BurmaNet News, July 16-19, 2005

[Editor]

July 16-18, 2005 Issue # 2762


INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: “Keep martyrs’ day politics-free”, regime warns
SHAN: Ex-ceasefire group urges former allies to renew efforts for
three-way talks
Xinhua: Biggest agricultural census underway in Myanmar
AFP: Moderate quake shakes Myanmar near ancient ruins
Irrawaddy: France criticized over Bastille Day party
Narinjara: Monks are targeted as a result of Burma's security scare
SHAN: Few want to be bureaucrats

ON THE BORDER
Indo-Asian News Service: 50 Myanmarese nationals arrested in Mizoram
Narinjara: Western diplomats visit ‘unlisted’ Burmese refugee camp

BUSINESS / FINANCE
Nation: Proposal to build port in Burma

ASEAN
Reuters: Myanmar seen giving up turn at ASEAN chair-sec gen
AFP: Myanmar casts shadow over ASEAN but group still a global player
AP: Philippines asked to be ready in case Myanmar skips ASEAN chair,
official says
AP: Laos to restrict travel, close schools and offices, for security at
ASEAN meet next week

PRESS RELEASE
WCRP - (Southern Burma) and Human Rights Foundation of Monland: Mon report
on sexual violations against women in southern Burma released


____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

July 18, Irrawaddy
“Keep martyrs’ day politics-free”, regime warns - Khun Sam

The Rangoon regime has warned opposition movements not to commemorate
Martyrs’ Day on Tuesday in any political form, according to a spokesman of
Burma’s main opposition party, the National League for Democracy.

The spokesman, Han Thar Myint, said the warning had come in a government
instruction issued to NLD offices in Mandalay and Magwe Divisions.
Commemorative events should be small and religious in nature, the
instruction said.

Martyrs’ Day commemorates the assassination on July 19, 1947, of Burma’s
independence hero Gen Aung San and a number of his comrades.

Nan Khin Htwe Myint, NLD chairman of Pa-an, the capital of Burma’s Karen
State, said local military authorities had phoned to ask how her office
planned to commemorate Martyrs’ Day. She said it had been decided not to
hold any commemorative event because of the anticipated difficulties in
getting official permission.

Spokesman Han That Myint said other NLD offices, including Mandalay, were
also not marking Martyrs’ Day.

NLD headquarters in Rangoon, however, said it will hold a ceremony at
which a speech will be made.

____________________________________

July 18, Shan Herald Agency for News
Ex-ceasefire group urges former allies to renew efforts for three-way talks

Ex-ceasefire group urges former allies to renew efforts for three-way
talks The United Nations-backed Tripartite Dialogue stance is still
relevant and both ceasefire and non ceasefire groups should pool resources
to be prepared for the contingency, said the Shan State National Army that
had returned to the armed struggle two months ago in its 1 July communiqué
to armed groups still at peace with Rangoon.

“We have conferred with the Restoration Council of Shan State, Karen
National Union, Karenni National Progress Party, Kachin National
Organization, Chin National Front and Arakan Liberation Party as well as
exiled groups such as the Shan Democratic Union, and all have been of one
mind that we should invite political parties and armed organizations
inside to join hands together,” reads the letter signed by Sao Hseng Zoom,
who had headed a 3-men SSNA delegation to the junta-held National
Convention in May 2004 and then in February this year.

Preparations would include formation of a Federal Council and the drafting
of a federal constitution, he said.

They should however not spurn off any invitation to attend future sessions
of the National Convention purportedly to draft a constitution. “At least
you will be able to observe and learn how things stand, “he suggested. “At
the same time, we must be both militarily and politically well prepared,
so we may evade any trap sprung by the SPDC (State Peace and Development
Council).”

Lt Col Hseng Zoom, 67, is a native of Taunggyi and joined the resistance
in 1959. He has been with the SSNA since 1996, following the surrender of
the Mong Tai Army.

The SSNA joined the anti-Rangoon Shan State Army ‘South’ of Col  Yawdserk
in May with its remaining 3 brigades, 6th, 9th and 16th, after two of its
brigades, the 11th and 19th, were forced to surrender in April and May
respectively. Rangoon has denied there was any force involved.

____________________________________

July 18, Xinhua General News Service
Biggest agricultural census underway in Myanmar

Yangon: A biggest ever agricultural census has been underway in Myanmar to
compile the sectoral data to be used by the government in planning
agricultural projects as part of its bids to push the economic
development, according to Monday' s local Myanmar Times.

Under guidelines of the UN Food and Agricultural Organization ( FAO)
adopted in 2000, the agricultural census, being carried out by a work
force of over 8,000 departmental staff since October 2003, is the most
comprehensive one to have been conducted in the country which involved
interviewing nearly 4 million people engaged in agricultural work covering
detailed information with respect to their undertakings.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, the census is 60
percent complete and is expected to be finished by the end of this year.

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.

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 54.3 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.

It has a cultivable land of 18.23 million hectares, of which 16. 72
million have been put under crops, the figures show.

Myanmar's first agricultural census was taken in 1953, while the second in
1993.

____________________________________

July 17, Agence France Presse
Moderate quake shakes Myanmar near ancient ruins

Yangon: A moderate earthquake rattled Myanmar early Sunday, near the
ancient temples of Bagan, the Seismological Observatory Department said.

The quake measured 5.5 on the Richter scale and struck at 7:35 am (0105
GMT), with its epicenter near the town of Nyaung-U, about 430 kilometers
(270 miles) north of the capital Yangon, department officials said.

Nyaung-U is the closest town to the Bagan ruins. Officials said they had
not yet received reports of injuries or damage.

A powerful quake measuring 6.5 struck Bagan in 1975, badly damaging many
of the temples at the 1,000-year-old archeological site.

The Bagan region hosts a world famous collection of thousands of 11th and
12th century Buddhist stupas, pagodas and shrines, and is one of the top
attractions in Myanmar's fledgling tourism industry.

____________________________________

July 18, Irrawaddy
France criticized over Bastille Day party

The French government received further criticism from exile groups on
Monday, this time regarding Bastille Day celebrations at its embassy in
Rangoon on July 14. The embassy’s decision to invite prominent government
officials to the event, including Foreign Minister Nyan Win, and
reportedly representatives of the Total oil company was met with derision
by Burmese opposition groups.

“Both sides [the French and Burmese governments] have benefited from their
cozy relationship, which is not helping the ordinary people of Burma. This
does not surprise me at all,” said Soe Aung of the umbrella organization
for opposition groups abroad, the National Council of the Union of Burma.
No recognized internal opposition members were invited to the event,
sources say.

Even the choice of caterer—Le Moliere—was controversial given the
restaurant is owned by prominent Rangoon businessman and arms dealer Te Za
who is considered very close to Burma’s leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe. The
embassy was unavailable for comment on Monday.

France’s embassies worldwide were the target of protests just two days
before Bastille Day over the French government’s involvement in Total.
Opposition and human rights groups accuse the French government and Total
of funding the purchase of arms by the Burmese military and of tolerating
the use of forced labor in building the Yadana gas pipeline.


Monks are targeted as a result of Burma's security scare

____________________________________

July 17, Narinjara News
Monks are targeted as a result of Burma's security scare

Local security forces are keeping a close eye on who is staying at the
monasteries during Buddhist lent, and are making sure that those staying
in monasteries are registered with the lent stay records in the Religious
Affairs Department.

A community leader commented that such stringent measures are related to
the Junta’s concern with security following the Rangoon bomb blast in May.

Information was taken of not only the monks who are going to stay in
monasteries during this lent, but also of monks who stayed in monasteries
last year and who went away overseas.

In addition to the list of monks who are going to stay in the monastery, a
list of lay people who will be staying to provide services to the monks
and monastery will also be created.

The Buddhist lent started this year on the 20th of July, and the monks are
not allowed to travel overnight. They will have to sleep in the same
monastery for the three month duration of lent.

____________________________________

July 17, Shan Herald Agency for News
Few want to be bureaucrats - Chai Sayam

The military government is finding it hard to acquire qualified applicants
for its vacant positions as few can afford to work with the low pay rates
it is offering, according to a report coming to the border:

Recently, the Ministry of Science and Technology had issued a call that
appeared in daily papers for applicants who wanted to work as
demonstrating officers. One of the qualifications set by the ministry was
that the candidate must be a Bachelor of Engineering/Bachelor of
Technology (B.E/B.Tech). If chosen, he or she will be working at 5,400
kyat ($ 5.4) start pay.

"When applications were not forthcoming, the ministry issued another
announcement calling for applicants who have obtained an AGTI (Government
Technology Institute) diploma, offering to pay 4,800 kyat ($ 4.8) per
month," a source close to the ministry told S.H.A.N.. "But still only a
few applications came."

"In the end, it appears the ministry will have to make do with whoever it
can get," she concluded.

Earlier in March there were reports that the Rangoon authorities were set
to increase the salaries of the civil servants in order to attract younger
and qualified people into government service, the lowest pay starting at
17,700 kyat ($ 17.7), but the plan was later quashed by the cash-trapped
government.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

July 16, Indo-Asian News Service
50 Myanmarese nationals arrested in Mizoram

Aizawl:  At least 50 Myanmarese nationals have been arrested in Mizoram on
charges of drug trafficking and other crimes, officials Saturday said.

A police spokesman said the arrests were made during the past week in a
drive against illegal Myanmarese nationals in the state that borders
Myanmar.

"We have put the Myanmarese nationals in the central jail. Some of those
arrested were indulging in drug trafficking, some were criminals, and
others simply trespassed into our state without any valid travel
documents," Mizoram police chief Lalngheta told IANS.

Most of the arrests were made in the state capital Aizawl as part of an
ongoing offensive codenamed Operation Hailstorm against suspected
Myanmarese ethnic rebels and drug peddlers.

India and Myanmar share a 1,640-km-long unfenced border of which 350-km
lies along Mizoram state.

"The border is open and it is a real big problem to check infiltration
from the other side of the fence," the police chief said.

Last month, paramilitary commandos evicted hundreds of Myanmarese
guerrillas belonging to the Chin National Army (CNA) from southern
Mizoram. CNA had set up well-entrenched bases in the thick jungles of
Mizoram adjacent to the border.

The CNA is the armed wing of the Chin National Force (CNF) founded in 1988
to fight against the military-run Myanmarese government for more autonomy
for the various ethnic minority groups in that country.

Many young Chin tribal youths from Myanmar entered India during the height
of the pro-democracy uprising and later joined the CNF.

"Our troops are still on alert along the border to prevent the rebels from
setting up bases once again in our state," Lalngheta said.

Several ethnic rebel groups from Myanmar have in the past made forays into
parts of Mizoram either for carrying out extortion or for trafficking
drugs, taking advantage of the rugged mountainous terrain along the
border.

"Some of the rebel groups and other Myanmarese nationals were involved in
gunrunning that has become a very lucrative business in the area," a
senior intelligence official said.

At least five frontline anti-India rebel armies operating in the country's
northeast have bases in northern Myanmar from where they carry out their
hit-and-run guerrilla strikes on federal troops in the region.

India's porous and mountainous northeastern frontiers, bordering Myanmar
and Bangladesh, have become one of the world's busiest small arms'
bazaars, feeding insurgencies and rebellions across South Asia.

"The unfenced border area has always been a hot favourite with gunrunners.
Illegal arms consignments reach the northeast via Bangladesh and Myanmar
at frequent intervals," Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga said.

____________________________________

July 17, Narinjara News
Western diplomats visit ‘unlisted’ Burmese refugee camp

A number of western diplomats yesterday visited ‘unlisted’ Burmese Muslim
refugee camps in Dandamia under the Teknaff Township of Bangladesh,
opposite the Burmese town of Maungdaw, on 15 July, said a report of a
local news agency.

The diplomats urged the government of Bangladesh to reorganize the
refugees to provide better shelters to end their current miserable
situation.

About 10,000 Muslims from Burma are now living in makeshift shelters and
they have not received any assistance from the local authorities of
Bangladesh.

The diplomats from United States, Italy, Norway, Australia, the European
Commission and the United Nation High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR)
stayed about one hour at the ‘unlisted’ refugee camp, where 10,000
refugees live without any sanitation and other civic facilities.

The diplomats said that their countries and organizations are ready to
extend help for the refugees' rehabilitation, provided the government of
Bangladesh agrees to the proposal.

Besides the ‘unlisted’ refugees, there are about 20,000 Burmese Muslim
refugees still remaining in two refugees camps in Bangladesh.

In 1994’s Burma- Bangladesh treaty, Burma's military government agreed to
take back the refugees, but the process stalled several times and it is
currently proceeding in a slow pace with nearly 20,000 awaiting
repatriation.

More than 250,000 Burmese Muslims from Arakan state fled to Bangladesh for
fear of persecution by the Burmese military government around 1992.

Most of the refugees were taken back to their home under the UNHCR
repatriation program a couple of years ago.

But now several Burmese Muslim people are steadily filtering into
Bangladesh due to economic hardship in Burma.

_____________________________________
BUSINESS / FINANCE

July 16, The Nation
Proposal to build port in Burma - Petchanet Pratuangkrai

Thailand should develop a port in Burma to increase export growth and
maintain competitiveness in the Mekong area, said Ajva Taulananda,
president of the Thai Chamber of Commerce.

"Under the Greater Mekong Subregional Economic Cooperation (GMS) and the
East-West Economic Corridor arrangements, Thailand should develop another
gateway besides Laem Chabang port in the east. Only that will keep us
competitive among GMS members," Ajva said.

Ajva said the port in Burma would support Thailand's attempt to boost
export value and reduce logistics costs. "Moreover, it will promote
Thailand as a logistics hub in Asia."

He said that Burma had high business potential and the waters there were
deep enough for the development. Despite the political risks, there exists
an opportunity, he said.

Ajva was speaking at a seminar on trading for exporters in the context of
GMS cooperation yesterday, held by the Export Import Bank of Thailand
(Exim), the Chamber of Commerce, the Federation of Thai Industry and
Chiang Mai University.

Ajva said the Thai government and the Exim Bank should support Thai
investors in building a port in Burma right now, as that country was being
eyed by many countries, among them Malaysia and China. "Vietnam already
has a port in Danang to expand its logistics systems," he said.

Jingjai Hanchanlash of the GMS business-forum committee, expressed concern
over the fast pace of development of China's logistics systems and
business growth.

"Thailand needs to improve its road, train and shipping logistics systems
to keep competitive against China, otherwise we will lose most of the
regional market share," Jingjai said.

____________________________________
ASEAN

July 18, Reuters
Myanmar seen giving up turn at ASEAN chair-sec gen - Dan Eaton

Jakarta: Myanmar's junta is expected to use a regional meeting in Laos
this month to announce it will skip its scheduled chairmanship of
Southeast Asia's main political group in 2006, a top official said on
Monday.

Such a move would pave the way for the Philippines to take the rotating
leadership of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN), the body's secretary general, Ong Keng Yong, told Reuters.

"The indication, as of a few weeks ago, is that they would announce
something in which they will try to excuse themselves from this onerous
task," he said of a scheduled meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers in Laos
next month.

"In the light of what's happening now, I think that would be a good idea,
good politics," Ong said, refering to threats from Washington and Europe
to boycott meetings with ASEAN if Myanmar takes over the helm.

The European Union and Washington are pushing hardest for democracy in the
former Burma and for the release of Nobel Laureate and opposition leader
Aung San Suu Kyi.

The absence of Europe and the United States from major ASEAN meetings
would rob them of much significance.

"Western ideas have a certain way of transposing themselves on what
happens in the region," said Ong.

He said Manila would be next in line for the chairmanship.

"They are the next in line, according to alphabetical order. But much will
depend on what Myanmar will announce in Laos."

Foreign ministers of the 10 ASEAN countries meet in Laos ahead of a July
28-29 ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), which includes representation from the
United States and the EU, among others.

ASEAN groups Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines,
Brunei, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia and Cambodia.

Ong said ASEAN members were disappointed by Washington's apparent decision
not to send its top diplomat, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, to the
Laos ARF meeting.

He said Washington may be partly registering its concern over its
perception of a lack of democratic progress and poor human rights records
in some Southeast Asian countries.

"In ASEAN, substance is important, but form and protocol are also quite
important ... There is a feeling among ASEAN colleagues that maybe there
is a point being made," said Ong.

____________________________________

July 17, Agence France Presse
Myanmar casts shadow over ASEAN but group still a global player

Singapore: The Myanmar issue is threatening to damage ASEAN's
international standing but the group remains an indispensable player in
promoting regional cooperation and stability, diplomats and analysts say.

Foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
will gather in the Laotian capital Vientiane next week for an annual
meeting whose traditional highlight is the ASEAN Regional Forum on
security.

The forum is the only annual meeting in which Asian security issues are
discussed at the highest diplomatic levels.

But military-ruled Myanmar's imminent turn to lead the group in 2006 is
causing problems ahead of the Laos meeting and threatens to cause further
repercussions.

If Myanmar takes over the ASEAN chairmanship from Malaysia in 2006 under
an alphabetical rotation system, the United States and European Union are
likely to boycott key meetings with the grouping.

In what is seen as an indication of things possibly to come, US Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice, citing scheduling conflicts, will skip the
ASEAN Regional Forum, sending her deputy Robert Zoellick instead.

"This is something unusual but regardless, the ASEAN dialogue process will
move forward. (Rice's absence) will not get in the way of dialogue at the
ARF," Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa said Friday.

Some ASEAN members cringe at the thought of Myanmar presiding over the
group in 2006, but there is no precedent for forcing it to give up its
turn.

This leaves voluntary relinquishment as the only face-saving way out.

"Myanmar has told us, and Myanmar has told other countries in Southeast
Asia, that it will not be selfish and that it will take into account the
interests of ASEAN as a whole," said Singapore's Foreign Minister George
Yeo.

The other countries "took that to mean that Myanmar might withdraw on its
own from assuming the chair," he told foreign correspondents last month.

But such a move -- which could take place in Laos next week -- might hurt
the organization's efforts to promote democratic reform in Myanmar,
ASEAN's secretary-general Ong Ken Yong warned.

"How are we going to leverage for the early release of Aung San Suu Kyi
and whatever things we want in Myanmar?" Ong said in a recent interview
with AFP, referring to Myanmar's opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize
laureate who has been under house arrest for most of the last 15 years.

Founded in 1967 by anti-communist nations at the height of the Vietnam
War, ASEAN has since embraced Vietnam itself. Its other members are
Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines,
Singapore and Thailand.

All 10 countries have a collective population of half a billion people
moving toward a regional free trade zone.

Some ASEAN members now say it was premature to induct Myanmar as a member
in 1997.

But American business consultant Ernest Bower, the former head of the
US-ASEAN Business Council, said "it is too easy to look back and say
admitting Myanmar into ASEAN was a mistake".

If Myanmar did reform, ASEAN would have been seen as "prescient" and
Malaysia's former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad would have become "a
hero" for strongly backing Myanmar's entry, he told AFP.

"Things did not go that way, and they have gone bad internally, and
Myanmar is stuck politically," Bower said.

"However, there are some in ASEAN who argue that admitting Myanmar was
still the right thing to do, because it helped mitigate what could have
been worse developments inside Myanmar," he said.

Bower said Myanmar could have moved closer to China and the flow of drugs
and refugees across borders could have worsened "if Myanmar remained an
isolated rogue state".

The association's former secretary-general Rodolfo Severino told AFP "the
only thing worse than having Myanmar inside ASEAN is to have it outside
ASEAN".

"There were strong strategic reasons for accepting -- indeed, inviting --
Myanmar into ASEAN. This does not mean that ASEAN countries cannot
encourage and prod Myanmar into improving the situation inside the country
and its relations with its neighbors."

In Laos, foreign ministers will lay the groundwork for the inaugural East
Asia Summit in Malaysia in December.

The Malaysia meet will be the third international summit constructed
around ASEAN after the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) and the Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC) group, including the United States, Canada and
Latin America, further cementing ASEAN's central role in regional
cooperation.

It will bring together all ASEAN members, traditional partners China,
Japan and South Korea and -- if they sign a key treaty - India, Australia
and New Zealand as well.

"The East Asia Summit revolves around ASEAN," said Severino, who also
stressed that the group handles the Myanmar issue separately from its
relations with dialogue partners.

Bower said that with the new summit, ASEAN "retains, at least for another
few years, its role as the foundation of East Asian economic regionalism"
but must speed up its own integration to stay competitive against emerging
giants China and India.

____________________________________

July 18, Associated Press
Philippines asked to be ready in case Myanmar skips ASEAN chair, official
says - Jim Gomez

Manila: The Philippines has been asked by some of its neighbors to be
ready to assume the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations amid signs that Myanmar may skip its turn next year, a senior
foreign affairs official said Monday.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo told Filipino diplomats in a recent
meeting that the Philippines would agree to assume the role if Myanmar
passes, the official said on condition of anonymity.

U.S., European and Canadian officials, citing Myanmar's dismal human
rights record, have threatened to boycott ASEAN meetings if the
military-ruled nation takes its turn as chairman of the regional trading
bloc, the official said. There are fears that Western nations could
withhold crucial funding for ASEAN development projects.

ASEAN foreign ministers meet in Laos later this month, with the
chairmanship issue on their agenda.

Diplomats from Singapore and Cambodia are among those who have asked the
Philippines to be ready to take the prestigious role, which is rotated
alphabetically every year among ASEAN's 10 member countries, the official
said.

The official said diplomats from the two countries, who have met Myanmar
officials recently, said there were "strong hints" that Myanmar would skip
its turn.

ASEAN members normally follow a cardinal policy of noninterference in each
other's domestic affairs and resistance to foreign pressure.

Philippine officials have refused to publicly discuss the chairmanship issue.

Many ASEAN members, including the Philippines, have urged Myanmar's ruling
junta to hasten promised democratic reforms, release pro-democracy leader
Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest, craft a new constitution and allow a
U.N. special envoy to visit.

Indonesian, Malaysian and Philippine legislators have also opposed
Myanmar's chairmanship, warning that ASEAN could lose credibility.

The military has ruled Myanmar since 1962, and the current junta came to
power in 1988 after crushing a pro-democracy uprising. It called elections
in 1990 but refused to hand over power when Suu Kyi's party, the National
League for Democracy, won in a landslide.

_____________________________________

July 18, Associated Press
Laos to restrict travel, close schools and offices, for security at ASEAN
meet next week

Vientiane: Laos will restrict travel to its capital Vientiane and close
schools and government offices for security reasons when it hosts a major
meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations next week.

Laos will host the annual meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers, followed by
talks with the group's major diplomatic partners and a meeting of the
ASEAN Regional Forum, the region's main security forum, on July 24-29.

The school and office closings to facilitate the movement of delegates to
the meeting were announced by Lao State Radio.

Travel restrictions were listed in a circular dated July 14 and
distributed to the diplomatic community in Vientiane by the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs.

The regulations, covering July 20 through July 30, include banning
ordinary foreign tourists from entering or transiting Vientiane, and
forbidding foreign journalists without official permission from the
ministry to enter the country.

Drivers and trucks carrying goods from nearby Thailand, as well as for
other persons, such as representatives of international organizations and
investors seeking to enter the capital also require special permission.

Last November, Laos impose similar restrictions when it hosted a summit
meeting of ASEAN leaders.

ASEAN consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos - its current chairman
- Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Fourteen other partners participate in ARF, including the United States,
China, Japan, North and South Korea, Russia, the European Union,
Australia, India, Canada and Pakistan. East Timor will attend for the
first time this year.

_____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

July 19, WCRP - (Southern Burma) and Human Rights Foundation of Monland
Mon report on sexual violations against women in southern Burma released

The Mon human rights groups, Woman and Child Rights Project - WCRP
(Southern Burma) and Human Rights Foundation of Monland, today released a
report on the sexual violations against women in southern of Burma.

Please look the Press Release in the attached file and download the whole
report at
http://www.rehmonnya.org/catwalk-to-the-barracks.php