BurmaNet News, August 4, 2005

[Editor]

August 4, 2005 Issue # 2775


INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Top UN official meets Myanmar opposition but avoids politics
AP: World Food Program chief to meet Myanmar's prime minister
Narinjara: Burmese Army Reserve Force will consist of the wives and
families of soldiers
DVB: Veteran politicians sends open letter to Burma junta chairman

BUSINESS / FINANCE
Irrawaddy: Curfew imposed on businesses in Mandalay
SHAN: Bangkok lending money to Burma at a loss

REGIONAL
Bangkok Post: Karen accuse local police of sexual harassment, extortion
Mizzima: Burma expects road link with Bangladesh soon
Reuters: Thai minister to press Myanmar on democracy


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INSIDE BURMA

August 4, Agence France Presse
Top UN official meets Myanmar opposition but avoids politics

The head of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) met senior members of
Myanmar's opposition National League for Democracy Thursday and discussed
humanitarian operations but avoided political issues, NLD members said.

WFP executive director James Morris spent an hour with NLD officials at
the United Nations' offices in Yangon ahead of a meeting later Thursday
with Prime Minister General Soe Win before he leaves for Thailand.

"We haven't discussed anything concerning politics," NLD spokesman U Lwin
told AFP, adding the sole topic of the meeting during Morris' first
Myanmar visit was the humanitarian situation in the country, which has
been run by the military since 1962.

Myanmar's largest opposition group, which operates from its dilapidated
Yangon headquarters, won a landslide election victory in 1990 but was
never allowed to form a government.

Its offices elsewhere have been shut down and its leader, the Nobel peace
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, remains under house arrest despite
international demands for her release.

Morris's four-day trip was aimed at discussing the agency's operations in
the impoverished country, WFP officials have said.

Morris had been expected to travel to Shan state in Myanmar's northeast,
where the vast majority of the country's illicit opium is cultivated, but
WFP officials could not confirm the trip.

Last year the UN warned that one million impoverished opium farmers in
Myanmar, mostly in Shan state, faced a "humanitarian disaster" because too
little was being done to help them, in particular with crop substitution
efforts after they stopped growing opium.

Media reports in Thailand this week said Morris may be acting as an envoy
for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan by trying to ease restrictions on
United Nations aid work.

"He is not an envoy as the Myanmar media think," U Lwin told AFP. "They
came here for their interests."

WFP officials in Yangon declined to comment on the NLD meeting, saying
Morris will hold a press briefing in Bangkok Friday to discuss his trip in
detail.

____________________________________

August 4, Associated Press
World Food Program chief to meet Myanmar's prime minister

The head of the United Nations World Food Program said he would meet with
Myanmar's prime minister Thursday afternoon to discuss how the agency can
best conduct its work here.

"I will discuss the work of the WFP in the country and will discuss ways
to do a better job and how our operations can be carried out more
effectively," said WFP chief James Morris, contacted by phone.

Morris denied speculation in the foreign press that he would convey a
message from U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to Prime Minister Gen. Soe
Win. Annan has repeatedly sought to foster political reconciliation in
military-ruled Myanmar, which hold opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi
under house arrest.

Morris was also set to meet with leaders of detained pro-democracy leader
Aung San Suu Kyi's party on Thursday afternoon, NLD spokesman U Lwin told
The Associated Press.

Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi, the party leader, has been under house
arrest since May 2003 and is allowed no visitors.

Morris declined to comment on whether his talks with Soe Win would cover
new restrictions on the operations of U.N. agencies and international
non-governmental organizations. These mostly concern getting permission to
travel to areas outside the capital Yangon.

Morris, who arrived Monday for a four-day visit, went to the ethnic Wa
region in Shan State in the country's northeast to inspect his agency's
work to help wean farmers off growing opium poppies. He said the trip went
well.

The military has ruled Myanmar since 1962, and the current junta came to
power in 1988 after crushing a pro-democracy uprising. It called the 1990
elections, but refused to hand over power when the NLD won.

____________________________________

August 4, Narinjara News
Burmese Army Reserve Force will consist of the wives and families of soldiers

Army reserves will be formed by the wives and family members of the
soldiers of the Burmese junta, according to a source close to the military
authority in the Arakan State.

The source says those between 18 and 60 members of the soldiers’ families
will have to be members of the reserve forces along with the ordinary
troops. They have been trained in basic military tactics throughout the
country over the last year.

The reserves are aimed at serving as part of the defensive strategy
against the foreign invasion, to defend the base areas when the normal
troops are in the front line areas and to engage in the economic
activities of the military establishments, says the source.

It was learnt that in the army bases in Arakan State, lists of members of
the families of the soldiers have been complied so that the army reserves
can be formed.
Burmese army raid kills one villager in Irrawaddy region

_____________________________________

August 3, Democratic Voice of Burma
Veteran politicians sends open letter to Burma junta chairman

Veteran Burmese politicians, on 1 August, sent another ‘open’ letter to
the chairman of Burma’s military junta, State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC) Gen Than Shwe, urging him to carry out genuine national
reconciliation process as soon as possible.

In a letter containing five-point ‘demands’, the veteran politicians, led
by Thakhin Thein Pe, advise the junta to ignore recent saga on the
relinquishment of the chair of the Association of South East Asian Nations
(ASEAN) and to concentrate on solving domestic issues and problems.

The letter urges the general to end the long drawn out armed conflicts
(civil war) in Burma and to unconditionally release all political
prisoners including National League for Democracy (NLD) leader Aung San
Suu Kyi and Shan NLD leader Khun Htun Oo for the sake of the nation.

In the past, the junta never responded to a letter like this, unless it
wants to arrest and take action on the authors.

_____________________________________
BUSINESS / FINANCE

August 4, Irrawaddy
Curfew imposed on businesses in Mandalay – Shah Paung

Late-night businesses in Mandalay in central Burma have been unofficially
ordered by local authorities to close by 10 pm, according to one resident
of the city.

Ye Htut, who works as a hotel receptionist in Mandalay, said that all
restaurants, karaoke bars and hotels have been prohibited from remaining
open after 10 pm. Local officials say only that the curfew is the result
of heightened security in the city.

The curfew has not been announced officially, but local authorities have
been passing the word around town to shops and businesses known to stay
open late or in some instances all night. Authorities began their informal
announcements in the past two months, according to Ye Htut, who added that
authorities are worried about the security for foreigners visiting
Mandalay.

On April 26 a bomb exploded in Mandalay’s landmark Zay Cho Market, where
two people were killed and sixteen injured. A prior bombing of the market
took place in 2001. The Burmese military government blamed the most recent
bombing on “destructive elements” trying to undermine the stability of the
state. The government has yet to identify any definite suspects.

Local businesses that stay open late have been hit hard by the changes, as
they generally make most of their money well after 10 pm.

Win Myat Myat, an organizer of the Mandalay branch of the National League
for Democracy, has suggested an alternative reason for the curfew. She has
heard that authorities have imposed the curfew to curb prostitution
throughout the city, though she admits that the move may have nothing to
do with the curfew.

Some late-night businesses in Mandalay are said to be operating covertly
as brothels. Shops of various sorts, restaurants and bars advertise as
normal businesses but actually employ sex workers.

Any businesses caught operating after the 10 pm curfew risk the
confiscation of their goods by local authorities, according to Win Myat
Myat.

____________________________________

August 4, Shan Herald Agency for News
Bangkok lending money to Burma at a loss

Thailand has been losing hand over fist when it agreed to grant a 12-year
soft loan of $ 100 million with a low interest of 3% to Burma last year,
according to the Thai language Matichon yesterday.

The Exim Bank's managing director Sathaporn Chinajitr told the House 2006
budget scrutiny board on 12 July that the bank would have to bear the
burden of 700 million baht ($ 17.5 million) in interest, as it had
borrowed in turn from other financial institutions at a 4.3% rate.

The bank has been on edge since Rangoon's prime minister in office General
Khin Nyunt was unceremoniously "allowed to retire for health reasons" in
October, two months after Exim released the funds to Burma.

According to Post Today, 1 August, the bank has so far disbursed $ 57.5
million to Burma and is waiting for further clarifications from the
Thaksin government if it could go ahead with the loan deal.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

August 4, Bangkok Post
Karen accuse local police of sexual harassment, extortion – Supamart Kasem

Tak: Karen refugees in Phop Phra district have complained to the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), alleging sexual harassment
and extortion by four local policemen.

The complaint involves 33 Karen refugees who live at Umpiam camp in tambon
Khirirat in Phop Phra. They complained about policemen working at a
checkpoint on Mae Sot-Umphang road in Ban Romklao village.

Cho Thwe, 49, who worked as a translator at the checkpoint, said the
policemen ordered Karen men and women to strip and took their money.

Nge Nge, 18, said he was arrested at the checkpoint on his way back from
Mae Sot to the camp on June 21. He was detained there overnight and
released the following morning after a relative gave 1,000 baht to police.

Refugee Ma Sabae, 30, said police at the checkpoint ordered her, her elder
sister and her nephew to get off the bus from Mae Sot in April.

She was ordered to strip and one policeman slapped her face for being
unable to communicate in Thai.

The refugees said they had sent a complaint to the Phop Phra district
office, but the four policemen still worked at the checkpoint. They have
now complained to the local UNHCR office and the Prime Minister's Office.

Pol Col Rangsan Kochakrai, chief of Phop Phra police, said he was
investigating and would question the refugees and the accused policemen.

However, the policemen might have been framed in an act of revenge for
having previously arrested refugees who escaped from the camp, he said.

____________________________________

August 4, Mizzima
Burma expects road link with Bangladesh soon – Siddique Islam

Dhaka: Burma expects Bangladesh to start construction of a metalled road
connecting Taungbro in Burma and Ukhia in Bangladesh, as soon as the
monsoon is over.

Burma has invited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh through
its Burmese (Myanmar) Embassy to visit Rangoon for discussing a draft
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the proposed road link project.

The Burmese embassy in Dhaka has already received a letter from Rangoon in
this connection, diplomatic sources said, adding that Burma is ready to
host a discussion anytime to facilitate the road link and that the
neighbouring country desires to intensify bilateral relations.

"We are hoping that the physical work on the proposed road will begin when
monsoon is over," U Thane Myint, Ambassador of the Union of Burma
(Myanmar) to Bangladesh said in an interview with The Financial Express
(FE) Wednesday. He told the FE that he had received confirmation from the
Deputy Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Yangon that a formal invitation was
sent to Dhaka, through Bangladesh's High Commission in Burma (Myanmar).

The proposed road link between Burma and Bangladesh had suffered a blow as
the Burmese government had earlier expressed its inability to provide
funds to construct its portion of the 153-kilometre road link.

It is reported that the Burmese government earlier, in a letter to the
Bangladesh government, said that it could not provide any funds from its
own resources or seek foreign funds to construct the road connecting the
two countries, adding that the project was not in its priority list.

Bangladesh's proposal to persuade donor countries to finance the project
had been turned down by the Burmese government, sources in the
communications ministry said.

About the reported Burmese change of stance on the proposed Dhaka-Rangoon
road link project, Foreign Minister of Bangladesh M Morshad Khan said in
Dhaka on Tuesday that Yangon (Rangoon) had never committed funds for the
project. He said the communications ministers of Bangladesh, Myanmar
(Burma) and Thailand would sit together and settle the matter across the
table.

The Ukhia-Taungbro road will connect Bangladesh to the proposed Asian
Highway of which Burma is an associate and will provide a gateway to South
Asian countries.

The proposed road in side Burmese territory is stretches to about 23
kilometres from the border and is supposed to be constructed by
Bangladesh, the sources added.

The proposed Ukhia-Taungbro road will also connect Bangladesh to
Bawlibazar, and then another 100-kilometre road construction is needed to
put Bangladesh on the Asian Highway at Minbu junction.

"We have a metalled road connecting Minbu with Yangon in the South, and
Mandalay in the north. The Mandalay road connects Kunming city of China,"
the ambassador said, adding "Once you get to Minbu you can go anywhere in
South East Asia."

_____________________________________

August 4, Reuters
Thai minister to press Myanmar on democracy – Nopporn Wong-Anan

Thai Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon said on Thursday he will make
a visit later this month to Yangon, where analysts expect him to nudge the
long-ruling military to live up to its promises of democracy.

Kantathi said he was going on Aug. 31 and Sept. 1 because Myanmar was the
only member of the 10-state Association of South East Asian Nations he had
not visited since taking up his job in March.

He gave nothing away on his planned talks with Senior General Than Shwe,
head of the former Burma's military government, which come soon after
Myanmar yielded to international pressure and gave up its turn to chair
ASEAN next year.

But Foreign Ministry spokesman Sihasak Phuangketkeow said Myanmar's
domestic politics would certainly be discussed.

"After they have given up the chairmanship, we would like to see them move
ahead and we will encourage them to continue to go forward," Sihasak said.

There is a great deal of scepticism around the world on whether the
military will make good on its "seven-step roadmap to democracy" announced
two years ago by since-purged Prime Minister Khin Nyunt.

The military, which has ruled since 1962, is still on its first step, a
national convention to draft a new constitution which has been assailed by
critics as a document aimed at maintaining the military's sway.

"It is both an opportunity and a challenge for Thailand, one of few
remaining contacts with the military regime in Myanmar, to convey the
message of the international community on its plan toward democracy," said
Sunai Phasuk of Human Rights Watch.

"But how much they will listen to us is another story," Sunai told Reuters
of a regime which lost elections in 1991 to the National League for
Democracy led by Nobel Peace laureate Aung Sang Suu Kyi and ignored the
result.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Thailand -- which pursues a
policy of "constructive engagement" with one of the world's few remaining
military regimes -- to turn up heat on the junta to free Suu Kyi from her
latest house arrest.

Rice, whose country has imposed sanctions on Myanmar, then snubbed ASEAN
by not showing up for the major Asia-Pacific security conference ASEAN
hosts each year.

This year, it was held in Vientiane, the capital of communist Laos, and
only there did Myanmar formally give up its turn to chair ASEAN, whose
meetings Washington and the European Union had threatened to boycott if
Yangon was in charge.

Analysts said Kantathi's visit would also represent ASEAN's support for
Myanmar following a surprise visit by Chinese Foreign Minister Li
Zhaoxing, who also shunned the Vientiane conference in favour of talks
with the Myanmar military.

"While China has become more and more influential in Myanmar, ASEAN, as a
friend, is also trying to show its moral support for Yangon toward
democracy," said Pornpimon Trichot of the Asian Studies Institute at
Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University.