unacceptable situation in
Burma (Myanmar) and its continued lack of progress towards democracy,"
Prescott said.

However, Myanmar's partners in ASEAN and elsewhere in Asia have proven
more sympathetic to the junta's arguments that it cannot be rushed into
democratic reform, and that it will not be hectored by outside powers.

Beyond the formal ASEM dialogue, China was expected to renew its own
offensive to persuade the EU to lift an arms embargo in place since the
1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.

France is pushing hard for the EU to end the weapons ban. But many in the
bloc, including Britain, lean towards Washington's position that this
would be premature.

French President Jacques Chirac, who heads to China Friday from Vietnam,
said the embargo "is of another time (and) does not correspond any more to
the reality of the situation".

_____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

Octoer 7, International Herald Tribune
The Burmese dictatorship-- Archbishop Desmond Tutu

My fellow Nobel Peace laureate, the Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu
Kyi, is now spending her ninth year in detention. No one has been allowed
to see her in the last seven months. Fears grow for her personal security.
Myanmar's military dictators ignore the appeals of the United Nations and
the wider international community to let this woman of peace go free.

If only as much noise, money and effort was spent supporting the
peacemakers of this world as is made in support of the use of war. If only
those governments that claim to be against war showed their determination
to support those at the front line of peace. If only those who say that
for them war is the last resort proved this by supporting those struggling
for nonviolent solutions to avert such last resorts. Where are the
statesmen, the visionaries of our time, with regard to Suu Kyi's
nonviolent struggle for freedom? The words of protest at her detention
from world leaders ring hollow when they do not translate into action.

Whatever one's view of the war in Iraq, it continues to divide the world.
Questions over whether diplomacy had been fully exhausted, whether there
was a legal basis for the decision, whether the true aims of the war have
been revealed, all persist. I don't want to go into these questions here.
But the sincerity of governments on both sides of that divide are being
tested by Myanmar. Are both sides truly committed to helping end the rule
of oppressive dictators, and to using all nonmilitary means at their
disposal to do so? With Myanmar, the answer so far has been a tragic no.

Suu Kyi and the people of Myanmar have not called for a military coalition
to invade their country. They have simply asked for the maximum diplomatic
and economic pressure against Myanmar's brutal dictators. Suu Kyi and her
party, the National League for Democracy, won 82 percent of the seats in
Myanmar's 1990 election. The generals in power refuse to honor the express
wishes of a nation.

Instead they perpetrate their own brutal rule with 1,300 political
prisoners, more child soldiers than any other country on earth, lower
health spending than any other country and rape used as a weapon of war.
The International Labor Organization has called the regime's systematic
use of forced labor a "crime against humanity." The international response
to this barbarity has been so weak that the generals can smell the
inertia; they feel they can continue to get away with these things without
sanction.

Indeed, starting Friday, the Asia-Europe Meeting will take place in
Vietnam. There in Hanoi, state terrorists from Myanmar will sit and dine
with your leaders. The same leaders who proclaim a war against terror
every time they are on television or in the newspaper.

The "coalition of the willing" and the "coalition of the unwilling"
ultimately have to show each other that something concrete can be done on
Myanmar. For the "willing" it's to show that they will use other
nonmilitary instruments at their disposal to pursue justice, and for the
"unwilling" it's to prove that they have the determination to deal with a
dictatorship like Myanmar's, to prove they are not appeasers of tyranny.

If you protested the war in Iraq, ask your government what it is doing to
support Myanmar's peaceful struggle against its own oppressive
dictatorship. For those who praised their governments for being against
the war in Iraq, ask your governments what they are doing to make Myanmar
a shining example of how alternatives to war can be effective. Because at
the moment, governments on both sides of the Iraq debate show no gumption,
no will to apply serious pressure on the oppressive dictatorship in
Myanmar.

Myanmar, Asia, indeed the world, have a golden opportunity. We have a
charismatic leader determined to lead her movement and her people in the
way she would choose to govern, peacefully, with respect and with human
dignity. Just as Nelson Mandela no longer belongs only to South Africans,
I believe that in the future Suu Kyi will be a shining light for Asia and
the world.

You see, ultimately the Burmese people will prevail. Neither systems, nor
governments nor dictators are eternal, but the spirit of freedom is. We
must continue to ask the question, whose side are we on? We cannot be
neutral in the face of such barbarity. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said
that in the end we will remember not the words of our enemies but the
silence of our friends. For those who know oppression, inaction is the
most painful silence.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.

_____________________________________
STATEMENT

October 6, House of Representatives
Remarks by Hon. Frank R. Wolf of Virginia

Mr. WOLF.  Mr. Speaker, I strongly support H.Res. 768, calling on the
United Nations Security Council to immediately consider a resolution on
Burma.  I urge all members to support this important legislation.

Burma's military regime is one of the worst governments in the world. 
There is a complete lack of freedom of speech, religion, press, and basic
human rights.  They should be treated as a pariah in the international
community.

Burma's ruling military uses forced labor, rape, torture, and imprisonment
as a means to quiet opposition and suppress the Burmese people.  Innocent
women and children are often used as minesweepers and the government
continues to commit numerous other gross human rights violations against
ethnic minorities.  This abuse of the innocent people of Burma must end.

Hundreds of thousands of civilians have fled into other countries to seek
safety.  In Thailand, border towns are packed with refugees forced to live
their lives in camps or illegally as migrant workers.  Conditions are
rough and tensions run high.

Sadly, the situation in Burma continues to worsen.  Just last week there
were two reports of attacks on Karen and Karenni villages were unknown
numbers of villagers were killed.  Homes, schools and clinics were burned.
 Civilians are forced to flee into the jungle to avoid attack.  Attacks
are common with the typical village moving every three months to avoid
attacks.  Cut off from humanitarian aid, thousands of people are trapped
in the jungle, constantly moving to avoid attacks.  After attacks, it is
common for the military to lay landmines throughout the villages to try to
deter the villagers from ever returning.

We must not forget that while Burma continues to commit unspeakable abuses
against its people, its democratically elected leader, Aung San Suu Kyi,
remains under house arrest and the desire for democracy runs strong among
the people of Burma.  We must send a clear signal to the government of
Burma that no amount of repression will legitimize their government.  They
must immediately release Aung San Suu Kyi, all political prisoners, cease
attacking ethnic minorities, and allow true democracy and freedom to
flourish in Burma.

I urge every member to vote in support of this important legislation.  We
must send a strong message to the Government of Burma that the United
States stands with the people of Burma and their quest for democracy.