BurmaNet News, May 7-9, 2005

[Editor]

May 7-9, 2005 Issue # 2714


INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Deadly bomb blasts in Myanmar reflect split in military: dissidents
AFP: News blackout on Myanmar bomb victims, official toll seen as too low
Irrawaddy: Many more than 11 thought dead in Rangoon bomb attacks
AP: Myanmar dissidents deny role in bombings that killed at least 11,
wounded 162
Nation: Three bomb blasts rock Rangoon
AFP: Military's claims doubted on Myanmar blast

ON THE BORDER
SHAN: Wa bucking up for new showdown

BUSINESS / FINANCE
Kyodo News Service: Myanmar signs energy concession contracts with Indian
firm

ASEAN
AP via Irrawaddy: Asean leaders seek consensus on Burma
Bangkok Post: Senators do not want Burma to chair Asean

REGIONAL
Mizzima: 200 Burmese migrants arrested in Thailand border

INTERNATIONAL
AFP via Taipei Times: EU official chides on Myanmar

PRESS RELEASE
NCGUB: NCGUB condemns junta for making 'political profit' out of bomb blasts

______________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

May 9, Agence France Presse
Deadly bomb blasts in Myanmar reflect split in military: dissidents

A string of deadly bomb blasts in Myanmar at the weekend may have been
masterminded by followers of sacked ex-premier Khin Nyunt and reflects a
growing split in the military, a dissident group said.

Khin Nyunt, detained by the military junta in a brutal purge in October,
was the head of a powerful military intelligence unit, which was disbanded
and led to the imprisonment of thousands of its members.

"The explosions, which occurred within five minutes of each other, must be
the work of those with professional military experience and linked to
military intelligence people close to General Khin Nyunt," said Aung Din,
policy director at the US Campaign for Burma, a US-based global group
fighting to restore democracy in Myanmar.

Aung Din, a human rights activist who served over four years as a
political prisoner in Myanmar, said his theory of Saturday's blasts, which
hit two upscale shopping centers and a convention hall, was based on
information received from several groups in Myanmar.

"There are many of Khin Nyunt's men in the intelligence unit who are still
at large and there are also some in the combat forces who are still loyal
to Kim Nyunt and not happy with Than Shwe's handling of the affair," he
said.

Senior General Than Shwe is the head of the military junta, which has
imposed a news blackout on casualties from the blasts after an official
report said they had left 11 people dead.

Within hours of the bombings -- the worst to hit Yangon in decades --
witnesses at the three blast sites said they saw dozens dead, including
many with severed limbs and heads, and many more wounded.

Senior officials in Myanmar's neighbour Thailand had said 21 people, all
Myanmar nationals, were killed in the blasts as security in Yangon was
beefed up amid fears of new attacks.

The junta swiftly blamed the attacks on an alliance of ethnic rebel groups
and pro-democracy exiles.

"We are against violence and will not do such a thing, killing innocent
civilians," Aung Din said.

He believed Khin Nyunt's faction might have wanted to convey a "message"
to the junta by targeting the blasts on buildings occupied mostly by those
linked to the military and frequented by relatives of Myanmar's elite.

Some Myanmar observers have suggested the junta could have staged the
attack itself, to offer justification for its heavy security and to
counter western demands for democratic reforms by arguing that internal
security remains the top priority.

Myanmar claims it has undertaken a seven-step democracy "roadmap",
beginning with the drafting of a new constitution, but it has been derided
by the international community as a sham.


May 9, Agence France Presse
News blackout on Myanmar bomb victims, official toll seen as too low

Yangon: Military-ruled Myanmar has imposed a blackout on news of
casualties from Saturday's bomb blasts after official reports of 11 dead,
but concern mounted Monday that the toll was substantially higher.

Security throughout the capital was also boosted amid fears of new
attacks, with businesses ordered shuttered by 6:00 pm and stringent new
measures put in place at government offices and banks.

Doctors at Yangon General Hospital, the capital's largest, admitted they
had been ordered not to speak to journalists about the numbers of dead, as
others who had witnessed the blasts said it was unlikely that all 162
declared wounded had survived the bombings at two shopping malls and a
trade centre.

"A news blackout has been imposed," one doctor at the hospital told AFP.

A senior health official compiling data from the blast added to the secrecy.

"We are in no position to say anything at this point," he said when asked
if the toll had risen.

Myanmar's junta routinely restricts information on sensitive incidents
such as bombings, clashes between authorities and the pro-democracy
opposition and even natural disasters if it feels the data would further
harm the isolated government's reputation.

Senior Thai officials in Bangkok said Monday 21 people, all Myanmar
nationals, were killed in the blasts.

"The death toll increased from 11 to 21, with 40 seriously injured and
several others with minor injuries," a member of Thailand's National
Security Council told AFP after the council was briefed on the Yangon
attacks.

A Western diplomat voiced scepticism about the official toll.

"Do these figures represent reality or just the start of reality? We do
not know," the diplomat told AFP.

"The toll might have changed but there have been no official communiques
yet."

Within hours of the multiple bombings -- the worst to hit Yangon in
decades -- witnesses at the three blast sites said they saw dozens of
dead, including many with severed limbs and heads, and many more wounded.

"I saw several truckloads of injured being taken away" from Junction Eight
shopping centre, where one of the bombs exploded at a grocery store, the
owner of a nearby shop said.

He said police who had used his shop to phone in reports immediately after
the blast put the preliminary Junction Eight death toll at six, but he
added that the figure almost certainly climbed, especially given the grave
condition of the wounded.

Private clinics nearby were also ordered by government officials not to
treat the blast victims but instead send all wounded to government
hospitals, the shopowner said.

"I am sure the government figure is very, very much deflated," he said.

Officials at eastern Yangon's North Okkalapa hospital, the other main
facility taking bomb casualties, stuck to the junta's toll of three dead
at that hospital.

Yangon General had reported eight dead. On Sunday a doctor there said all
162 wounded were in good condition, but did not elaborate.

Extra security had been posted at the two hospitals and some hospital
staff at Yangon General told AFP they were under government orders to
refuse to let family members transfer injured relatives to private
hospitals.

Authorities, who have blamed the attacks on an alliance of ethnic rebel
groups and pro-democracy exiles, have ordered all shopping centres in
Yangon to remain closed this week.

Compounding the tension, large businesses such as stores and restaurants
were also ordered closed Monday by 6:00 pm, with late-night trade
forbidden until further notice, a restaurant owner told AFP.

Security was also tightened at state-run banks and government offices,
where employees were being subjected to searches.

The blast sites remained closed off, although shopkeepers at Junction
Eight were allowed inside to assess damage to their property.

Buddhist monks were also brought in to conduct a cleansing ceremony to rid
the site of evil spirits after Saturday's carnage.

______________________________________

May 9, Irrawaddy
Many more than 11 thought dead in Rangoon bomb attacks

The military government in Burma has accused ethnic and dissident groups
of being behind the bomb attack in downtown Rangoon on Saturday. Official
government figures put the death toll at 11 with a further 162 injured,
though eyewitness reports suggest the actual number of deaths may top 100.

The ruling junta claims the bombing was the combined work of Karen, Shan
and Karenni groups as well as the self-styled Burmese government in exile
known as National Coalition Government of Union of Burma (NCGUB). The
groups have denied the charge and pointedly denounced the killing of
civilians.

Colonel Yord Serk, leader of the Shan State Army (South) based along the
Thai-Burma border, dismissed the military government’s claims, saying “an
ethnic group would not do something that targeted the public. An ethnic
group pays more attention to government officials. I believe it [the
bombing] resulted from conflicts within the junta.”

Sources in Rangoon have voiced concern that more deaths are likely as
hospitals are ill-equipped to provide immediate medical attention on such
a large scale. One visitor to Rangoon General Hospital today told The
Irrawaddy by phone that it was “the most sickening thing I have ever
seen—dead, wounded and bloody monks, women, children piled up on gurneys
and on the floor of a third world hospital.”

An eyewitness estimated that at least 25 had been killed at the Yangon
[Rangoon] Trade Center blast alone, while it took the first ambulance 45
minutes to arrive on the scene. “The ambulances came very late,” he said.
“Some people simply wrapped their wounds with plastic bags and ran [to the
hospital].”

State-run Burmese TV showed Prime Minister Soe Win and Secretary 1 Lt-Gen
Thein Sein visiting hospitals to meet blast victims.

Security has been tightened at hospitals where the wounded are being
treated and family members wanting to move patients to private hospitals
have been denied. A veteran reporter in Rangoon said the government wanted
to control information about all causalities and described there being “a
complete blackout of information.”

A Rangoon resident commented that the bombings were “the work of the
people with resources, knowledge and lack of scruples,” and many observers
doubt the ethnic groups based along Thai border have the capacity to
infiltrate the capital and carry out such sophisticated attacks.

______________________________________

May 9, Associated Press
Myanmar dissidents deny role in bombings that killed at least 11, wounded
162 – Aye Aye Win

Opposition groups in Myanmar are denying involvement in weekend blasts
that killed at least 11 people and wounded 162 in the worst bombings in
the capital in decades.

Myanmar's military junta is blaming ethnic rebel groups, including the
Karen National Union and the Shan State Army, and exiled dissidents in the
National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma for the attacks.
Myanmar was formerly known as Burma.

State television said "terrorists" trying to disrupt "stability and
tranquility" were responsible for Saturday's bomb blasts at two upscale
City Mart supermarkets and the Yangon Convention Center, where a Thai
trade fair was being held.

The exiled NCGUB and other opposition groups on Sunday denied involvement,
saying instead that the government was behind the blasts. Sann Aung, an
NCGUB minister, said the bombings were a campaign of "state terrorism
against the people."

"We're never involved in terrorism and also we are never involved in bomb
blasts," Sann Aung told The Associated Press. `

U Lwin, spokesman for the National League for Democracy led by Nobel Peace
Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, said he strongly condemned "this cowardly
attack on innocent people."

"This is the worst bombing incident I ever recall in more than 40 years
(in Myanmar), and this is the job of professionals," U Lwin said. Suu Kyi
has been under house arrest in Yangon most recently since mid-2003.

The official New Light of Myanmar newspaper said terrorists had planted a
"time bomb" in a bag under seats at an entertainment venue on the third
floor of the convention center, and left explosive devices in bags at the
front counters of the supermarkets.
Thailand's state news agency on Sunday put the death toll at 20, but that
number couldn't be immediately confirmed. Myanmar's official media put the
death toll at 11, though the reports didn't say how many were killed at
each site.

Earlier, television showed smashed storefront windows and blood-splattered
floors, while an official warned the public to be alert for further
unrest.

"It is not safe to go to crowded places any more," said a 45-year-old
woman visiting Yangon's Shwedagon pagoda. "I'll tell my children not to go
to cinema or visit markets and crowded places."

At the convention center, three people from Myanmar including a Buddhist
monk were killed while several Thais were hurt when people stampeded out
of the hall following the blasts, witnesses said.

On Sunday, a Thai C-130 military transport plane evacuated 122 Thais who
attended the trade show, the state-run Thai News Agency reported.

The blasts came less than two weeks after a bombing at a market in the
northern city of Mandalay killed two women and wounded 15 people. The
junta blamed that attack previously the most deadly bombing in recent
years on unidentified rebels.

Myanmar has been ruled by the military for more than four decades. The
current regime took power in 1988 after crushing a pro-democracy uprising.
The junta keeps tight control over the population and anti-government
violence is rare, often bringing quick and severe punishment.

______________________________________

May 8, The Nation
Three bomb blasts rock Rangoon

Junta blames rebels for explosions that killed 11; Thai plane to evacuate
nationals attending trade fair

Burma's military government said at least 11 people were killed in three
bomb explosions that rocked the capital yesterday, but witnesses said
dozens of people had died in the unprecedented attacks.

The near-simultaneous mid-afternoon blasts targeted two packed upscale
shopping centres, the Dagon and Junction Eight, and the downtown Yangon
Trade Centre in the worst attacks since the junta took power 40 years ago.

State radio and officials at two Rangoon hospitals confirmed that 11
people had died. The radio station said 163 people were injured, while
Yangon General Hospital reported more than 200 hurt.

One of the bombs went off at the Yangon Convention Centre, where the
Export Promotion Department was holding a Thai trade show.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said yesterday he had ordered a C-130
cargo plane to bring home Thai citizens participating in the trade show.

"I have assigned [deputy prime minister] Surakiart Sathirathai to
coordinate with the Burmese foreign ministry to collect Thai nationals,
who are now under the supervision of the Burmese government," Thaksin
said.

The Thai military plane will leave today to bring home the more than 200
Thais who were participating in the trade fair, he said.

The bomb at the Yangon Trade Centre exploded in front of a stage where
models were showcasing Thai beauty products.

No Thai nationals were killed or injured, Deputy Commerce Minister Suriya
Lapwisuthisin said, but a security guard reportedly saw some Thais get
hurt when people stampeded out of the hall.

Chantra Purnariksha, director-general of the Export Promotion Department,
stressed that the explosions had nothing to do with Thailand.

Burma's ruling junta blamed three ethnic rebel armies and an exile
pro-democracy group for the deadly bomb blasts, calling the perpetrators
"terrorists" who were acting "with the objective of disrupting stability
and tranquillity", state television reported.

The rebel Karen National Union, the Shan State Army-South, and the Karenni
National Progressive Party, as well as a government-in-exile known as the
National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma were fingered by
authorities, state television said.

So far, no one has claimed responsibility for the explosions.

"We cannot say how many people are dead, but we have received about 200
injured people," an emergency-services official at Yangon General Hospital
said.

"I counted as many as 20 people dead, some of them with their heads
missing and their limbs missing," a witness who survived the blast at the
upscale Dagon shopping centre in central Rangoon said.

A witness at a second blast site, at Junction 8 shopping cen-tre 13
kilometres north of the city centre, said she had count-ed "at least 40
bodies being brought out of the building", where two bombs exploded at
about 3pm.

A survivor of the Dagon blast recalled panicked efforts to escape the
building after the blast.

Burma has seen numerous small and medium-sized bomb attacks since late
last year.

_____________________________________

May 8, Agence France Presse
Military's claims doubted on Myanmar blast - Pascale Trouillaud

Myanmar watchers produced conflicting explanations Sunday for the
unprecedented attacks on the capital, but all managed to agree on one
thing - the junta's claim that ethnic rebels and pro-democracy exiles
staged the deadly blasts was not credible.

Bombs hit two upscale shopping centers and a convention hall almost
simultaneously Saturday afternoon. Authorities issued an official toll of
11 dead and 162 injured, but witnesses told AFP that dozens were killed.

Within hours the junta blamed an alliance of "terrorist" ethnic rebels and
pro-democracy exiles for the worst attack on Yangon since the military
took power more than 40 years ago.

Observers could provide no consensus on who was behind the blasts, but
agreed that the military's claims were not credible and that the attacks
represented a dramatic escalation of unrest in Myanmar.

Up to now, the country's cities had seen only small bombs that rarely
caused casualties.

Authorities accused the rebel Karen National Union, the Shan State
Army-South, and the Karenni National Progressive Party, as well as a
government in exile known as the National Coalition Government of the
Union of Burma, state television said.

The KNU, the SSA-South, and the KNPP denied responsibility, and experts
dismissed the claim published in the official New Light of Myanmar
newspaper that the blasts were "perpetrated in collusion by the
terrorists."

The three ethnic armies, fighting for autonomy for their regions, have
never worked together, nor have the pro-democracy dissidents in exile ever
joined with the armed rebels, experts said.

"The (junta) made its allegation in such a short time, it was not backed
up by evidence," said Chin Sian Thang, president of an ethnic Zomi party
and a member of the pro-democracy Committee Representing People's
Parliament in Yangon.

Among the possible explanations proposed by analysts were that the blasts
were set by radical ethnic fighters from the border areas, or by the
military itself, or that the bombs were some sort of internal
score-settling, or even a flare-up of Islamic extremism.

The first theory carried the most weight.

"It could be fringe elements, radicals along the border. I am almost
certain they would have done it without the agreement of the mainstream
groups," one analyst in Yangon said.

"It could be any groups, the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors or others",
explains the analyst, referring to a group that the junta considers
terrorists and that claimed responsibility for small bomb at a hotel in
March.

The radical group was behind an embassy hostage drama in Bangkok five
years ago.

Some observers also said the attacks could have been staged by followers
of former prime minister Khin Nyunt, who was sacked and detained in a
brutal purge in October.

Khin Nyunt was also the head of the powerful Military Intelligence, which
was disbanded and thousands of its members imprisoned in the purge.

"You could imagine that this was a score-settling by followers of Khin
Nyunt," a western diplomat said. "But that seems unrealistic to me. The
repression (of his followers) was too great."

Other observers suggested that the junta could have staged the attack
itself, to offer justification for its heavy security around the country
and to counter western demands for democratic reforms by arguing the
internal security remains the top priority.
A few suggested that Al-Qaeda-style Islamic radicals could have set the
bombs.

"Islamic terrorism is also a possibility," the diplomat said, noting that
Myanmar was the missing link between extremist groups in South Asia and in
Southeast Asia, and that Muslims in Myanmar face persecution.

But like all observers, he remained cautious.

"Right now, none of the theories stand out. It's too soon to tell."

_____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

May 9, SHAN
Wa bucking up for new showdown

Amid reports of clamor over unprecedented bomb blasts in the capital, the
United Wa State Army is speeding up for its 4th attack on the Shan State
Army stronghold opposite Maehongson, according to sources from the border:

Some 50 off-roaders carrying Wa troops arrived in Khailong, the UWSA's
forward headquarters near the SSA's Loi Taileng, across Maehongson's Pang
Mapha district, at pre-dawn hours on Saturday, 7 May. Another contingent
of 10 ten-wheel trucks, two of which were draped in thick canvas sheets,
also passed through Mongton, opposite Chiangmai, on its way to the
battlefield in the west, on the same day. "We heard they were bringing in
new weapons," said a Shan source close to the Wa.

The estimated 800 fresh fighters are replacements for the casualties
sustained during previous engagements that began in March, he added.

According to SSA reports, the Wa have already suffered some 700 casualties
against the SSA's 73:

Date of clashes 		SSA	 		UWSA
* KIA 	**WIA 		KIA 	WIA
13 - 22 March 		2 	2 		n.a. 	n.a.
1 - 5 April 		2 	15 		est. 40 	est. 40
12-14 April 		3 	21 		113 	163
24 - 26 April 		5 	13	 	162 	157
Total	 		12 	51 		315 	360

* KIA = Killed in Action ** WIA = Wounded in Action

The Burma Army that is believed to have assisted the UWSA with heavy
weapons support during the previous assaults has reportedly denied the
charges. On 24 April, Maj-Gen Khin Maung Myint, Commander of the
Taunggyi-based Eastern Region command, told a public meeting in Homong,
opposite Maeghongson's Muang district, the Army was not involved in the
SSA-UWSA conflict. "We have not taken part in it although our assistance
was eagerly sought out by the Wa," he was quoted as saying. (Two days
earlier, Burma's information minister Kyaw Hsan, speaking at the press
conference, maintained the Army was not involved in the ongoing clashes
between the Karenni National Progressive Party and the pro-Rangoon Karenni
militia. "They are fighting among themselves," he said.)

A former Shan commander visiting the border town of Tachilek commented
that the Wa have been under heavy pressure since the announcement by the
US Justice Department on 24 January of the indictment of 8 of its top
leaders, that included Wei Hsuehkang, de facto commander of the UWSA's
171st Regional Army attacking the SSA, and Bao Youxiang, its supreme
commander. "They are also hoping to clear their reputation by 26 June, the
day Bao has been promising to declare Wa areas along the Chinese border
drug free," he said. "They believe the defeat of Sao Yawdserk (The SSA
leader) would add credit as well as another liberated area of their own
along the Thai-Burma border."

Sources however claim the drug entrepreneurs, taking advantage of the
all-out attention given to the fighting along the border, are running the
blockade placed by Thai border patrols. An insider source confirmed that
800 blocks (280 kg) of heroin was successfully delivered across the border
between Mongton and Chiangmai's Fang district on 1 May. The current price
in Mongton is 280,000 baht ($ 7,000) per kilogram. The goods had
reportedly came out of the Wa refinery in Hoyawd, east of Mongton.

_____________________________________
BUSINESS / FINANCE

May 9, Kyodo News Service
Myanmar signs energy concession contracts with Indian firm

Myanmar has signed energy contracts with Essar Oil Ltd., allowing the
Indian company to explore for oil and natural gas at offshore and onshore
blocks in western Rakhine State, official media reported Monday.

Hsan Lwin, managing director of the state-owned Myanma Oil and Gas
Enterprise (MOGE), and Essar Oil Managing Director A. N. Sinha signed
production-sharing contracts Saturday for the exploration in the offshore
block A-2 (off the western Rakhine coast) and the onshore block L (in the
Rakhine coastal region), the New Light of Myanmar reported.

Energy Minister Brig. Gen. Lun Thi, Minister for Social Welfare, Relief
and Resettlement Maj. Gen. Sein Htwa, Attorney General Aye Maung, Indian
Ambassador to Myanmar R. K. Bhatia and Essar Oil President A. N. Sinha
witnessed the signing ceremony at the Sedona Hotel in Yangon.

The report did not further elaborate on the contracts.

Essar is the first foreign company to sign an onshore oil and gas
production agreement with Myanmar since the government announced in March
that all onshore blocks would be reserved for MOGE in the future.

It was not immediately known how Essar won the contract for the onshore
block despite that ban.

The last time Myanmar awarded a production-sharing contract for onshore
exploration was in January this year to a Chinese-Singaporean consortium.

According to MOGE, the offshore block A-2 won by Essar, covering more than
1,336 square kilometers, is adjoining in the west to block A-1, which
holds a commercially viable natural gas reserve of up to 11 trillion cubic
feet.

The block A-1 has been undertaken by South Korea's Daewoo International
Corp. in partnership with three other foreign oil companies since 2000.

The Daewoo holds a 60 percent stake in the A-1, while (South) Korea Gas
Corp. 10 percent, India's ONGC Videsh Ltd. 20 percent and Gas Authority of
India Ltd. (GAIL) 10 percent.

Myanmar has signed dozens of oil and gas exploration and production
contracts with foreign companies, mostly for offshore gas operations,
since the country began to allow foreign investment in 1988.

Myanmar has 46 onshore oil and gas fields, and 25 offshore fields,
according to Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise.

About 40 percent of the country's export earnings come from natural gas
exports to Thailand.

_____________________________________
ASEAN

May 9, Associated Press via Irrawaddy
Asean leaders seek consensus on Burma - Ray Lilley

Wellington: Southeast Asia’s regional bloc hasn’t yet agreed if it should
appoint Burma chairman next year, Vietnam’s prime minister said Monday, as
regional leaders decide whether to shun military-ruled Burma over its
rights record.

Phan Van Khai said that leaders in the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations “are trying to find a solution based on consensus” in a row that
has seen some members demand Burma be blocked from heading the group.

Burma is scheduled to take over the rotating Asean chairmanship in 2006.
International pressures have mounted on Asean to block the move due to the
failure of Burma military rulers to undertake promised democratic changes
and improve human rights.

But Khai declined to commit his government to any stance on the matter
before Asean announces its decision.

“For Vietnam, the answer will be given to the wider region in the near
future,” he said without elaborating.

The junta took power in 1988 after brutally crushing a pro-democracy
movement. In 1990, it refused to hand over power when the National League
for Democracy party, led by Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, won a
landslide victory in general elections. Suu Kyi has been under house
arrest for much of the past 14 years.

Earlier this year New Zealand Foreign Minister Phil Goff suggested Asean
could send a signal to Burma by refusing to allow it to host meetings if
the military government takes over the group’s chairmanship, to indicate
“concern ... about the lack of progress toward the restoration of
democratic processes and human rights there.”

Separately, New Zealand announced a 340 percent hike in aid for Vietnam
—from 3 million New Zealand dollars (US $2.2 million; €1.7 million) in
2004-2005 to more than NZ $10 million in 2007-2008.

Khai, on a tour to boost trade and investment ties in the region, arrived
in New Zealand from Australia at the weekend.

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said her country planned to support
Vietnam’s bid to join the World Trade Organization.

It was “very important” to have Vietnam in the international “rules-based
trading system,” she said. Vietnam wants to complete its WTO accession
negotiations by December 2005.

_____________________________________

May 9, Bangkok Post
Senators do not want Burma to chair Asean - Surasak Tumcharoen

The chairman of the Senate committee on foreign affairs, Kraisak
Choonhavan, and 77 other senators have sponsored an urgent motion to air
their opposition to Burma serving as the Asean chairman.

Mr Kraisak announced yesterday he and his colleagues had asked Senate
Speaker Suchon Chaleekrua to quickly hold a debate on the issue and voice
strong objection among the senior legislators to the planned nomination of
Burma as rotating Asean chairman next year.

Mr Kraisak said the Burmese government had violated human rights, failed
to promote national reconciliation with various ethnic groups in the
country and failed to release democracy fighter Aung San Suu Kyi from
detention, while security measures were sadly lacking as witnessed by the
explosion at a Thai trade fair in Rangoon on Saturday.

He said Burma was not the proper choice for Asean chairmanship, given the
current economic, social and political situation inside the country.

``Thailand, which is one of Asean's founding members, has been much
criticised by the international community over Asean's constructive
engagement policy on Burma, which so far has failed to resolve the
political crisis inside Burma or tackle human rights violations and
poverty there since Burma joined Asean in 1997,'' Mr Kraisak said in the
two-page motion.

The Thaksin administration should join the governments of the Philippines,
Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia in expressing disapproval at Burma being
named as head of the community, the senator said.

_____________________________________
REGIONAL

May 8, Mizzima
200 Burmese migrants arrested in Thailand border - Suu Mya Mya Soe

More than two hundred Burmese illegal migrants have been arrested by the
local Thai authorities at the Thai-Burmese border town of Ranong.

The arrest, which took place at Saphan Palang of Ranong, also includes
some Burmese who have crossed the border legally and have work permits.

Taking temporary shelter in the Thai - Burma border, the arrested Burmese
migrants have reportedly come to Thailand to work and had temporarily
taken shelter in the Thai-Burmese border. While some of them want to work
in Thailand’s Bangkok, Maha Chiang and Phuket, the others have plans to
cross the borders further to Malaysia.

With the Thai authorities keeping a strict vigil on illegal migrants, a
special board, constituted by the Burmese authorities, has of late started
an operation to check illegal border transits in Kawh Thaung town.

The board, comprising 50 personnel from the customs, Police, local army,
people’s security forces and the fire brigades, asks strangers and
travelers to produce entry ticket and national identity card. It can
arrest any one, suspected of planning to cross the Thai border.

Some 300 people arriving recently at Kawh Thaung were reportedly arrested
by the border scrutiny board and about 140 people were sent back.

"Frequent checks are conducted in hotels and some houses to detect illegal
migrants.  Without pass book, we could not get shelter in any hotel or
house. So, my brother and myself spent the night under open sky," said a
Burmese who has come to Kawh Thaung to cross the border to Thailand.

The average number of illegal migrants entering Thailand’s Ranong from
Kawh Thaung of Burma is estimated to be about one hundred every day.

_____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

May 8, AFP via Taipei Times
EU official chides on Myanmar

Criticism:  An anonymous European official decried the lack of pressure on
the country's junta, which is undermining EU and US attempts to isolate
the regime

European efforts to secure the freedom of Myanmar's opposition leader Aung
San Suu Kyi are being undermined by a lack of political pressure from
Asian nations, a European official said yesterday.

The EU used a meeting of Asian and European foreign ministers in Kyoto,
Japan to demand the military junta release Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi
from house arrest and free 19 political prisoners.

But a senior European official regretted that Asian nations were not
applying similar pressure.

"What happened here is not good because no Asian country took a position
on Myanmar," the official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

Both the EU and the US, which is not part of the 38-nation Asia-Europe
Meeting here, have applied sanctions on Myanmar that block investment.
They have warned that relations will be in jeopardy if the Yangon junta
assumes the presidency of ASEAN next year as scheduled.

Japan's foreign ministry spokesman Hatsuhisa Takashima defended Tokyo's
policy of not halting aid to Myanmar, saying that bigger projects such as
infrastructure assistance have been held up by the lack of democracy.

Myanmar's Foreign Minister Nyan Win, who met with the EU on Friday in the
two sides' first ministerial talks, rebuffed the EU criticism but said
having dialogue was "constructive," according to a Japanese official.

"Democratization should be neither imported nor exported. People from the
outside cannot force this," Nyan Win was quoted as telling the session
yesterday morning.

"You cannot get clean water right after you drill a well. It will take
some time to get pure water," he said.

But Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn of Luxembourg, which currently holds
the EU presidency, said he told Nyan Win that Myanmar needed immediately
to free the 19 prisoners and Suu Kyi.

"We have to try to rebuild dialogue, but the first condition is here,"
Asselborn told reporters, referring to a release.

In a speech before the meeting, Asselborn also called on Myanmar to
establish "permanent and sincere cooperation" with the UN, including the
UN's special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar.

He told Nyan Win that next time they met, he hoped they could speak about
cooperation and aid instead of sanctions.

Some 100 protesters rallied outside the meeting venue here holding up
pictures of Suu Kyi, demanding the release of her and other political
prisoners and denouncing the ASEAN presidency going to Myanmar.

"We don't want the ASEAN presidency to go to Burma [Myanmar] because they
are a military junta involved in human rights abuses, forced labor and
drug trafficking," said Lin Aung, a spokesman for the Japan branch of the
Nobel laureate's National League for Democracy.

"We want to request that Japan ... does more. What they're doing now is
not enough. Japan still hasn't stopped giving ODA [aid] money to Burma and
100 percent of it goes to the military junta," he said.

_____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma: NCGUB condemns junta
for making 'political profit' out of bomb blasts

The National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB) has
learned of the bomb blasts in Rangoon. The NCGUB, which has always
strictly adhered to the policy of peaceful solution of political problems,
strongly censures those responsible for the bomb blasts which, according
to news agency reports, killed 11 people and injured "scores" of others.

Likewise, the NCGUB also harshly condemns the ruling Burmese generals for
exploiting such situations to hurl false accusation against political
opponents, including the NCGUB, of being responsible for the explosions. 
The loss of human lives and physical injuries are already tragic
occurrences and the generals should not stoop so low as to gain political
profit out of such incidents.

Prime Minister Dr Sein Win said, "Bomb explosions are becoming more
frequent since the combat wing ousted many of the top military
intelligence officers, including General Khin Nyunt. The removal of the
old guard may have weakened the overall security system and we cannot also
rule out the connection between the blasts and the growing dissent within
the military."

Hence, the NCGUB strongly urges the generals to take immediate steps to
resolve growing national problems through an inclusive process involving
the National League for Democracy, the ethnic leaders, and the military in
order to stop the deteriorating conditions and in the interests of the
people.