BurmaNet News, January 25, 2006

[Editor]

January 25, 2006 Issue # 2886


INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Junta rushes completion of Pyinmana relocation plans
Myanmar Times: Bid to end illegal timber trade
Mizzima: Quake rocks Burma's Shan State
IMN: Karen villagers barred from going out following escape of Karen rebels

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: Rights group calls for improved prison conditions
Bangkok Post: The show must go on

HEALTH / AIDS
AP: Myanmar says WHO approved national bird flu plan, but found lab shortages
Xinhua: Thai-Myanmar border communities prepare for avian flu outbreak

INTERNATIONAL
Washington Post: The realities of exporting democracy
Mizzima: USDA members attend Cuban solidarity meeting

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

January 25, Irrawaddy
Junta rushes completion of Pyinmana relocation plans - Shah Paung

The Burmese junta is now preparing to remove all remaining government
ministries to the new administrative capital in Pyinmana by the end of
January.

An official from the Ministry of Energy confirmed that department’s
relocation plans. “We will move [to Pyinmana] tomorrow or the day after
tomorrow,” the official told The Irrawaddy today.

While the deadline has been fixed, some ministries still await official
orders to move. “We heard all ministries will have to move by the end of
the month, be we haven’t got any order from the top,” the Ministry of
Energy official added.

Among the many rumors about why the junta is rushing to finish the
relocation process, some have suggested that Snr-Gen Than Shwe wants to
leave Rangoon as quickly as possible to avoid any harm befalling his
family.

According to Rangoon-based politician Amyotheryei Win Naing, one of the
junta supremo’s sons was admitted to Rangoon General Hospital after an
automobile accident.

“[Than Shwe] thinks this is bad luck for his family and wants to complete
the move to Pyinmana as soon as possible,” he said.

Burma’s military government began relocating key ministries to Pyinmana in
early November 2005. Ministry staffers, however, have not remained
permanently in the city. Groups of 10 to 30 employees from each ministry
routinely spend a week in the new capital before returning to Rangoon and
being replaced by new groups.

“Many of the ministries have now arrived, but I don’t think they have
started work,” said one resident of Pyinmana. “They must still be working
in Rangoon. We only see the men, no families or children.”

The construction of government ministries in Pyinmana has brought other
changes to the remote town. A businessman said a new train and nine bus
routes now run from Pyinmana to Rangoon. Myanmar Airways also provides
service to Pyinmana, and a new branch of the Myanma Economic Bank is now
operational.

The international community and neighboring countries—including
Thailand—have criticized the Burmese government for failing to notify them
in advance of the move.

____________________________________

January 16-22, The Myanmar Times
Bid to end illegal timber trade - Ye Lwin

The Myanmar government is currently under negotiations with China to find
ways to end the illegal extraction and trade of timber along the border
between the two countries, the Minister of Forestry, Brigadier-General
Thein Aung, said on January 5.

Brigadier-General Thein Aung made the comments during a meeting at the
International Business Center (IBC) in Yangon.

Annually, more than 100,000 tonnes of teak and other precious hardwoods
are illegally extracted from Kachin and Shan states in northern Myanmar
and smuggled into China, the Minister said.

“This has serious repercussions for Myanmar’s economy and for legitimate
timber exporters,” Brigadier-General Thein Aung said. “Exporters find it
hard to compete with smuggled timber on the international market,
resulting in decreasing prices and a decline in production in the
wood-based industry.”
U Aung Lwin, the president of the Myanmar Forest Products and Timber
Merchants Association, said at the meeting that each year, 30 per cent of
the timber that is smuggled out of Myanmar is teak.

Ending the illegal timber trade was an essential component in the drive to
get fair market prices for Myanmar timber in Asia, he said.

Officially, Myanmar exported more than 500,000 tonnes of timber in the
2002-2003 financial year, more than 670,000 tonnes in 2003-2004, and
815,000 tonnes in 2004-2005.

“Every year about 100,000 tonnes of timber are exported illegally, and
only about 30,000 of this is recovered through the arrest of those
involved,” U Aung Lwin said.

Brigadier-General Thein Aung said that stopping the illegal timber trade
would not only have economic benefits but also help conserve the
environment.

The Minister called on the timber industry to cooperate with the
government to prevent illegal timber extraction, smuggling and trading in
the country.

____________________________________

January 25, Mizzima News
Quake rocks Burma's Shan State

Burma's Shan State was rocked by an earthquake yesterday that reached 5.7
on the Richter scale.

The epicenter of the quake was in Shan State, about 120 miles north of
Chiang Mai Thailand where residents reports experiencing tremors.

The earthquake was also felt in the Thai provinces of Chiang Rai and Mae
Hong Son.

Thailand's meteorological department was reported to have said the quake
caused no damage in Thailand. It is unknown what effect the earthquake had
on the residents of Shan State.

____________________________________

January 25, Independent Mon News Agency
Karen villagers barred from going out following escape of Karen rebels -
Lawi Mon

Karen villagers in northern Tenassarim division have been barred from
going out to work in farms and plantations after surrendered Karen rebels
escaped from a military camp.

The local battalion, LIB 408 commander ordered Karen villagers in Yapu and
surrounding villages not to go out of their villages. The villagers have
been warned that they would be shot dead if they were found in the farm.

Five Karen rebels who had surrendered, including their leader Saw Lar Doe
escaped and went back to the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) after
the Burmese Army awarded them 2 million kyat for resettlement. Two escaped
on December 6 last year and Saw Lar Doe and three others escaped on
December 24.

Twelve Karen armed rebels led by Saw Lar Doe, from KNLA, surrendered to
the Burmese Army on December 3, 2005.

They surrendered to the Burmese Army Infantry Battalion 282 based in Yapu
village with 6 assault rifles and ammunition.

The group was awarded 2 million kyat for them to resettle by IB 282. But,
after a while, they escaped and went back to KNLA.

“Lar Doe did the right thing for the country. But, it has harmed our
villagers,” a Karen officer from KNLA No.4 brigade said.

He said, Saw Lar Doe’s was a splinter group of the KNLA and had no contact
with any KNLA troops in the past.

Before they surrendered, Saw Lar Doe’s group had an armed encounter with
the Light Infantry Battalion 558 and three soldiers from the Burmese Army
were killed. They seized one assault rifle from Burmese troops resulting
in the battalion commander Major Thet Aung being demoted to the rank of
Captain.

The commander of LIB 282, who awarded Saw Lar Doe’s group to resettle was
also demoted and transferred after the escape.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

January 25, Irrawaddy
Rights group calls for improved prison conditions - Yeni

Thailand-Burma border-based advocacy group the Assistance Association for
Political Prisoners (Burma) has called on Burmese authorities to improve
healthcare conditions in the country’s prisons.

“We are very concerned about the current situation among political
prisoners because organizations such as the International Committee of the
Red Cross can’t visit the prisons nowadays,” Tate Naing, secretary of
AAPP, said.

Last month, the Rangoon branch of ICRC attempted to visit political
prisoners to assess prison conditions. But the junta-backed Union
Solidarity and Development Association insisted on accompanying ICRC
officials, a condition that violates ICRC regulations, and the visit was
canceled.

“The health situation for prisoners is getting worse, sometimes resulting
in death due to a lack of skillful physicians, medics and medicines,” said
Tate Naing.

Last year, seven political activists died in the country’s prisons, the
group said. On January 11, Khin Maung Lwin, 38-year-old member of the
opposition National League for Democracy, died in Putao, Kachin State.

According to the group’s latest press release, Than Win, a writer who is
currently languishing in Thayawaddy prison—one of the country’s most
notorious prisons, located in Pegu Division about 70 miles north from
Rangoon—is suffering from diabetes and kidney complications, and his
health condition continues to worsen.

“The arrest and detention of Than Win is politically motivated,” Tate
Naing said. Than Win was sentenced to seven years imprisonment under
Section 17/20 of the Printers and Publications Act. He has been in jail
since August 2000. The writer published a book containing information
about Gen Aung San, father of Aung San Suu Kyi.

The military regime frequently seeks to diminish Aung San’s role in
history as the hero of Burmese independence by arresting those who speak
or write about him. The Burmese military junta has imposed on writers one
of the strictest censorship regimes in the world.

International advocates of press freedom have tagged Burma as one of the
most dangerous places—starkly underscored by the continuing imprisonment
of journalists, writers, artists, and oppositionists—in Southeast Asia.

Eight writers—including Win Tin, the recipient of numerous literary
awards—remain imprisoned in Burma, notes AAPP. Others include Monywa Aung
Shin, Nyi Min Thet, Nay Min, Nyein Thit, Tin Sein and Dike Oo Soe Moe Thu,
according to AAPP.

____________________________________

January 22, Bangkok Post
The show must go on - Sombat Raksakul

The long-necked Karen tribespeople from Burma have the welcome mat thrown
out for them on both sides of the border

In the realm of Burmese expatriates in Thailand, there is one group that
stands out, in more ways than one. Burmese expatriates along the border
are normally treated with indifference at best from both the Thai and
Burmese sides, but this is not the case with the Padaung, or long-necked
Karen. Thai entrepreneurs have learned to cash in on them for their
tourist appeal, and now Burmese authorities are eager for the Padaung in
Mae Hong Son, Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai provinces to be repatriated,
perhaps for the same reason.

But in northern provinces of Thailand a growing chorus is calling for the
creation of more long-necked Karen villages, as the existing ones are
always full of foreign visitors. The request follows moves by some tourism
businesses in Mae Hong Son to take their operations to lush nature
reserves in neighbouring Tak province.

Many of the long-necked Karen people fled their homes across the border in
Burma to escape armed hostilities between government troops and ethnic
insurgents, while others were deliberately brought into the country by
Thai tourism operators.

In response to the Burmese request, Thai authorities have said that they
would ask the long-necked Karen if they want to go home. But the tourism
operators, fearing that repatriation of the tribespeople would be a severe
blow to their businesses, will likely do whatever they can to keep them
happy in Thailand.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

January 25, Associated Press
Myanmar says WHO approved national bird flu plan, but found lab shortages

Yangon: Officials from the World Health Organization are satisfied with
Myanmar's plan to deal with any outbreak of bird flu but said the country
needs better diagnostic facilities, an official said Wednesday.

"WHO acknowledged the high-level commitment and political will of the
Myanmar government officials in taking measures against a possible
outbreak of bird flu, but recommended that more needs to be done to
improve lab facilities," said Dr. Than Hla, director of the research and
disease control division of the Livestock Breeding Ministry.

Myanmar has never reported a confirmed case of bird flu, and maintains a
ban on poultry imports from countries where the virus has been detected.

Than Hla told The Associated Press that a four-member WHO team completed a
12-day survey earlier this month in Yangon and in Kayin and Mon states in
eastern Myanmar. He said they were satisfied that Myanmar had a bird flu
plan in place but recommended that more laboratories and test kits be made
available in remote areas.

They also suggested that monitoring of bird flu be done in a more
systematic manner, Than Hla said.

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has caused the deaths of hundreds of millions
of chickens and ducks from culling and disease since the virus began
ravaging poultry stocks across Asia in 2003. It also has jumped to humans,
killing at least 82 people in Asia and Turkey.

Than Hla said Myanmar needs more funding to improve its diagnostic
facilities, research and training. He said a bird flu education campaign
will be intensified in rural areas to teach villagers about the disease
and its symptoms and convince farmers to report any unusual disease or
increase in mortality among chickens.

Than Hla said more education is needed because about 80 percent of the 70
million chickens in Myanmar are raised in backyards.

Myanmar's military government which generally restricts the free flow of
information and exercises tight control over the mostly state-owned mass
media has said it will deal openly with any bird flu problems.

____________________________________

January 25, Xinhua General News Service
Thai-Myanmar border communities prepare for avian flu outbreak

Bangkok: Health workers from refugee camps and migrant communities on the
Thai-Myanmar border will meet with local officials and international
donors in Tak's provincial capital on Friday to review contingency plans
to cope with a possible outbreak of bird flu.

The workshop, co-organized by the provincial public health office and
three international agencies -- the International Organization for
Migration (IOM), the United Nations' Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the
World Health Organization (WHO) -- is expected to attract over 70
delegates from the provincial government, international organizations, UN
agencies, NGOs and embassies, reported the Thai News Agency Wednesday.

Organizers hope that the meeting will help to identify key elements of an
avian flu preparedness plan to protect refugees and migrants living in
crowded camps and communities in close proximity to their livestock, along
Tak province's border with neighboring Myanmar.

"We also expect to come up with guidelines and a plan of action for
preventing or controlling an outbreak," said Dr. Jaime Calderon, who
coordinates IOM's migrant health program in Thailand.

"These would include clinical management and referral mechanisms, as well
as public health management, surveillance and containment mechanisms, and
resource management," he said.

Speakers at the workshop will include representatives of WHO, the Thai
Ministry of Public Health, Tak provincial officials responsible for public
health and livestock, and local providers of health services to the
Myanmar migrant community.

Aide Medicale Internationale (AMI) and the American Refugee Committee
(ARC), two international NGOs that provide health services in Tak's
refugee camps, will also report on their level of preparedness to deal
with an outbreak of the disease.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

January 25, The Washington Post
The realities of exporting democracy - Peter Baker

A year after Bush recast foreign policy, progress remains mixed

Sitting in a prison cell halfway around the planet, an Egyptian opposition
leader forced President Bush this month to confront the question of how
serious he was when he vowed to devote his second term to "ending tyranny
in our world."

Ayman Nour, who dared challenge Egypt's authoritarian leader in
manipulated elections, was sentenced on Christmas Eve to five years on
what U.S. officials consider bogus charges. Inside the administration, a
debate ensued over whether to shelve a new trade agreement with Egypt in
protest. In the end, the trade talks were suspended and an Egyptian
negotiating team invited to Washington last week was told it was no longer
welcome.

In the year since Bush redefined U.S. foreign policy in his second
inaugural address to make the spread of democracy the nation's primary
mission, the clarion-call language has resonated in the dungeons and
desolate corners of the world. But soaring rhetoric has often clashed with
geopolitical reality and competing U.S. priorities.

While the administration has enjoyed notable success in promoting liberty
in some places, it has applied the speech's principles inconsistently in
others, according to analysts, activists, diplomats and officials. Beyond
its focus on Iraq, Washington has stepped up pressure on repressive
regimes in countries such as Belarus, Burma and Zimbabwe -- where the
costs of a confrontation are minimal -- while still gingerly dealing with
China, Pakistan, Russia and other countries with strategic and trade
significance.

In the Middle East, where the administration has centered its attention,
it has promoted elections in the Palestinian territories such as today's
balloting for parliament, even as it directed money aimed at clandestinely
preventing the radical Islamic group Hamas from winning. And although it
has now suspended trade negotiations with Egypt, it did not publicly
announce the move, nor has it cut the traditionally generous U.S. aid to
Cairo.

"The glass is a quarter full, but we need more of it," said Jennifer
Windsor, executive director of Freedom House, a group that promotes
democracy. "The administration deserves credit, but it's just a start."

In its annual survey ranking nations as free, partly free or not free, the
group upgraded nine nations or territories in 2005 and downgraded four.
Among those deemed freer were Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan, where peaceful
revolutions overthrew entrenched governments; Lebanon, where Syrian
occupation troops were pressured to withdraw; and Afghanistan and the
Palestinian territories, where trailblazing elections were held. Overall,
Freedom House concluded, "the past year was one of the most successful for
freedom" since the survey began in 1972.

At the same time, Human Rights Watch released its annual report,
upbraiding the Bush administration for undermining its credibility in
promoting freedom abroad through its embrace of abusive interrogation
tactics in the battle with terrorists. "There's no question that the issue
of torture in particular has compromised the U.S. voice, and not only
torture but a manifold list of other human rights issues," said the
group's associate director, Carroll Bogert.

The broader question is the degree to which Bush's speech marked genuine
change in policy rather than so much talk. In many parts of the
government, democracy promotion seems still to take a back seat to other
goals.

After the government in Uzbekistan massacred hundreds of protesters in
Andijan, for instance, the Pentagon resisted any tough response to protect
its military base there. Ultimately, even the restrained statements by the
U.S. government alienated the autocratic Uzbek president, Islam Karimov,
who threw out the U.S. military.

"They come into conflict every day," a senior official said of rival
priorities inside the administration. "The question becomes the weight
given to the intangible interest in freedom versus the tangible interest
in having a base in Uzbekistan, for instance."

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity citing
administration rules, called Bush's speech "a weapon in the hands of
everyone in the administration who is pushing for a stronger and stronger
democracy agenda."

"Anytime there's a question, should we say this or say that . . . someone
can pull out a copy of the president's speech and say, 'Wait a second, may
I quote from what the president said?' " the official added.

Outside the United States, the speech inspired many fighting for freedom
but also raised expectations that are hard to fulfill. "All they do is
talk right now," said Gulam Umarov. His father, Sanjar Umarov, head of the
opposition Sunshine Coalition in Uzbekistan, has been in prison since
October. "I don't know what actual moves they take. But they are talking,
which is really good."

In other places, the United States has done more than talk. In Kyrgyzstan,
the U.S. government funded pro-democracy groups and provided generators to
print an opposition newspaper before its revolution. Edil Baisalov,
director of the Coalition for Democracy and Civil Society, can quote
extensively from the Bush inaugural speech. "The Kyrgyz people are much,
much better off today than they were a year ago, and I think the U.S.
government should take pride in taking credit for that," he said. "And
[it] should never apologize that it wants the people to be free."

In Belarus, another former Soviet republic ruled by an iron-fisted leader,
Bush's words also stir hope. "We draw strength from these statements,"
said Vladimir Kolas, chairman of the Council of the Belarusian
Intelligentsia opposing President Alexander Lukashenko. "We understand
there are limits to what the U.S. can do. But we do need strong and
decisive statements . . . that they will not recognize falsified election
results."

The Bush administration has been willing to stay tough on Belarus and
others it labeled "outposts of tyranny," such as Burma and Zimbabwe. Bush
lobbied Asian leaders at a November summit in South Korea to bring Burma
before the U.N. Security Council, and as a result the council had an
unprecedented discussion last month. The United States also renewed
economic sanctions adopted in 2003.

Opposition activists in Burma said they were grateful for U.S. efforts to
highlight repression in their country. But despite these measures, little
has changed, and some diplomats believe the situation has deteriorated.
More than 1,100 political prisoners are behind bars, according to Amnesty
International, and all regional offices of Aung San Suu Kyi's National
League for Democracy remain shuttered.

In Zimbabwe, U.S. Ambassador Christopher W. Dell has been so outspoken
about President Robert Mugabe's government that he has been threatened
with expulsion. David Coltart, an opposition member of parliament, said
Zimbabwe has been on the Bush administration's radar screen, even if not
the president's. "George Bush is too preoccupied by Iraq to be personally
engaged in the Zimbabwe crisis," he said. "But Colin Powell certainly was
a friend of those struggling to bring democracy. It's too early to say
whether Condoleezza Rice is focused on Zimbabwe."

Elsewhere, the U.S. hand is not seen as readily. In East Africa,
newspapers are filled with columns asking why the Bush administration
ignores their undemocratic leaders. After violence spilled into the
streets of Uganda's capital when President Yoweri Museveni changed the
constitution to run for a third term, Washington was silent. Museveni also
jailed his opponent on what critics call trumped-up charges of treason and
rape.

In Ethiopia, where 40 people were killed by government forces firing into
crowds protesting fraudulent elections, Ethiopians complained that it took
months for U.S. officials to speak out. "Does the Bush administration care
about fighting terrorism for its citizens or does it care about the
political situation in a Third World country like Ethiopia?" asked Tamrat
G. Giorgis, managing editor of Fortune, one of Ethiopia's few independent
newspapers. "I think Africans are asking that question, and we know the
war on terror is more important."

When it comes to places such as China and Russia, the Bush administration
prefers private friendly advice to ringing public denunciations. Sometimes
it passes on both. Although U.S. officials have said they would like Gen.
Pervez Musharraf, who took over Pakistan in a military coup, to give up
his army post and govern as a civilian, Musharraf said last year that Bush
has never raised the issue with him.

"I know presidents and diplomats are not dissidents and when they say they
can achieve more in private talks, they may be sincere," said Lyudmila
Alexeyeva of the Moscow Helsinki Group, a human rights organization under
pressure from the Kremlin. "But I would still like to hear more. And maybe
it will have an effect on our president."

Then there are Iran and North Korea, the two top enemies on Bush's list.
The president appointed a special envoy on human rights in North Korea,
but Abdollah Momeni of the Office for Fostering Unity, an Iranian student
group, wants more constructive help. "If they only make noises about this,
or if they think that through military action democracy can be achieved,
they are moving on the wrong path," said Momeni, who is appealing a
five-year prison sentence. "Military action against a country would dry up
the democratic blossoms." But, he added, "more action and less talking is
needed."

And there is Egypt, one of the most problematic places for the Bush
democracy push. When President Hosni Mubarak agreed to let challengers run
against him for the first time, a visiting Laura Bush praised the "wise
and bold" move. But shortly after she left, Mubarak supporters
orchestrated attacks on democracy demonstrators. The presidential election
was manipulated, and a subsequent parliamentary election degenerated into
violence and mass arrests.

The arrest of Nour, who won an unprecedented 7 percent against Mubarak,
presented a singular challenge to Bush, who promised in his inaugural
address to stand with "democratic reformers facing repression, prison or
exile." The White House pronounced itself "deeply troubled" and demanded
Mubarak "release Mr. Nour from detention."

Nour remains behind bars.

Correspondents Peter Finn in Moscow, Ellen Nakashima and Alan Sipress in
Jakarta, Craig Timberg in Johannesburg, Karl Vick in Tehran, Emily Wax in
Nairobi, and Daniel Williams in Istanbul contributed to this report.

____________________________________

January 25, Mizzima News
USDA members attend Cuban solidarity meeting

Union Solidarity and Development Association representatives have attended
the Third Asia Pacific Regional Cuba Solidarity Conference in Chennai,
India.

Burma's state-run New Light of Myanmar said several USDA officials
including U Than Htay attended the 'anti-imperialist' conference.

National Committee For Solidarity with Cuba convener, A. Vijayaraghavan
told reporters at the meeting, "All countries had lessons to learn from
the Cuban experience. Imperialist forces under the leadership of the
United States were making all-out efforts to impose their hegemony over
all countries," Vijayaraghavan said.

Cuba, like Burma, has long been criticised by activists over human rights
violations. Both countries regularly produce anti-US and anti-imperialist
propaganda.