BurmaNet News, May 6, 2005

[Editor]

May 6, 2005 Issue # 2713



INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Nine stage hunger strike at Insein Prison
SHAN: Junta: From forced labor to forced submission
SHAN: Army girl raped by army man
SHAN: Damage by storm not reported

ON THE BORDER
Xinhua: Myanmar to start building sale centers in border town

BUSINESS
AFX: SKorea's Daewoo International confirms gas deposits in Myanmar

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: EU pushes Myanmar to release Aung San Suu Kyi in first ministerial talks
AFP: Pro-Aung San Suu Kyi demo ahead of EU talks to pressure Myanmar
Irrawaddy: Australian volunteers recalled under pressure
AFP: China backs Thailand's Surakiart as next UN secretary general: official
AFP: Europeans signal no rush on lifting China arms embargo, suggest
rights link

______________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

May 6, Irrawaddy
Nine stage hunger strike at Insein Prison - Khun Sam

Nine political prisoners in Insein Prison in Burma, including one monk,
have been staging a hunger strike since April 28 to protest their
incarceration with criminals, according to a Burmese rights group in
exile.

The statement, issued Friday by the Thai-based Assistance Association for
Political Prisoners (Burma), said that the inmates launched the strike
when prison authorities ignored their demand for separation from
criminals. It added that the strikers were brutally beaten.

Two of the prisoners, Han Win Aung and Lwin Ko Latt, gave up drinking
water last weekend and are now too weak to walk. Both were sent to
Insein’s “dog cell,” where dogs trained by the Burmese military are
kenneled.

The AAPP closely monitors conditions at Insein through sources inside Burma.

Tate Naing, secretary of the AAPP, said that authorities intentionally put
the political prisoners together with criminals as a way of further
oppressing them. He added that authorities also routinely order the
criminals to harass political prisoners.

The statement also said that the health of the nine striking prisoners has
rapidly declined in recent days, and prison authorities have prohibited
all visits from family members.

According to AAPP, there are about 1,300 political prisoners currently
incarcerated in Burma’s jails.

______________________________________

May 6, Shan Herald Agency for News
Junta: From forced labor to forced submission

Burmese authorities, long condemned by the world for its forced labor
practices, are now turning to forced exchange of arms of the ceasefire
groups for a dictated peace, report sources from northern Shan State:

On 2 May, 2Lt Sai Hsu of the Shan State National Army's 6th Brigade in
Panghai, Mongmaw tract, Namtu township, and 10 men were surrounded by
Infantry Battalion 224 and told to surrender "if they did not wish to
endanger  their loved ones". They are now under custody at the 224th's
command post. A formal ceremony for their surrender will be held sometime
soon in the nearby town of Mongyen, said a SSNA headquarters staff member.

Two days later, another home of an SSNA officer, Capt Sai Hseng of 19th
Brigade in Nampawng, Lashio township, was raided by a party led by Col
Khin Maung Myint, Commander of Tangyan. 5 tons of assorted hard wood and 5
motorcycles, together with all the household furnishings were seized. His
house was then sealed up and Sai Hseng himself turned over to the police
to force him to "abandon the cause", he said.

Other sources also reported the raid on Son Mawk, SSNA's regular retreat
in Selan, Muse township, on the same day by Infantry Battalion 136, but no
one was found on the premises.

The SSNA's principal ally, Shan State Army "North", was not spared from
the "force-to-surrender" campaign either.

At 15:00, 4 May, two hours after Sai Hseng was taken, the home of Captain
Sai Gam of the SSA's crack First Brigade, in Tangyan was set upon by the
same raiding party and went through the same routine. "Even his plates and
bowls were taken away," said the source.

Apart from members of the SSA and the SSNA, civilian sympathizers and
supporters are also being rounded up, which an informed businessman in
Muse has dubbed as another type of "4-cuts" operations by Rangoon:
    * Cutting off patrons
    * Cutting off links to the populace
    * Cutting off sources of information
    * Cutting off movements

The classic "4 cuts" that became a household word during Rangoon's
campaign against the SSA "South", 1996-98, when 300,000 people, out of
whom at least 664 were extrajudicially killed, were evicted from their
homes in southern Shan State, includes cutting food, funds, intelligence
and recruits.

As for the Kachin Defense Army in Kutkhai township, despite earlier
reports that it would be forced to surrender like its forerunners, the
SSNA's 11th Brigade and the Palaung State Liberation Army, there are signs
that it might be let off. "It's likely the KDA and others that more or
less dance to the tune of the Burma Army, like the PNA (Pa-O Natinoal Army
of Aung Kham Hti) and NDA-K (National Democratic Army-Kachin of Sakhong
Tin Ring) may be used against more intransigent groups like the SSA, KIO
(Kachin Independence Organization) and the UWSA (United Wa State Army),"
said an SSA-North commander.

_____________________________________

May 6, Shan Herald Agency for News
Army girl raped by army man

A six-year old daughter of a military officer was found dead after she was
last seen accompanying another army man, report sources from Kunhing,
southern Shan State.

The victim was Hnin Indra Oo, daughter of Sgt Min Zaw Oo of Kunhing-based
Light Infantry Battalion 524. On 29 April, she was invited by Corporal Zaw
Min, 28, the battalion radio operator, to go along with him so he "could
buy sweets for her". Her lifeless remains were later found under a bridge
outside the command post after frantic search.

Her funeral was on 30 April. According to army sources, the area commander
had told his men: You can do whatever you like to Zaw Min except shoot
him.

The photo was taken at her funeral procession. Apart from her father, Hnin
Indra Oo had left behind her mother, Daw Win Mar.

According to Shan Human Rights Foundation and Shan Women's Action Network,
LIB 524 had actively taken part in the 4 cuts campaign in 1996-98 that saw
more than 300,000 people removed from their homes, 664 killed and a number
of women raped.
_____________________________________

May 6, Shan Herald Agency for News
Damage by storm not reported - Chai Sayam

On 28 April, heavy winds hit the coast in Ma-ubin district, Irrawaddy
Division, southwest of Rangoon.

A number of fishing boats were damaged and lost, said workers who were
hired to construct fish ponds in the area.

This has yet to be reported by the state media, wrote Chai Sayam from
Tachilek.

Xinhua reported on 4 May Burma is in the process of strengthening its
public information work about natural disasters.

_____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

May 6, Xinhua General News Service
Myanmar to start building sale centers in border town

Yangon: The Myanmar border trade authorities will start work later this
month on building brokers' sale centers on land plots allotted by the
government in the border trade zone of Muse linking China' Ruili, a local
journal reported in its latest issue.

Out of 180 such land plots allotted by the authorities, 82 have so far
been sold to traders engaged in border trade, the Flower News said,
quoting the Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Aiming to promote border trade with China, the Myanmar authorities
designated such land plots under four categories for sale at a price
ranging from 25 million Kyats (27,000 US dollars) to 45 million Kyats
(50,000 dollars) per acre (0.405 hectare) beginning last March.

The building of such sale centers will be jointly undertaken by three
private companies, according to the sources.

Myanmar has opened six border trade points with China, of which Muse
stands as the one with greater trade transactions. The country plans to
open more such points to further enhance bilateral trade with China.

Meanwhile, Myanmar has also been working to transform border trade to
normal trade to enhance bilateral trade between the two countries.

Bilateral economic and trade relations between Myanmar and China have
continued to develop in recent years.

According to Chinese official statistics, Myanmar-China bilateral trade,
including the border trade, reached 1.145 billion US dollars in 2004, up
6.3 percent from 2003. Of the total, China's exports to Myanmar took 938
million dollars, while its imports from Myanmar represented 207 million
dollars.

China has proposed an increase of bilateral trade volume with Myanmar to
1.5 billion dollars by the end of this year.

Myanmar's rich natural resources, including mining, agricultural and
forest products, have vast market in China, while Myanmar consumers like
Chinese goods.

Myanmar and China officially opened the border trade in 1988 and signed a
border trade agreement in 1994.

Meanwhile, under a framework agreement of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China initiated in 2002, China has unilaterally
cut import tariff on over 100 Myanmar products along with those of
Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

_____________________________________
BUSINESS

May 6, AFX
SKorea's Daewoo International confirms gas deposits in Myanmar

Seoul: Daewoo International Corp said it has found substantial gas
deposits in Shwe, Myanmar, and is likely to invest more in the region.

It said it plans to conduct another six test drillings in Shwe before June.

The company owns a 60-pct stake in the Myanmar A-1 project in Shwee with
Korea Gas Corp holding 10 pct and two Indian firms with the remaining
stakes.

As well as Myanmar, the firm is carrying out projects to develop gas
deposits in Oman and Vietnam.

It is also a member of a business consortium developing oil fields in Peru.

_____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

May 6, Agence France Presse
EU pushes Myanmar to release Aung San Suu Kyi in first ministerial talks

Kyoto: The European Union on Friday pushed Myanmar for the immediate
release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other detainees in the
25-nation bloc's first ministerial talks with the Yangon junta.

On the sidelines of an Asia-Europe Meeting, two top EU diplomats handed
Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win a list of prisoners which he agreed to
review, an official said.

European Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner and
Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn told him the detainees should
be immediately released "not just out of justice but out of humanitarian
concern as many on the list are ill," said Ferrero-Waldner's spokeswoman,
Emma Udwin.

"He undertook to consider the list," Udwin said. "It was a useful meeting."

"The point of this meeting was to make very clear face-to-face our
concerns about the situation in this country and to press for the release
of Aung San Suu Kyi and other prisoners," she said, without giving the
number of people on the list.

"We also underlined the need of rapidly moving toward democracy," she said.

It was the first time the EU leadership has met with the Yangon junta on
the level of foreign ministers, Udwin said.

She said the meeting was part of a European effort both to engage Myanmar
through aid but impose "targeted sanctions" aimed at pressuring the junta.

Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate, has spent most of the past 15
years in detention after her National League for Democracy won a landslide
victory in 1990 elections but was never allowed to take power.

She was released in May 2002 but growing tensions saw her back under house
arrest only a year later.

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

At the same time the EU and its member states have expanded financial
assistance to help improve health, schooling and the environment for the
people of Myanmar, totalling about 35 million euros (45 million dollars)
this year.

"We don't want ordinary people to suffer hardship," Udwin said.

Asselborn, in a meeting with his Japanese counterpart Nobutaka Machimura,
said there had been some opposition to holding the meeting with Myanmar in
Kyoto.

"There has been some argument about whether to hold a high-level meeting
with Myanmar which has the human rights issue," Asselborn said, as quoted
by a Japanese foreign ministry official.

But he said: "We need to send a message to Myanmar to release people
arrested for political reasons. The EU thinks it is not only giving
pressure but promoting dialogue."

As Nyan Win was driven to the venue of the talks in this historic Japanese
city, about 60 people from Myanmar dressed in traditional clothes and
straw hats yelled in chorus, "Free Aung San Suu Kyi right now. Peace and
freedom in Burma," and held up pictures of the opposition leader.

"We expect a lot from the ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting) because it is a great
opportunity to put extra pressure on the military regime," said Myint
Maung, 42, who took part in the demonstration under light rain.

"I hope Japan and ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) will
follow sanctions imposed by the EU, which will be really effective on the
money-stripped regime," he said.

Both the EU and the United States, which also has tough sanctions on
Myanmar, have warned that relations with ASEAN would be at risk if Yangon
takes the bloc's rotating chairmanship in 2006.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said after talks involving
ASEAN here that "there is plenty of time to see and discuss the matter" of
Myanmar's leadership.

"We will find a way ultimately," he told AFP.

_____________________________________

May 6, Agence France Presse
Pro-Aung San Suu Kyi demo ahead of EU talks to pressure Myanmar

Kyoto: Some 60 people from Myanmar staged a pro-democracy rally here
Friday ahead of the European Union's first ministerial talks with the
Yangon junta to push for the freedom of Aung San Suu Kyi.

EU diplomats are scheduled to meet Friday with the military regime's
foreign minister on the sidelines of a two-day Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM)
in Kyoto, Japan, the first such talks at a ministerial level.

The protesters, wearing ethnic clothes and straw hats, yelled in chorus,
"Free Aung San Suu Kyi right now. Peace and freedom in Burma" and held up
pictures of the democracy leader as a car brought Myanmar Foreign Minister
Nyan Win to the venue.

"We expect a lot from the ASEM meeting because it is a great opportunity
to put extra pressure on the military regime," said Myint Maung, 42, who
took part in the demonstration under light rain.

"Holding a demonstration in Kyoto is in fact very meaningful as Aung San
Suu Kyi studied in Kyoto University for one year about 20 years ago, so
people here still have a lot of sympathy for her," he told AFP.

"I hope Japan and ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) will
follow sanctions imposed by the EU, which will be really effective on the
money-stripped regime," he said.

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,
totaling some 30-35 million euros (39-45 million dollars) this year.

The European Commission said the talks Friday were the third part of the
strategy to pressure the regime.

"The third part is to try to step up dialogue in order to press the
message, including that we want to see the release of Aung San Suu Kyi,"
said Emma Udwin, spokeswoman for European External Affairs Commissioner
Benita Ferrero-Waldner.

She said the Europeans would also push for more accessibility to Myanmar,
such as more freedom of movement for non-governmental organizations.

The EU-Myanmar meeting comes amid a row over Myanmar's scheduled
chairmanship of ASEAN in 2006.

Both the EU and the United States, which also has tough sanctions on
Myanmar, have warned that relations with ASEAN would be at risk if Yangon
takes the bloc's rotating leadership.

Myanmar joined ASEM -- meant to expand Asian and European ties in a forum
without the United States -- last year at a summit in Vietnam.

_____________________________________

May 6, Irrawaddy
Australian volunteers recalled under pressure - Yeni

An Australian NGO providing volunteers to advocacy groups in Thailand has
recalled two of its volunteers after pressure from the Australian aid
agency AusAID.

The two volunteers are Toe Zaw Latt and Zetty Brake, both from Australia.

They had been assigned to the overseas programs of the Australian
Volunteers International, the country's largest and most experienced
international volunteer agency.

AVI has been actively sending volunteers to overseas countries such as
Thailand. Some volunteers work in Burma-related  projects established
along the Thailand-Burma border.

The AVI received a letter from AusAID on March 18 telling it to cease
using Australian Government funding for these placements. According to AVI
sources, AVI was contractually obliged to act on this instruction without
delay.

AusAID made it clear in its letter that there was no concern whatsoever
regarding the quality of the volunteers’ work, but that it was not
appropriate to finance the assignments through the volunteer program
funded by the Australian Government.

A senior officer at AVI told The Irrawaddy that his institution was
suprised and disappointed by the development.

According to senior AVI staff, AVI is currently exploring the feasibility
of providing limited support to the placements using funding from an
alternative source, namely independently raised funds, and hopes to be
able to clarify soon whether this will be possible.

AusAID is an Australian Government agency under the Department of Foreign
Affairs and Trade, and manages the Australian Government's official
overseas aid program.

Not only the AVI, but also the two volunteers were dismayed to learn of
the decision.

Toe Zaw Latt, who is currently a research associate at Burma Fund, accused
AusAID, which has been allowed to open an office in Rangoon, of appeasing
the regime. He said the decision to recall him and Zetty Brake could have
been made for a “political reason.”

"The Australian government wants to cut the relationship with
pro-democracy advocacy groups,” he said. He said he would not return to
Australia.

Some observers in Thailand maintain that Australia does not want to upset
Bangkok, which previously did not want foreign NGOs funding and the
provision of assistance to Burmese groups along the border. But several
sources in Thailand confirmed that many AVI volunteers still continue to
work in Thailand.

Australia’s policy on Burma remains controversial. Since 2001, the
Australian government has supported human rights training in Burma in
order "to expose Burmese officials and others to Burma’s human rights
obligations under international law."

Dissidents, however, have condemned the training program, claiming it is
ineffective and is only directed at military government officials.

The program was shelved in June 2003 after the Depayin incident, in which
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and a convoy of her supporters were
ambushed by pro-government thugs during a political tour she was making of
the north.

The experienced Australian journalist Philip Thornton, who is based on the
Burma-Thailand border, commenting on the issue, described Australian
foreign policy as very naïve at one level and duplicitous at another.

_____________________________________

May 6, Agence France Presse
China backs Thailand's Surakiart as next UN secretary general: official

Kyoto: China has thrown its support behind Surakiart Sathirathai of
Thailand to succeed Kofi Annan as secretary general when his term ends
next year, a Japanese official said in 38-nation talks Friday.

Surakiart, the deputy prime minister, is backed by the 10-nation Southeast
Asian bloc ASEAN to become the first Asian to head the world body in three
and a half decades.

Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing called for support for Surakiart
during a meeting here of top diplomats from ASEAN, China, Japan and South
Korea, according to a Japanese foreign ministry official privy to the
talks.

But Japan and South Korea were both non-committal on who should be the
next secretary general, the official said.

Li, whose country is one of five veto-wielding permanent members of the UN
Security Council, was quoted as telling the meeting: "Asia must send the
next secretary general of the United Nations and China supports Surakiart
of Thailand."

But Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said only: "I favor the
idea of sending a secretary general from Asia. We should plan ahead and
reach a consensus not only for Asia but the world."

Thailand is pushing hard on Surakiart's candidacy. He was foreign minister
until March, when Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra gave him the largely
inactive post of deputy prime minister to press ahead with his UN
aspirations.

He would be only the second secretary general of the world body from Asia
after U Thant of Myanmar, then known as Burma, who served from 1961 to
1971.

Top diplomats from 38 Asian and European nations including Thai Foreign
Minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon are meeting for two days in Kyoto, Japan
on a range of issues including North Korea's nuclear aspirations,
Myanmar's military junta and reform of the United Nations.

Japan is aggressively lobbying for a permanent seat on the Security
Council whose makeup is based on the power dynamics at the end of World
War II.

_____________________________________

May 6, Agence France Presse
Europeans signal no rush on lifting China arms embargo, suggest rights link

Kyoto: European leaders signaled Friday they were in no rush to lift an
arms embargo on China and could tie it to improvements in human rights,
amid criticism that the move would destabilize East Asia.

Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing used a 38-nation meeting of senior
Asian and European diplomats in Kyoto, Japan to press for an end to the
ban, which was imposed after the 1989 massacre of democracy protesters in
Beijing.

But European leaders meeting with him bilaterally said it was uncertain
the embargo would be lifted as China had hoped under Luxembourg's
presidency of the 25-nation bloc, which ends on June 30.

"We have still more than one month and a half. I don't know if we can lift
or we are not able to lift," Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn
told reporters after talks with Li.

Speaking later after talks with his Japanese counterpart Nobutaka
Machimura who reiterated Tokyo's opposition to ending the ban, Asselborn
said a decision could come when emotions "are not so strong."

"We do not want to offend our friends in the region or to destabilize any
region in the world," he said.

He said the European Union could draft "an advanced code of conducts" in
exchange for resuming weapons sales.

"People have to know that lifting the embargo does not mean it will be
replaced by nothing," Asselborn said.

"Human rights can be included in the code of conduct," he said.

China has lobbied for the embargo to be lifted before the rotating EU
presidency shifts in July to Britain, which is seen as less enthusiastic
about the idea.

But Margherita Boniver, Italy's minister of state for foreign affairs,
said no dates were mentioned during her meeting with Li.

"Dates were not discussed. They didn't mention any dates," she told AFP.
"I don't think there's a set date for that at all."

France has been the prime supporter of lifting the ban, saying the move
would be primarily symbolic and recognize China's growing global clout.

The United States and Japan argue that lifting the ban could tip the power
balance in Asia at a time that China is stepping up military spending and
would send the wrong signal to China on its rights record.

The United States is not part of the Asia-Europe Meeting, which was
founded in 1996 as a way to increase dialogue between the regions away
from Washington's strong influence.

The meeting came as North Korea defies the world by refusing to rejoin
dialogue aimed at convincing Pyongyang to scrap its nuclear weapons drive,
and South Korea asked for China to play a "more proactive role."

"We believe China has the biggest influence. We believe that they can do
more," said Park Joon-Woo, South Korea's director general for Asia and
Pacific affairs.

But the Chinese foreign minister defended the diplomacy on North Korea, an
isolated nation which relies on Beijing as its main source of aid, fuel
and political support.

"China has done a very good job. But China alone is not enough," Li told
reporters after talks with his South Korean counterpart Ban Ki-Moon.

"He explained that outsiders believe that China has a bigger influence
over North Korea but actually their influence over North Korea is
limited," Park said.

The Kyoto meeting will also provide a chance for China and South Korea to
hold talks with Japan on deteriorating relations.

China and South Korea, which suffered brutal occupations by Japan up to
1945, accuse Tokyo of whitewashing its World War II atrocities through the
approval last month of a nationalist textbook.

Beijing is opposed to Tokyo's bid for a permanent seat on the United
Nations Security Council and Li said he discussed UN reform with his
European and South Korean counterparts.

Separately, the European Union will hold its first ministerial level talks
in Kyoto with Myanmar as part of pressure on the military junta to free
Nobel laureate and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.