BurmaNet News, May 3, 2005

[Editor]

May 3, 2005 Issue # 2710


INSIDE BURMA
SHAN: The next one to go
Irrawaddy: Logging ravages Kachin forests
Xinhua: FAO agricultural project in progress in Myanmar
AP: There is no room for “stooges of the colonialists”— junta

ON THE BORDER
Bangkok Post: Burma invited to join joint border patrols

BUSINESS
National Post / Financial Post: True North hopes to trump Burma in ruby
market: Triggered by U.S. Embargo
Mizzima: Dhaka to Formulate Strategy on Gas Pipeline on May 16
Mizzima: Indo-Burma trade office inaugurated

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: EU to voice Myanmar concerns in first ministerial talks
AFP: Global dignitaries offer solidarity with Aung San Suu Kyi

______________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

May 3, Shan Herald Agency for News
The next one to go – Hawkeye

The Kachin splinter group in Shan State has been notified by the Burma
Army to assemble at their Kawngkha headquarters in Kutkhai township,
northern Shan State by tomorrow (4 May) for the next 'Exchange arms for
peace' ceremony, according to ceasefire sources:

If true, the Kachin Defense Army, officially known as Shan State Special
Region #5, led by Mahtu Naw, former commander of the Kachin Independence
Army's Fourth Brigade that had concluded a truce pact with Rangoon on 11
January 1991, will be the third ceasefire group in a month to surrender
its arms. Its forerunners are Shan State National Army's 11th Brigade in
Hsenwi on 12 April and Palaung State Liberation Army in Mantong on 29
April.

The overall situation does not bode well for other groups either,
according to the sources.
Sizable groups like the Shan Sate Army "North" are being sounded out
individually, particularly its Third Brigade New military bases are being
constructed around the ceasefire areas. For instance, Infantry Battalion
67, based at the former palace hill of Mongyai, south of Lashio, has
recently been moved out to the Mongyai-Hoya intersection 5 miles east. The
strategic hill from where the SSA's Hsengkeow headquarters in the
southwest and its First Brigade base in the southeast could be commanded
has been replaced by an artillery unit.

Village and tract headmen have been issued orders to stop collecting rice,
men and monetary contributions for the ceasefire groups, and some who
failed to comply with the order have been arrested.
A
ccording to S.H.A.N.'s source in Mongton, opposite Chiangmai, even the Wa,
considered the strongest among the ceasefire armies, are feeling the
pinch. "The Burmese Army told us (right after the battle of Loi Taileng,
opposite Maehongson, on 26 April) that if we could not even handle
Yawdserk (the SSA 'South' commander), we had no business bearing arms and
that we should consider returning to civilian life," a Wa commander was
quoted as saying.

The Burma Army had fired a total of 4,160 rounds of heavy weapons at the
SSA lines in support of the UWSA between 13 March - 26 April, according to
the commander. The Wa had suffered at least 275 dead and 310 wounded while
inflicting only 10 dead and 36 wounded on the SSA defenders, according to
SSA figures.

Some Shan ceasefire commanders appear to be looking toward the Interim
Shan Government formed by exiled Shan elders on 17 April. "Prove to us
you're our government by coming to our rescue," a desperate officer, who
kept asking S.H.A.N. whether or not the ISG had obtained foreign
assistance, challenged.

Meanwhile, the SSNA whose 11th Brigade had surrendered is said to have
reorganized under the overall command of Col Sai Yi:

Commander in Chief and G-3 (Operations) - Lt-Col Khaymin
Deputy Commander in Chief - Lt-Col Kungkhurh
Chief of Staff and G-5 (Morale) - Lt-Col Awng Mya
G-1 (Personnel ) - Lt-Col Hsengzoom
G-2 (Intelligence) - Lt-Col Oom Khurh
G-4 (Logistcs) - Maj Puen Khurh

Altogether the group commands 15 battalions, each estimated at 120-160
strong.

______________________________________

May 3, Irrawaddy
Logging ravages Kachin forests - Khun Sam

After more than a decade of logging by the Burmese junta, wealthy Chinese
businessmen and ethnic ceasefire groups, the forests of northern Burma
have been all but destroyed, according to Kachin officials and businessmen
in Kachin State.

“Nowadays we are merely finishing off the rest of the forest. In reality,
almost all the trees have run out” in the area controlled by the ethnic
ceasefire group the Kachin Independence Organization, said a Kachin
businessman in the logging industry. The KIO controls more than 15,000
square miles of territory, according to the non-profit environmental group
Global Witness.

Approximately 50 logging trucks, each carrying more than 10 tons of
timber, daily cross the border between Kachin State, in the north of
Burma, and China’s Yunnan’s province, according to the businessman. An
October 2003 report by Global Witness, entitled “A Conflict of Interests:
the Uncertain Future of Burma’s Forests” estimates that timber transported
from Kachin State to Yunnan amounts to no less than 500,000 cubic meters
each year.

In northern Burma, logging operations have been carried out in border
areas; in the area around towns such as Myitkyina, Laiza, Bhamo and Sinbo;
and on both sides of the Irrawaddy River. Chinese companies as well as
some Burmese companies, including Jinxin Company, Heng Huat Company,
Huaxin Group Company, and Jade Land Company, have overseen the large-scale
logging.

Logging concessions are granted by not only the Burmese military
authorities, but also ethnic ceasefire groups such as the Laiza-based KIO
and the New Democratic Army-Kachin. NDAK is based in Pangwah, a
Burma-China border town in northern Kachin State, and administers Special
Region 1, designated by the junta as an area of ethnic minority control.
Logging concessions provide these ceasefire groups with their principle
source of revenue.

An official from the KIO’s economics department said that the forests have
been essentially obliterated in the KIO-controlled areas. Useful and
valuable logs can now only be found in areas under Burma Army control.

In recent years companies and businessmen have been expanding into new
logging areas owing to forest depletion. The new targets are an area that
lies between the N’Mai Hka and Mali Hka rivers called the southern
triangle, formerly N’Jangyang Township; as well as the forested mountains
between the Mandalay-Myitkyina Railway, west of the Irrawaddy River, near
Hopin, Mohnyin and Mogaung Townships.

According to the Kachin businessman, one ton of imported logs can fetch
between 3,000 yuan (US $363) and 12,000 yuan ($1,452) depending on the
type and quality of the wood, with teak earning the highest price.

____________________________________

May 3, Xinhua General News Service
FAO agricultural project in progress in Myanmar

Yangon: An agricultural project in western Myanmar's Rakhine state, funded
by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), is making progress with
improved yields gained, said a report of the Myanmar Times in this week's
issue.

The two-year 1.4-million-US-dollar Farmer Participatory Seed
Multiplication Project started last September in three townships in the
state with local farmers producing certified seeds from improved crop
varieties, FAO representative in Myanmar was quoted as saying.

The seed project covers cultivation of paddy, groundnut, mung bean, green
gram, cowpea and mustard as priorities, the sources said.

According to the FAO, the Rakhine state possesses the third highest
population density, the highest birth rate and the lowest land
availability per household in Myanmar, creating a wide gap between local
demand and supply.

The FAO has been helping Myanmar upgrade its agricultural production
technology under a bilateral cooperation program covering education on
agricultural seeds to the national level and control of producing durable
food products in the long run and improvement of farmers' stable income.

Under the project, good quality seeds are provided to farmers for
production with them being trained to use modern technology.

Besides, for technology transfer, six sites have been designated to train
farmers for practical cultivation of the item of beans and pulses, one of
Myanmar's main agricultural crops which also include paddy, sugarcane and
cotton.

Under the FAO guidelines, Myanmar has carried out its third agricultural
census since October 2003, covering 272 townships out of 324. The census
was carried out to help plan more agricultural projects.

Meanwhile, for domestic food security, Myanmar has made such efforts as
introducing cultivation of summer paddy since 1992 in addition to the
traditional one of monsoon paddy which was mainly grown once a year, and
introducing high-yield strains and transforming from traditional farming
to mechanized one.

With southwestern Ayeyawaddy division standing a main region for the
country to rely on in terms of economy, the government is laying down and
implementing plans for proportionate development of all states and
divisions.

Official figures show that in the fiscal year of 2003-04 ended in March,
Myanmar produced 22.94 million tons of paddy out of 6.75 million hectares
cultivated. The country exported 106,312 tons of rice in the same fiscal
year

With a population of about 53 million now, Myanmar stands as a country
with agriculture as the mainstay of its economy. The agricultural output
value takes 42 percent of the gross domestic product and the export
represents 16 percent of the total.

Myanmar has a cultivable land of 18.23 million hectares, of which 16.72
million have been put under crops, the figures show.

____________________________________

May 3, Associated Press
There is no room for “stooges of the colonialists”— junta

Rangoon: The leader of Burma’s ruling junta said the country was pursuing
its own roadmap to democracy and indicated that it would oppose any
attempts at secession from the country.

Snr-Gen Than Shwe, who heads the country’s military junta, stressed that
the government would implement a seven-point roadmap until it succeeds,
Burma’s state-run newspaper The New Light of Myanmar said.

“Only those with noble and deep political convictions can bring genuine
developments to the state, and narrow-minded lackeys of the colonialists
cannot create the development of national history,” Than Shwe said without
specifying any group. “There is no place for the bigoted henchmen of
colonialists in the history of national development.”

The government recently criticized exiled rebels of the Shan ethnic
minority, who declared the independence of the Shan States, as lackeys of
colonialists who were trying to cause disintegration of the nation.

The government announced the roadmap to democracy in August 2003 and is
holding a convention to draft a new constitution as the first step.

Western governments and international organizations strongly criticize the
junta for its trampling on human rights and refusing to hold a dialogue
with the country’s pro-democracy forces led by detained Nobel Peace Prize
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. The United States has called the roadmap a
sham.

Than Shwe spoke Monday before the Union Solidarity and Development
Association, the government-sponsored mass organization. The USDA has been
accused by the opposition of harassing and intimidating Suu Kyi’s National
League for Democracy.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

May 3, Bangkok Post
Burma invited to join joint border patrols - Subin Kheunkaew

Troops would comb `suspicious' areas

Third Army commander Lt-Gen Pisarnmet Muangmanee has invited Burma to set
up a joint command to comb suspicious areas along both sides of the
border.

Thai authorities suspect the pro-Rangoon United Wa State Army (UWSA) has
drug production bases on the Burmese side of the frontier, and Rangoon
claims Shan State Army (SSA) rebels have been using Thai soil to launch
attacks on its troops in the same area .

The proposal was made by Lt-Gen Pisarnmet during the April 29-May 1
Thai-Burmese Regional Border Committee meeting in Burma's Chiang Tung
province.

Speaking after his return from Burma, Lt-Gen Picharnmet said Rangoon had
claimed that Burmese ethnic groups, particularly the Shan State Army
(SSA), had used Thailand as a springboard to attack its forces.

Thailand has rejected the allegations.

The Third Army commander said he had proposed that the two countries set
up a joint command to look into these allegations.

A joint command would be made up of Thai and Burmese troops who would
jointly investigate border areas where Burma believes the ethnic rebels
were launching their attacks.

Lt-Gen Picharnmet said the proposed joint command would also investigate
areas near the border which Thailand suspects the UWSA has been using as
bases for drug production.

Burma had agreed with the proposal, said the Third Army commander. Burmese
authorities had promised to cooperate in drug suppression activities.

Other issues raised during the RBC meeting included the planned
deportation of Burmese refugees.

Burma had confirmed that it was willing to take back Burmese refugees if
the verification process showed that the refugees were its nationals.
There were about 200,000 Burmese refugees living in refugee camps in
Thailand.

Lt-Gen Picharnmet said Rangoon would send its officials to take part in
the refugee verification process.

On disputed borderlines at the Three Pagodas Pass in Kanchanaburi and Doi
Lang in Chiang Mai's Mae Ai district, Burma and Thailand agreed that
houses and vending stalls built at the Three Pagodas Pass be removed.

They also wanted Burmese and Thai troops withdrawn from Doi Lang, a 42 sq
km area straddling the border and claimed by both countries.

The demand for the withdrawal of troops came after Burmese troops crossed
the border and killed a Border Patrol Police officer on patrol near Pang
Saen Kruea village, a few kilometres from Doi Lang.

Ownership of Doi Lang, the former military stronghold of drug kingpin Khun
Sa, has been disputed by Thailand and Burma since the mid-1990s, after
Khun Sa surrendered to Rangoon and withdrew his forces from the rugged
terrain in Mae Ai district.

Several hundred troops from both sides are based in the area at 20
outposts, some just a few metres apart.

Sources said Burmese Prime Minister Soe Win would make an official visit
to Thailand in mid-May.

_____________________________________
BUSINESS

May 3, National Post / Financial Post (Canada)
True North hopes to trump Burma in ruby market: Triggered by U.S. Embargo
- Drew Hasselback

You often hear Canadian firms complain about U.S. trade policies, but a
Vancouver-based mining junior is hoping to benefit from a U.S. crackdown
on gem exports from Burma.

True North Gems Inc., which is developing several gemstone properties in
Canada and Greenland, has embraced trade sanctions against Burma as an
opportunity to promote its fledgling ruby business.

"The timing is perfect. It's auspicious," said William Rohtert, chief
operating officer of True North.

About 80% of the world's rubies come from Burma but they are no longer
welcome in the United States, whose government has banned all imports from
Burma, citing human rights abuses.

True North has a 5,500-hectare ruby exploration site in southern
Greenland. The property contains six deposits of corundum, the mineral
that contains rubies.

Mr. Rohtert is convinced trade sanctions against Burma will quickly lead
jewellers to consider alternative sources of supply.

"The [Greenland] rubies have the ability to rattle the global ruby trade,
to democratize the ruby trade the same way Canada democratized the diamond
business," Mr. Rohtert said.

True North is going through a long process of sampling the deposits to
study their potential value. It could take years before the Greenland
properties enter commercial production.

Mr. Rohtert expects the trade sanctions against Burma to create a
shortfall that will produce a robust market for rubies recovered during
the test sampling.

"The [Greenland] rubies have the ability to rattle the global ruby trade,
to democratize the ruby trade the same way Canada democratized the diamond
business," Mr. Rohtert said.

True North is going through a long process of sampling the deposits to
study their potential value. It could take years before the Greenland
properties enter commercial production.

Mr. Rohtert expects the trade sanctions against Burma to create a
shortfall that will produce a robust market for rubies recovered during
the test sampling.

"How soon can we supplant Burma? It might be a few years. But we begin to
generate stones this summer and will begin to sell them."

Rubies are one of the three gems True North is hoping to exploit in what
miners call the "coloured stone" business. It is exploring emerald
properties in Yukon Territory and Ontario. It also has a sapphire project
on Baffin Island.

The Greenland ruby play is the company's only project outside Canada, but
Mr. Rohtert hopes it will be a big part of the company's future.

World ruby production amounts to about 15 million carats of polished
stones a year, with the total value of those stones at about US$2-billion.

Jewellery retailer Tiffany and Co. last July received a letter from the
U.S. Customers and Border Protection agency ruling it could buy rubies
mined in Burma provided they undergo "substantial transformation" by being
cut and polished in other countries. Despite the green light, in March
Tiffany said it will shun gems from Burma.

Rubies are found where corundum is tinged with a hint of chromium, the
element that gives the stone its reddish hue. Sapphires are found in
corundum deposits that have a trace of titanium, which gives the gem a
bluish colour.

Canada suspended commercial relations with Burma in 1988 following a
military coup.

According to a Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Web
site: "Canadian policy does not encourage trade with, or investment in,
Burma." Ottawa also does not recognize the ruling military junta's
decision to change the country's name to Myanmar.

_____________________________________

May 3,  Mizzima News
Dhaka to Formulate Strategy on Gas Pipeline on May 16 - Siddique Islam

Dhaka: Dhaka will hold an inter-ministerial meeting on May 16 for a
strategy to get implemented its conditions on the proposed tri-nation gas
pipeline from Burma to India through Bangladesh.

The Commerce Minister, the State Minister for Energy Power and Mineral
Resources the Foreign Secretary and other high government officials will
take part in the meeting, already okayed by Prime Minister Begum Khaleda
Zia, official sources said.

State Minister for Energy, Power and Mineral Resources, AKM Mosharraf
Hossain, is hopeful about a successful outcome of the meeting.


After finalising the strategy, Bangladesh is expected to invite Indian Oil
and Petroleum Minister, Mani Shankar Aiyar, for a discussion on the
tri-nation gas pipeline project.

At a meeting of Energy Ministers of the three countries in Yangon on
January 12-13, Bangladesh agreed in principle to allow its territory for
laying of the pipeline, provided Delhi took steps to reduce the  trade gap
between India and Bangladesh and allowed Dhaka trade corridors and supply
of electricity from  Bhutan and Nepal.

A technical committee, comprising experts from the three countries,
prepared a draft MOU on February 24-25 in Yangon where Bangladesh again
made its position clear to India and Burma. India responded by asking
Bangladesh to prepare specific proposals.

Burma had earlier proposed Bangladesh to sit for the MOU signing meeting
on April 20-21, but Dhaka deferred the date awaiting the issues to be
settled with New Delhi.

The proposed gas pipeline will start from Arakan to enter the North-East
Indian states of Mizoram and Tripura. It will penetrate Bangladesh through
Brahmanbaria area and run to the Rajshahi border to reach Kolkata in
India.


The 181-mile pipeline will cost one billion dollars and the Bangladesh
part of the construction will involve 350 million dollars. Bangladesh is
expected to earn 125 million dollars a year as transit fee from both the
countries, sources estimated.

_____________________________________

May 2, Mizzima News
Indo-Burma trade office inaugurated - Surajit Khaund

In a bid to give a boost to the growing Indo-Burma trade, the Manipur
Government in the North East India has inaugurated a trade centre at
Porompot, near the state capital of Imphal.

The nine - million dollar trade centre was inaugurated by  Manipur chief
Minister, Okram Ibobi Singh, at a special function on Saturday last. The 
centre will have an information centre besides a wide range of items for
export to Burma and other South - East Asian countries.

While inaugurating the centre, Mr. Singh said  the new trade centre was
aimed at boosting the Indo-Burma trade, which had been gaining momentum
over the years.

"We should explore trade in Burmese market by way of involving the local
traders", he said. In this context, he informed that his government had
been encouraging the local traders to explore the Burmese market. " But
there should not be one sided trade, Myanmar should also reciprocate in
this regard", he added.

The chief minister said  he would soon request the Indian Commerce
Ministry to establish an international trade centre at Moreh, bordering
Burma, to gear up trade between the countries. " The Indian Government
should also remove all restrictions so that Burmese traders can visit our
areas without any fear", he added.

Manipur Commerce Minister, Mangi Singh, who was present at the function,
emphasised  on increasing  trade volume between India and Myanmar.

"The Indo-Burma trade has solved unemployment problem to some extent, and
so, we must encourage it ", he said. Mangi Singh also appealed to the
Indian Commerce Ministry to review the Indo-Myanmar trade pact, which was
signed in 1994.

_____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

May 3, Agence France Presse
EU to voice Myanmar concerns in first ministerial talks

Brussels: The EU will voice its concerns about democracy and human rights
in Myanmar including Aung San Suu Kyi's continued detention, at
unprecedented talks with the Yangon regime this week, officials said
Tuesday.

The European Union (EU)'s political leadership will meet Friday with the
military regime's top leaders in the sidelines of a two-day Asia-Europe
Meeting (ASEM) in Japan, the first such talks at a ministerial level.

"We will be discussing above all our concerns about the political
situation in the country," said Emma Udwin, spokeswoman for EU external
relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner.

These concerns include the detention of opposition leader Aung San Suu
Kyi, as well as "our wish to see a return to real political dialogue ...
and our continuing concerns about human rights," she added.

As well as Ferrero-Waldner, the EU will be represented at the talks by
Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn, whose country currently holds
the EU's rotating presidency.

EU foreign ministers last month renewed sanctions for a year against
Myanmar, which notably restrict travel by Burmese officials and prevent
investment in the country.

At the same time the EU has expanded its financial assistance to help
improve health, schooling and the environment for the people of Myanmar,
the EU's executive arm said.

This year some 30-35 million euros (39-45 million dollars) are earmarked
for the country, said an EU statement.

The EU-Myanmar meeting will come amid a brewing row over Myanmar's
scheduled chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN).

But both EU and the United States, which also has tough economic sanctions
on Myanmar, have warned they would boycott ASEAN meets if the forum's
policies were being steered by a country with a questionable track record.

The 25-member bloc last October bolstered sanctions against Yangon
originally put in place in 1996, after Myanmar failed to meet EU demands
for greater democraticization.

_____________________________________

May 3, Agence France Presse
Global dignitaries offer solidarity with Aung San Suu Kyi

Bangkok: A group of global dignitaries, including two Nobel Peace prize
winners, released Tuesday an open letter of solidarity to Myanmar's
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest.

The one-page open letter was signed by 13 people, including Nobel
laureates the Dalai Lama and FW de Klerk, as well as former Czech
president Vaclav Havel, South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Jordanian
Prince El Hassan bin Talal, and US financier George Soros.

"Everyone has something to say and, in his or her own way, something to
contribute. But you have been denied this basic right for a number of
years," read the letter to Aung San Suu Kyi.

"Internationally, your voice has become an inspiration for civil society
and it is a light in the darkness along the way to spiritual freedom," it
said.

"Indeed, the efforts to silence such a voice only make it louder. Please
know that we carry your voice in our hearts for all to hear," the letter
added.

Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate who has spent most of the last 15
years in some form of confinement, is under house arrest in Myanmar.

Her National League for Democracy won 1990 elections in a landslide, but
the country's military rulers never allowed her or her party to take
office.

The letter was the first undertaking of the Prague-based Shared Concern
Initiative, an informal group of political, religious and intellectual
leaders from around the world who want to promote good governance,
tolerance and respect for human rights.

The group said the letter was "a symbolic attempt to jointly break through
the totalitarian barriers erected so unfairly around you."

The group also invited Aung San Suu Kyi to join their effort "to form a
collective voice for truth, tolerance and transparency," the letter said.