BurmaNet News December 9, 2004

[Editor]

December 9, 2004, Issue # 2616

INSIDE BURMA
AFP: World Buddhist conference opens in Myanmar despite boycott call
AFP: Myanmar leader gives no date for release of Aung San Suu Kyi
Xinhua: Myanmar opposition party proposes dialogue with government

ON THE BORDER
Asia Pulse: India forges security agreement with Myanmar

DRUGS
Xinhua News Agency: Myanmar exposes 266 drug cases in October
S.H.A.N.: Army complimented by poppy farmers

BUSINESS / MONEY
Economic Times: Bangladesh open to transit corridor for Myanmar gas

REGIONAL
Irrawaddy: Thai Senators and exiles discuss Burma
Kyodo: ASEAN may reconsider Myanmar's hosting of 2006 summit

OPINION / OTHER
USCB: US group slams Burma’s regime for creating “Darfur of the East”
Philippine Daily Inquirer: When Generals go daft

STATEMENT
Burma Becoming Sudan of the East? Congressman Joe Pitts

______________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

December 9, Agence France Presse
World Buddhist conference opens in Myanmar despite boycott call

A world Buddhist summit opened in politically-isolated Myanmar amid pomp
and ceremony on Thursday despite a boycott call, with the military
regime's new premier calling for an end to "the bullying of the weak".

An estimated 1,500 people, including monks and officials, were at the
ornate venue in Yangon for a ceremonial ringing of 108 bells to open the
three-day event that lost its main sponsor after the sacking of the
regime's then-premier Khin Nyunt in October.
Myanmar said the fourth summit of its kind would still be a "landmark in
the history of Buddhism" with Senior General Than Shwe, the head of the
ruling State Peace and Development Council, making a rare public
appearance on Thursday.

The summit is a rare showcase for a nation isolated by international
sanctions because of its hardline policies and the detention of opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

In a conference venue filled with columns and gold leaf, Myanmar's new
premier, Lieutenant General Soe Win, said the conference could help
promote Buddhist teachings to prevent the things that are "appalling us
all".

"In the international arena, men are frightened and shocked by arms
rivalry, the gap between rich and poor and bullying of the weak by the
strong," he said.

Soe Win did not elaborate. Myanmar in the past has strongly criticised the
international community, notably former colonial ruler Britain and the
United States, for sanctions imposed on the impoverished nation.

Delegates were mainly from Asia and included the premiers of Thailand and
Laos, but there were also representatives from the United States, Britain,
and Australia.

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra gave a keynote address and then had
a meeting with Than Shwe who refused to be drawn over the release date for
the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra told reporters on his return
to Bangkok that Than Shwe had promised she would be released from her
third period of house arrest but did not say when.

"Myanmar's leader said that whenever Aung San Suu Kyi is released some
trouble has happened. They need time to arrange everything and finish
several meetings," Thaksin said.

The junta has been trying to promote religious tourism to the "Land of
Pagodas" where 85 percent of the 50 million people are Buddhists.

Many delegates sought to distance the summit from the political situation
in Myanmar.

"We don't want to talk about politics. We don't know anything about this
country," said Jay Shree, from India.

But one European delegate, who declined to be named, said: "When he (Soe
Win) talked about converting bullies through compassion and understanding
I had to suppress laughter."

Japan's Nenbutsushu sect, which has held the summit every two years in a
Buddhist nation, withdrew its sponsorship after the sacking in October of
Khin Nyunt, who was put under house arrest for corruption.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a Thailand-based
rights group, called for a boycott of the conference because of the
continued detention of an estimated 300 monks by the regime.

Myanmar's outlawed Young Monks' Association has supported the boycott amid
concerns among the international community that the junta could use the
event for political grandstanding.

Monks played an important role alongside students during 1988 protests
against military rule that were bloodily suppressed.

The military has ruled Myanmar since a coup in 1962 despite Aung San Suu
Kyi's National League for Democracy winning elections in 1990 by a
landslide.

____________________________________

December 9, Agence France Presse
Myanmar leader gives no date for release of Aung San Suu Kyi: Thai PM

Myanmar's supreme military leader refused to be drawn over the release
date for democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi saying there had been "trouble"
after she was freed from previous periods of house arrest, the Thai
premier said Thursday.

Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra told reporters that Senior
General Than Shwe had promised that the Nobel Peace Prize winner would be
released from her third period of house arrest but gave no indication when
it would be.

"Myanmar's leader said that whenever Aung San Suu Kyi is released some
trouble has happened. They need time to arrange everything and finish
several meetings," Thaksin said.

Aung San Suu Kyi, 59, who has already spent a total of nine years in
detention since 1989, was told nearly two weeks ago that she faces another
year under house arrest. Her deputy Tin Oo is also in detention.

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra spoke to Than Shwe, the head of
Myanmar's ruling State Peace and Development Council, while visiting a
Buddhist summit in Yangon before flying back to Bangkok.

Thaksin said Than Shwe told him the junta was committed to continuing with
its seven-step roadmap to democracy, which is supposed to lead to free
elections but has been scorned by international critics and boycotted by
Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD).

The junta has said it will resume a national convention in February
designed to help prepare the ground for a new constitution for a
"disciplined" democracy.

"He (Than Shwe) said Myanmar intends to carry on its efforts towards
democracy," Thaksin told reporters.

Analysts said the sidelining of Aung San Suu Kyi ensured that the junta's
most influential critic would be out of public view as it pressed on with
its programme to secure long-term control of the country.

The military has ruled Myanmar since 1962. The NLD under Aung San Suu Kyi
won a landslide in 1990 elections but has never been allowed to rule, a
move which led to international sanctions against the regime.

____________________________________

December 9, Xinhua News Agency
Myanmar opposition party proposes dialogue with government

Myanmar main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD),
has proposed to the government for opening a dialogue between them in the
near future, according to the party's statement on Thursday.

The NLD statement, which contains the contents of a letter of the party's
Chairman U Aung Shwe to Chairman of the State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC) Senior-General Than Shwe on Dec. 2, called for an open,
frank and sincere dialogue with the government to seek settlement of the
country's political issue and to work for the state's future.

The statement stressed that it is now a historical moment to open a new
page under the present political situation.

The NLD won the 1990 general election with 392 parliamentary seats out of
485. At present, the party's two key leaders U Tin Oo and Aung San Suu Kyi
are still under house arrest by the government since May 30 bloody
incident last year.

Meanwhile, the government resumed the constitutional national convention
in May this year as the first step of its seven-point roadmap to democracy
announced in August last year. However, the NLD boycotted the convention
giving the reason of the government's continued detention of its two
leaders.

The convention, which has adjourned again since July 9, has been set to
resume next February.
____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

December 9, Asia Pulse
India forges security agreement with Myanmar

The government on Wednesday approved an agreement between India and
Myanmar for cooperation in combating terrorism, organised crime, drug
trafficking and money laundering.

The Union Cabinet, which met here under the chairmanship of Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh, also approved an agreement between India and Korea for
cooperation and mutual assistance in customs matters.

An official spokesperson said the agreement between India and Myanmar on
non-traditional security issues was signed on October 25 and Cabinet gave
its ex-post-facto approval.

The agreement is for five years and envisages strengthening of the
framework for security cooperation between the two countries.

It also outlines mutual cooperation in combating terrorism, organised
crime, drug trafficking and money laundering.

On the agreement with Korea, the official spokesperson said it would
significantly help the Indian customs authorities in getting reliable,
quick and cost-effective information for prevention, investigation and
apprehension of customs offences.

_____________________________________
DRUGS

December 9, Xinhua News Agency
Myanmar exposes 266 drug cases in October

Myanmar exposed 266 narcotic-drug- related cases in October this year,
punishing 352 people in this connection, state-run newspaper The New Light
of Myanmar reported Thursday.

During the month, the army, police and the customs seized 4.76 kilos of
heroin, 66.48 kilos of opium, 10.5 kilos of marijuana and more than
300,000 stimulant tablets.

The authorities had charged 2,883 drug offenders in 2,070 related cases in
the first nine months of this year.

According to official statistics, Myanmar saw a total of over 2, 760 drug
cases in 2003 and 3,848 people were arrested. Drug haul during the year
included 568 kilos heroin, 1,481 kilos opium, 85 kilos marijuana and 308
kilos ephedrine as well as 4 million stimulant tablets with seven opium
refineries being destroyed.

Meanwhile, during the poppy cultivation season this year, a total of 3,055
hectares of such plantations were destroyed.

Besides, there was a 34 percent drop in poppy cultivation, registering
over 30,000 hectares in 2004 and a 39 percent decrease in opium production
during the year compared with 2003, according to a survey report for 2004
of opium yield jointly conducted by Myanmar and the United States'
Criminal Narcotics Center (CNC).

Another ground survey on poppy cultivation, jointly conducted by Myanmar
and the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC), also show that
Myanmar's opium poppy cultivation area in Myanmar stood 44,240 hectares so
far in 2004, declining sharply by 29 percent from 2003 and 73 percent from
1996, while opium production was 370 tons so far this year, dropping by 54
percent compared with 2003.

Myanmar has been implementing a 15-year drug elimination plan ( 1999-2000
to 2013-2014) to totally wipe out drugs and the second five-year plan
beginning 2004-05 is underway.

With the successful establishment of the drug-free zone in Shan state's
Mongla region in 1997 and the Kokang region in 2003, the Wa region in the
same state is targeted to follow suit by 2005.

_____________________________________

December 9, Shan News Agency
Army complimented by poppy farmers

The Burma Army, long been at the receiving end of strong criticisms from
the local populace, is, in an exceptional instance, being praised by poppy
growers along the Thai-Burma border for consideration shown by its troops
during this year's poppy season, which is being regarded as payback time
for last year's losses, reports Hawkeye:

"The Burmese soldiers who come to gather vegetables for their pots are
very understanding," recounted a hired laborer from Nawng Aw. "They take
care to avoid stepping on the poppy plants, unlike some Shan (State Army)
soldiers who pass through the fields during their patrols."

Nawng Aw, located between Homong in the west and Mongton in the east,
opposite Maehongson, is a village where hordes of poppy fields are
beseiging the Army's hill outpost at this time of the year.

"A field using one hoe pays 50,000 kyat ($50) as tax to the Army," she
said. "But if it is using up to 5 hoes, the tax is up to 100,000 kyat ($
100)."

However, opium tax for the Army is collected for the most part by the
local militia force of Yang Erh, who has his base at Kawng Teevee east of
Nawng Aw.

A Shan relief worker who recently returned from a one-month tip into the
area told S.H.A.N. all of the villagers interviewed by him were confident
the harvest this season (2004-2005), will be as much as 2002-2003 season
if not more.

Each household had produced 6-20 viss (1 viss = 1.6 kg). Last year,
adverse weather had pushed it down to 4 viss thereby placing many farmers
in debt to their financiers.

Elsewhere in Shan State, similar reports were received by S.H.A.N. except
from the north where continued suppression has been reported in most areas
for the 4th consecutive year. "Up here, the UN may be able to boast a 54%
reduction or even more," said a ceasefire source from southern Shan State
who is currently in the north, "but certainly not in the south where we
see only more and more fields as each year goes by."

In the east, even in UN's alternative development project areas in the Wa
region, there is no sign that the acreage is going down. "Bosses are
offering advance payments and people say they need to make the most of it
while they're still allowed to grow," said a source from Mongkhark, some
200 km north of Tachilek, who had recently visited the Wa areas.

Bao Youxiang, Wa president, has vowed to make his domain opium-free
beginning 26 June 2005.

Meanwhile, a recent report by Shan State South Police Force claims
destruction of 1,064 acres of poppy fields during the ongoing season.

According UN office on Drugs and Crimes released on 11 October, opium
cultivation in Burma has declined 54% from last year.

_____________________________________
BUSINESS / MONEY

December 9, Economic Times of India
Bangladesh open to transit corridor for Myanmar gas

This could be a major breakthrough in India's energy diplomacy. If initial
talks are any indication, India could soon be working on a transit
corridor through Bangladesh to import gas from Myanmar.

Petroleum minister Mani Shankar Aiyar, who had initiated a proposal to
this effect, met the visiting finance and planning minister of Bangladesh,
Saifur Rahman, in the capital on Tuesday. Bangladesh has indicated that it
is open to a tripartite agreement with Myanmar and India to explore the
possibilities of bringing in gas to India.

A pipeline through the eastern corridor is expected to bring in the much
required gas for the eastern region in India. This comes at a time when
India is discussing possibilities of getting into a back-to-back bilateral
agreement with Iran to import natural gas at its border.

Bangladesh, which has huge deposits of natural gas, has till now stayed
away from a direct dialogue on trading gas with India. Aiyar will be a
member of the visiting delegation to Dhaka early January '05, to
participate in the Saarc summit.

With Bangladesh now willing to explore the possibilities of entering into
a tripartite agreement, Aiyar is expected to follow up his Dhaka visit
with official talks in Yangoon soon after. Sources say that Bangladesh is
expected to join in the Yangoon meeting.

For India, which has been making an effort to import gas from the west
coast, the proposed eastern corridor could open up new sources of energy
and gas. As of now, OVL has a 20% interest supported with 10% stake by
GAIL in two offshore blocks A-1 and A3 in Myanmar.

The other consortium partners are Daewoo and KOGAS Block A-1 extends over
an area of about 3,885 sq km off Myanmar's Rakhine Coast, close to
Bangladesh.

The pipeline is one of the several options being considered by India to
bring gas from the offshore fields in Myanmar. Sources say that India
could explore possibilities of a participating interest in building the
290-km gas trunkline.

Bangladesh's state-owned Gas Transmission Company is expected to be
responsible for managing the stretch in its country.

Although no official figures are available, sources say the pipeline could
involve an investment of about $ 1bn. Also, Bangladesh by offering the
transit corridor could earn about $ 125m annually as transit fee for the
pipeline, that would run through Arakan (Rakhine) state in Myanmar to the
Mizoram and Tripura in India before crossing Bangladesh to Kolkata.

_____________________________________
REGIONAL

December 9, The Irrawaddy
Thai Senators and exiles discuss Burma

Several Thai senators and Burmese dissidents in exile discussed political
developments in Burma and the plight of detained opposition leader Aung
San Suu Kyi at a meeting in Bangkok on Wednesday.

The meeting was intended to send a message to Thai Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra on the eve of his visit to Rangoon on Thursday to attend the
World Buddhist Summit.

The chairman of the Thai Senate Committee on International Relations,
Kraisak Choonhavan, was among senators who attended the meeting.

Prime Minister Thaksin said before his departure for Rangoon that he would
discuss with the top military leader Sr-Gen Than Shwe the issues of  Suu
Kyi’s detention and the junta’s National Convention, the first step of the
so-called “road map.”

One of the participants at the Bangkok meeting, Aung Naing Oo, researcher
for the Burma Fund, a Washington-based pro-democracy think-tank, said it
had been agreed that the “release of Suu Kyi and her participation in the
NC [National Convention] are very important for Burma’s political reform.”

A National Convention without Suu Kyi and other parties “will not resolve
the country’s political stalemate,” Aung Naing Oo said.

Late last month the junta extended the detention of Suu Kyi for another
year. She has been detained since May 2003 after a pro-junta mob attacked
her motorcade in Sagaing Division, Upper Burma.

The junta also announced last month that the National Convention would
resume next February to draw up a seven-stage schedule of drafting a new
constitution and holding elections.

The convention, initiated in 1993, stalled in 1996 after Suu Kyi’s
National League for Democracy, or NLD, walked out, saying its proceedings
were undemocratic.

The convention resumed in May 2004 and adjourned again in July. The NLD
didn’t attend, maintaining that the convention has yet to be changed.

Aung Naing Oo said that if the convention fails to make progress, Burma
would be in trouble when it takes over chairmanship of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations, or Asean, in 2006.

“Another important message we want Thaksin to know is that we opposition
groups are just trying to work together with the military government, not
to kick them out,” Aung Naing Oo said. “No opposition groups try to
exclude the military from the political process.”

He said Thai senators and their advisors who attended the meeting would
release a statement based on the discussion, with the intention of sending
a message to Prime Minister Thaksin.

_____________________________________

December 9, Kyodo News Service
ASEAN may reconsider Myanmar's hosting of 2006 summit

Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said Thursday that the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations will review whether Myanmar is
'worthy' to host the 10-member grouping's annual summit in 2006 if no
concrete progress is made in resolving the political situation in that
country.

'We want a concrete progress between now and the summit in Kuala Lumpur
next year, so we can evaluate whether it is worthy or not for Myanmar to
be the host of ASEAN Summit,' Wirajuda told a hearing of a House of
Representatives commission dealing with foreign affairs.

He also said Indonesia has urged Myanmar to determine a time frame to
release pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from detention.

_____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

December 6, US Campaign for Burma
New Attacks as US State Department Suggests Boycott of Regional Summit

Washington, DC--The US Campaign for Burma today strongly criticized
Burma’s military regime for “terrorizing” ethnic people after the regime’s
troops drove over 7,500 people into the jungle while burning down villages
and destroying critically needed rice supplies.

“These shameful scorched earth attacks and terrorizing of innocent
civilians must stop,” said Stephen Dun, a board member of US Campaign for
Burma, a leading US-based activist organization.  “Under this brutal
military regime, Burma is in danger of becoming the ‘Darfur of the east’”.

Over the past decade, Burma’s military regime has pressed hundreds of
thousands of civilians from their homes into the jungle where they are
hunted down and killed like animals or eke out a basic subsistence from
foraging.  It is estimated that 526,000 of these villagers are currently
struggling for survival in the jungle away from their homes and outside of
the reach of international aid agencies.  Approximately 157,000 are newly
displaced—since late 2002.

The attacks are aimed at bringing eastern Burma, which has historically
been under the control of Burma’s ethnic nationalities including the Karen
and Karenni, under total authoritarian control by the ruling military
regime.  In addition to political control, the regime seeks the vast
quantities of natural resources, including timber and gems, available in
the area.

The recent attacks took place in two separate locations.  First,
approximately 4,781 villagers have fled the regime’s troops in the
Naunglybin district since November 14th, which is located in western Karen
State in eastern Burma.  Five Burma Army battalions are involved in the
operation, which is ongoing as of this writing.  At the same time, over
3,000 Karen villagers from Toungoo District in Northern Karen State are
fleeing attack by the regime’s troops.

The situation for internally displaced people in eastern Burma is a
serious public health emergency.  According to recent surveys by
well-respected nongovernmental organizations operating in neighboring
countries, child mortality and malnutrition rates in the area are
comparable to those recorded amongst internally displaced populations in
the Horn of Africa.
Recently, leading members of the US Congress have taken an increased
interest in the situation.  Eight Congressional staff members have
traveled to the region during the past year and have begun to raise the
issue publicly.

The latest attacks follow a pattern of slash and burn tactics utilized by
the regime.  Nearly 20,000 baskets of rice were burned and landmines were
laid in the empty villages so that it is nearly impossible for the
villagers to return home.

The attacks come just weeks after both chambers of the US Congress,
Australian Senate, and Denmark Parliament passed resolutions and motions
calling for the United Nations Security Council to address the growing
crisis in Burma.  Last week United States President George W. Bush, along
with leaders in Italy, Germany, New Zealand, and elsewhere also publicly
criticized a decision by Burma’s military regime to pro-long the detention
of the worlds only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient and the
country’s leading pro-democracy activist, Aung San Suu Kyi.  The US State
Department has suggested the United States may boycott a major 2006 summit
of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations if Burma maintains its
present course.

_____________________________________

December 9, Philippine Daily Inquirer
When Generals go daft--Juan L. Mercado

"He’s mad is he? Then, I wish he'd bite some other of my generals," George
II reportedly snapped when told that Gen. James Wolfe had gone daft.

That's also the reaction surging among members of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations toward Myanmar's junta for stalling, yet again, on
restoring freedoms.

Myanmar's caudillos dance an "incorrigible one-step forward, two-steps
backwards foxtrot," Malaysian Member of Parliament Lim Kit Siang told
legislators from seven Asean countries in Kuala Lumpur. The shuffle blocks
the release of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, journalists
and other detainees.

Some parliamentarians are now pressing their governments to object when
Yangon assumes the rotating chairmanship of Asean in 2006. The generals'
"seven-step road map" to democracy is fake.

Myanmar today is "the largest prison for journalists in Asia," the
Paris-based Reporters Without Borders says in a new report documenting the
plight of 18 detained journalists.

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won a landslide victory in the
1990 general election. But the military never allowed parliament to
convene, and unleashed waves of arrests. Yet, Suu Kyi continues to draw
widespread support at home and abroad.

The stakes for the press are high. Offending the regime means prison. The
72-year-old journalist Win Tin has been detained for 14 years now.

"Torture is commonplace and some journalists suffer from serious mental
disorders resulting from long isolation," Reporters Without Borders says.
Newsmen have received long sentences for articles deemed "hostile to the
state," talking with foreign journalists, even "owning undeclared video
cameras"-an eerie clone of the Marcos regime's order to register
mimeograph machines.

Yangon's daily newspapers are government-run outlets for turgid
propaganda. The military and their families control most publications. As
in our "New Society," censorship is clamped on. Censors blue-pencil words
such as "democracy," "corruption" or "education."

To beat the censors, "the trick is in the presentation," Thint Bawa (Your
Life) editor U Tin Maung Than told The New York Times' Seth Mydans. The
47-year-old doctor-turned-writer "played the game hard, bobbing and
weaving, winking and nudging, honing his metaphors, comparisons and
historical references until it all became too much and he fled from
Myanmar for safety."

It's a game played by all independent-minded writers in dictatorships from
the Philippines of Marcos to Ayatollah Khomeini's Iran and today's
Myanmar: writer versus censor, says Mydan's analytical feature titled,
"Burmese Editor's Code: Winks And Little Hints."

In repressive states, writing under censorship is an art form. Many of
their rules are universal. Write only upbeat articles or "sunshine news."
Thus, many confine themselves to gossip, sports and lifestyle features.
Praise the regime. That guarantees publication. It's also safer.

Direct criticism is taboo. Even factual reports on drought or poor crop
yields are forbidden. These could arouse fears of price increases. You
cannot knock those in power. Imelda and the First Family, for example,
could only be accorded fulsome hosannas.

A few in Myanmar, as in martial law Philippines, push against the
boundaries of what's acceptable. "You cannot blame," Tin said. "You have
to give hints that you are being critical, that you are talking about the
current system. The hints are in your choice of words, your tones, your
composition. You use words with double meaning. The challenge is to get
through to those keen readers without tipping off the censors."

He wrote about flag burning in the United States, ostensibly to criticize
it but, between the lines, to give a glimpse of freedom.

Still the government remains paranoid about Suu Kyi's drawing power.
Favorable references in the press to the opposition leader are "clearly
forbidden." It's verboten to write about female heads of state. Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo, Corazon Aquino, Megawati Sukarnoputri, Indira Gandhi or
Margaret Thatcher would be blacked out.

Given the muzzled press, the pressure for reform is coming from outside.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, for example, said that Suu Kyi and other
political prisoners must be included in the current spate of releases
involving more than 9,000 prisoners. Asean foreign ministers, meeting in
Phnom Penh last July also pressed for the release.

President Arroyo and Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra were reported
to have reminded Myanmar Prime Minister Soe Win at the Laos Asean summit
of still unfulfilled pledges. Now, the parliamentarians are weighing in.

Whether these pressures will cause the hard-line generals, like Soe Win,
to unbend, remains to be seen. Less than 40 political detainees, or one
percent, were among those freed to impress Asean heads of state meeting in
Vientiane.

Then President Fidel V. Ramos argued for Myanmar's acceptance by Asean. He
insisted that Asean credentials would restrain the junta from taking even
more repressive measures. Both national and regional interests, he
claimed, were served by having Myanmar in instead of "peeing from the
outside." The track record says otherwise.

"As for being a general, well, at the age of four, with paper hats and
wooden swords, we're all generals," the actor Peter Ustinov once said,
adding: "Only some of us never grow out of it."

As Yangon shows, generals who never mature can go daft. They can
impoverish a once-rich nation and crucify a gentle people, as our own
"Rolex 12" did.

_____________________________________

STATEMENT

December 7, Congressman Joe Pitts
http://www.house.gov/pitts/press/releases/041207r-burma.htm

Burma Becoming Sudan of the East?

 “I was horrified to learn that the Burmese military regime’s campaign of
terror against its own people has continued in full force.  Over the past
few weeks, regime troops have forced over 7,500 innocent villagers to
flee their homes into the jungle in the Karen and Karenni states.   A
recent, credible report states that at least 576,000 people have been
forced from their homes and are currently living as refugees inside
Burma.  This is in addition to hundreds of thousands of other villagers
who have simply disappeared.

“By forcing more than half a million people from their homes, Burma’s
military regime is responsible for creating a full-fledged human rights
nightmare.  Shockingly, even though Burma is richly endowed with natural
resources, unrelenting attacks by Burma’s military regime have resulted in
child mortality and malnutrition rates at a rate comparable to internally
displaced populations in the Horn of Africa.  This is creating systemic,
destabilizing refugee flows to neighboring countries.

“A country such as Burma, whose main exports are refugees, narcotics, and
HIV/AIDS, presents a serious threat to regional stability.  The United
States should lead the United Nations Security Council as soon as possible
to pass a resolution condemning this threat and demand immediate changes. 
Additionally, the US government and people should lead the way in
immediately providing food and shelter assistance to internally displaced
people who are fleeing this despotic regime.”

Congressman Pitts is vice-chair of the House Committee on International
Relations Subcommittee on International Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and
Human Rights.  He has seen firsthand the refugee camps in Thailand of
those who have fled from Burma’s regime - the State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC).

Contact: Derek Karchner at 202 225-2411