BurmaNet News, April 7, 2006

[Editor]

April 7, 2006 Issue # 2936


INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: State media slams NLD reconciliation offer
DPA: Time bomb defused at international school in Myanmar
RFA via Yearbook of Experts: Burmese student leader calls for non-violent
resistance after mob killing
DVB: Dolour for dollar sellers in Burma
DVB: Burma junta distributing anti-US tracts by China

ON THE BORDER
Mizzima: Kachin council meeting held at KIO headquarters

HEALTH / AIDS
Mizzima: Bird flu found in Burma’s Monywa

BUSINESS / TRADE
Asia Pulse: India decides to bypass Bangladesh to get Myanmar Gas
Irrawaddy: ADB predicts strong growth in Asia

INTERNATIONAL
AP: U.S. declines seat on U.N. Rights Council

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

April 7, Irrawaddy
State media slams NLD reconciliation offer - Aung Lwin Oo

State-run media in Burma has rejected as impractical a recent opposition
party plan for political reform in the military-led country.

Articles appearing in three official publications on Thursday and Friday
called the National League for Democracy’s plan unacceptable.

“The existing government is already a legitimate government,” read one
column published on Friday in state-run The New Light of Myanmar. It added
that offers by the opposition to recognize the regime were unnecessary.

The NLD proposal, made on February 12, called for the convening of a
people’s parliament comprising winning candidates from the aborted 1990
elections, which would recognize the current military regime as a de jure
government.

Some object to calling Burma’s current leaders the legitimate government.
“The claim that the columnist has made is not in accordance with
international laws—meaning that it’s legitimate because they are in
power,” Nyan Win, a spokesperson for the NLD told The Irrawaddy today.

Nyan Win also responded to an article in Thursday’s edition of Myanma
Alin, the Burmese language edition of The New Light, which blamed the NLD
for delaying political reform by failing to cooperate with the government.

“Such accusations are meaningless because the NLD is not the one ruling
the country,” he said. “We view these columns as an attempt to
misrepresent the NLD proposal.”

The NLD issued its proposal for engagement with the ruling junta on the
59th anniversary of Union Day and sought a positive response by April 17,
Burma’s traditional New Year.

Opposition leaders dismiss the recent columns as “unofficial” responses to
their proposal, but they are not hopeful of breaking any new ground with
the regime. A recent visit to Rangoon by Malaysia’s foreign minister, Syed
Hamid Albar, on behalf of Asean, seems to have confirmed their concerns.

During his visit—from March 23 to 24—Syed Hamid was not allowed to meet
with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi or any of her deputies in the NLD.
The reason given, according to Syed Hamid, was that Suu Kyi and the NLD
were no longer politically relevant in Burma.

“If the NLD—led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi—has no more influence,” asked Nyan
Win, “then why is it necessary to close down our offices and keep our
leaders in custody?”

A new appeal by the NLD for the release of Suu Kyi and her deputy Tin Oo
was rejected this week by the regime.

“The division between the two sides is too wide,” said Aung Naing Oo, a
Burmese political analyst in exile. “The junta is unwilling to compromise,
while the opposition lacks any firm strategy to engage with them.”

Columns dismissing the NLD proposal this week also urged the opposition
group to put the good of the country above their political agenda, saying
that if it wanted to improve conditions for everyone in the country, “it
[the NLD] should relinquish all its hope to implement the 1990 election
results and unconditionally accept the policies” of the regime.

____________________________________

April 7, Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Time bomb defused at international school in Myanmar

Yangon: A time bomb, similar in design to an explosive that killed 19
people in the Myanmar (Burmese) capital almost a year ago, was found and
defused at the International School of Yangon, security personnel said
Friday.

The bomb was found Thursday in a bathroom trash can by a teacher who
noticed smoke coming from the container. Sources said the fuse of the bomb
was attached to a lit cigarette that had not yet burned down sufficiently
to light the devise's fuse.

The devise was believed to be similar to the three bombs detonated in
Yangon on May 7, 2005, that killed 19 people.

The International School of Yangon caters to the children of diplomats and
offspring of Myanmar's upper class, who can afford the 10,000 dollar
annual tuition.

Myanmar security personnel have launched an investigation into the bomb
attempt.

Three simultaneous explosions went off in Yangon department stores on May
7, killing at least 19 people and injuring 162 others.

Authorities initially blamed the blasts on ethnic minority groups but then
pointed the finger at an unnamed "superpower", presumably meaning the
United States.

____________________________________

April 7, Radio Free Asia via Yearbook of Experts
Burmese student leader calls for non-violent resistance after mob killing

March 24, Washington: A Burmese student leader has called on fellow
pro-democracy activists to stick to the rule of law in the wake of the
beating to death of 1988 student activist Ko Thet Naing Oo.

"The time has arrived for all of us to be very careful not to emulate the
ways of those individuals who want to solve problems through violent
means," Min Ko Naing told RFA's Burmese service.

"We need to be mindful and be alert against those who challenge us in a
violent way or provoke us into losing control. All of the democracy forces
and the student youth are more united now," he said.

"We have consolidated our unity. We know now that they can infiltrate
amongst the student youth at any time with violent means and challenge us.
We will only respond in accordance with the law in a calm manner and in
straightforward ways,' he added.

"I would like to say this clearly and precisely today: we will not bow our
heads and take the injustice unchallenged."

Ko Thet Naing Oo, who is also known as Pya Laung, a former student leader
and political prisoner, was allegedly beaten to death by police, fire
brigade and members of the state-sponsored Union and Solidarity and
Development Association (USDA) on March 17 on the streets of Rangoon.

A prominent student leader during the 1988 pro-democracy movement who
later joined an armed student militia in the jungle, he served a 14-year
jail term from 1998.

Local residents who attended Ko Thet Naing Oo's funeral on March 20 said
they remembered a quiet, religious man who was widely liked.

"He was never like that, either while in prison and while outside.
Everyone said that he was very popular," one resident told RFA.

"When we went to his funeral in the ward, we learned more about him. There
were so many friends who loved him. The entire ward found the incident
intolerable. Apart from being in jail for political reasons, he hadn't
done anything against the authorities. He meditated often, went to the
meditation center, and he was quite a religious person," the resident
said.

Police in the Dagon ward of Kyimyintaing township of Rangoon have detained
two men, Ko Win Myint and Ko Khin Maung Zaw, who tried to help Ko Thet
Naing Oo during the attack for obstructing justice. Calls to Dagon police
station during office hours went unanswered.

Ko Thet Naing Oo's body showed injuries to the face, head, body, and base
of the skull, strongly suggesting he had been beaten to death, his
attorney U Khin Maung Shein said.

"We haven't yet received the written medical statement but the doctors
have already told us that he had sustained injuries and that he was beaten
to death," the attorney said.

"When we cremated his body the other day, there were injuries on his face,
on his head and at the back of his skull. There were injuries also on his
body. The injuries were quite severe. The one on the back of the skull was
the major one. We could see that," he added.

U Khin Maung Shein said police had exceeded the limits of their authority
in the attack on the former student leader.

Another student activist said the method used to catch Ko Thet Naing
Oo--by shouting 'Thief, thief!'--had also been used against political
activists during the 1988 protests. Those caught were held as thieves, and
transferred from lock-up to lock-up around the country, in a travesty of
the country's penal code.

The opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) has called on Burma's
secretive military junta to carry out a full investigation into the
killing. Police are currently believed to be holding three men on
suspicion of taking part in the attack, but no murder enquiry has been
opened, the attorney said.

Original reporting in Burmese by Ko Nyo. Written for the Web in English by
Luisetta Mudie and edited by Sarah Jackson-Han.

____________________________________

April 6, Democratic Voice of Burma
Dolour for dollar sellers in Burma

Burma Police Special Branch (SB) agents have been arresting dealers of US
Dollar as the price of the currency soars to a level never seen before in
the black market.

Although a dollar fetches more than 1330 Kyat (less than 7 Kyat at the
official rate) today, no one was interested in doing business in Rangoon
and other cities, a currency dealer told DVB. The person added that it is
a meaningless action for the government to resort to the old method of
punishing currency dealers when every time it wants to show its effort to
‘control’ inflation, without examining and tackling the real causes.

Another currency dealer said that the rising and unstable dollar price was
caused by military officials, civil servants and businessmen accompanying
the ruling junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) Vice
Chairman Maung Aye’s visit to Russia who scrambled for the purchase of US
dollars before the trip.

Observers and analysts believe that the rise of dollar price and
subsequent runaway inflation were caused by recent salary hikes for
soldiers and civil servants and the mismanagement of the country’s economy
by the junta.

____________________________________

April 6, Democratic Voice of Burma
Burma junta distributing anti-US tracts by China

Burma’s military junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC)
News and Information Ministry translated a piece of anti-US literature by
China into Burmese, and has been distributing copies of it in the country.

The tract is said to be in response to a recent US government’s report
which states that human rights situation in China was deteriorating. It
was translated on 1 April and copies of the it were distributed among the
Burmese public. According to staff from state-owned ‘Myanmar Ahlin’ (The
New Light of Myanmar) who doesn’t want to be named, newspaper staff were
instructed to enclose the tracts among the pages of ‘Myanmar Ahlin’ and
‘Kyemon’ (The Mirror) newspapers innocuously.

Although the tracts were distributed by the order of News and Information
Ministry, there is no display of the publication permit marks nor as to
who are responsible for the distribution.

Diplomatic and political circles in Rangoon said that it is extraordinary
that the tract was translated into Burmese, published and distributed. One
diplomat said that the action could be an attempt of the junta to appease
China, as it coincides with the junta’s second most powerful man
Vice-Senior General Maung Aye’s visit to Russia. Another diplomat said
that the SPDC wants to show that both Burma and China are united in their
opposition to the US.

A famous Burmese writer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the
country’s press scrutiny board should be abolished if it were to allow
this kind of ‘anonymous’ and underhanded action or allow every citizen to
have the rights to publish and distribute what they want to express
freely.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

April 7, Mizzima News
Kachin council meeting held at KIO headquarters - Myo Gyi

A three-day Kachin Consultative Council meeting started yesterday at the
headquarters of the Kachin Independence Organisation in Laiza on the
China-Burma border.

Delegates at the meeting will be briefed on the National Convention,
attended by KIO representatives, and will re-elect office bearers for the
group.

KIO vice-chairman Dr Tujar is chairing the meeting, which is being
attended by more than 150 Kachin representatives, KIO secretary colonel
Gwan Maw told Mizzima.

KIO leaders briefed the council yesterday on the National Convention and
how demands made by the group were not met by the Burmese military, a
Laiza resident said.

The Kachin Consultative Council was formed in October 2002 and comprises a
number of Kachin groups. Delegates speculated today over the possibility
of reviewing the KIO’s involvement in the National Convention.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

April 7, Mizzima News
Bird flu found in Burma’s Monywa - Myo Gyi

The H5N1 bird flu virus has been found in Monywa, Sagaing division,
poultry farmers from the area told Mizzima.

After chicken from three farms in the area died at the start of this
month, local officials tested the animals for bird flu at a laboratory in
Mandalay. The tests were positive and authorities started culling poultry
in the area according to sources.

Officials in Rangoon have confirmed the presence of bird flu in Mandalay
and Shwebo in Sagaing division but news of the outbreak in Monywa has not
been released.

Poultry farmers told Mizzima today Burmese authorities started culling
poultry in Monywa on April 3. The farmers estimated more than 20,000
chickens and 50,000 quail from 49 farms had been culled and 30,000 chicken
and quail eggs destroyed.

Burma’s poultry farmers have been hit hard by the outbreak of bird flu in
the country, with many complaining the authorities had not reimbursed them
for the chickens culled.

One source told Mizzima authorities had set up road blocks on all highways
from Monywa, in cooperation with the Animal Husbandry and Veterinary
Department, and were checking for poultry products moving in or out of the
area.

The Monywa Health Department and Municipal Committee has issued a
quarantine order covering the city.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

April 7, Asia Pulse
India decides to bypass Bangladesh to get Myanmar Gas

New Delhi: With Bangladesh maintaining a "negative" attitude with regard
to the proposed India-Myanmar gas pipeline passing through its territory,
India has decided to by-pass the neighbouring country and has started the
process for making alternate arrangements for receiving the hydrocarbon.

After a year-long stalemate and Myanmar's threat to sell the available gas
to other countries, India has decided to transport gas from two off-shore
blocks in Myanmar via Tripura without touching Bangladeshi territory.

State-owned Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) has asked a private
company to conduct feasibility studies to transport gas from Myanmar to be
received at Patna, official sources said here.

Another study has been commissioned to assess the feasibility of
transporting the gas in the form of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) bypassing
Bangladesh, they said.

The reports of the studies are expected by next month, the sources said.

The government took the step as Myanmar raised doubts over India's
seriousness in the project and sought "clarifications" urgently on how
India proposed to move ahead.

Myanmar has threatened that if India does not decide on the project fast,
it would consider selling its gas to some other countries like China and
Thailand.

____________________________________

April 7, Irrawaddy
ADB predicts strong growth in Asia - Yeni

A report released on Thursday by Manila-based Asian Development Bank
predicted that developing countries in Asia “will deliver strong growth,”
despite concerns over Burma.

ADB’s annual report, “Asian Development Outlook,” launched in Hong Kong
says that the region will achieve an overall economic expansion of 7.2 in
2006 and 7 percent through 2007, a marginal easing from 7.4 percent in
2005.

“Asian economies will take strength from the continuing upswing in the
global electronics sector and fast growth expected in the People’s
Republic of China and India,” said Ifzal Ali, Chief Economist of ADB, in a
statement announcing the release of the report.

Growth projections for developing Asia as a region are heavily influenced
by three key economies: China, India, and South Korea. Together, these
economies have a combined weight of 66 percent of regional income, the
report said.

The report includes the recent economic performance of 43 developing
member countries in Asia and the Pacific, and projections for major
macroeconomic indicators for 2006 and 2007. It has also adopted a new
format that includes country chapters, as well as an expanded graphical
presentation of information and a review of medium term (2006–2010)
opportunities and constraints facing the region. It also has a special
chapter, Routes for Asia’s Trade, which explores future opportunities for
Asia’s trade.

In Southeast Asia, according to the report, Indonesia’s growth may slow in
2006 as domestic demand is pinched by higher interest rates, but
Thailand’s economy should recover as the impact of the tsunami and a bad
agricultural harvest in 2005 recede.

The bank reports that Burma’s economic development is handicapped by
incomplete information and by deficiencies in the reliability of data.
“The dearth of complete and timely data limits an analysis of the
economy’s performance, as does exclusion of the informal sector in
official estimates.”

ADB notes that the Burmese junta’s projection of the growth of 12.2
percent was “unrealistic.” Growth prospects are likely to remain modest
without significant macroeconomic reforms, even though the trends in state
enterprises such as electricity and fertilizer suggest much more modest
growth, the report said.

In a reference to the wide gap between the official and black market
exchange rates, an eightfold increase in fuel prices and a rise in tax
revenues by 68 percent, “this prompted higher prices for some basic
commodities” and “the inflation appeared to rise to double-digit rates,”
the report said. “Monetization of the fiscal deficit contributes to
inflation pressures and puts fiscal and monetary stability at risk. The
fiscal constraints limit resources available for poverty reduction and for
investment in infrastructure.”

Trade links with robust neighboring economies such as China, India and
Thailand provide a basis for expansion of export industries. But the bank
also noted that the confirmation of the presence of avian flu cases in
livestock farms in the Mandalay and Sagaing area is a “source of concern.”

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

April 7, Associated Press
U.S. declines seat on U.N. Rights Council - Edith M. Lederer

United Nations: The United States decided to forgo a seat on the new U.N.
Human Rights Council this year rather than risk a losing battle for a
panel it considers deeply flawed. But 42 countries announced their
candidacy, including Cuba and Iran.

The United States was alone among the five veto-wielding members of the
U.N. Security Council to avoid the 47-nation human rights body. Russia,
China, Britain and France all applied for a seat.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Thursday the United States
would not be a candidate in the May 9 election, though it will support and
finance the new council and likely seek a seat next year.

"The United States will actively campaign on behalf of candidates
genuinely committed to the promotion and protection of human rights and
... will also actively campaign against states that systematically abuse
human rights," he said.

The United States was virtually alone in voting against establishing the
council to replace the highly politicized and often criticized Human
Rights Commission, arguing that the new body was only marginally better
and wouldn't keep rights-abusing countries from winning seats.

The 53-member commission was discredited in recent years because some
countries with terrible human rights records used their membership to
protect one another from condemnation. Members in recent years have
included Sudan, Libya, Zimbabwe and Cuba.

A key sticking point during the negotiations was U.S. insistence that
members be elected by two-thirds of the 191-nation General Assembly a step
aimed at keeping out rights abusers. The U.S. effort failed, and members
of the new council must be elected by an absolute majority 96 member
states.

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said the United States concluded that since
the council has "fundamental flaws" Washington would skip this year's
election and concentrate on other priorities, including the overhaul of
U.N. management. But he indicated the United States was also concerned
about whether it could win a contested election.

President Bush's administration has been strongly criticized in many
countries for invading Iraq and for the U.S. treatment of prisoners in
Guantanamo Bay and the Abu Ghraib prison.

During a U.S. National Security Council meeting earlier this week, U.S.
officials raised the possibility of U.S. defeat, according to a person who
was at the meeting and spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not
authorized to discuss the closed session.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Bolton recalled the U.S. defeat for a
seat on the Human Rights Commission in 2001 and said the United States
would face another contested election if it ran this year.

"I think that a decision by us to run had to be a decision that we were
going to win, and that would mean either defeating other Western
candidates or getting some of the rest of them to withdraw," Bolton said.

Some human rights groups and members of the U.S. Congress were dismayed at
the U.S. decision.

Rep. Tom Lantos, the ranking Democrat on the House International Relations
Committee, called it "a major retrenchment in America's long struggle to
advance the cause of human rights around the world."

Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, said "it's
unfortunate that the Bush administration's disturbing human rights record
means that the United States would hardly have been a shoe-in for election
to the council."

The new council was endorsed by key human rights groups, a dozen Nobel
Peace Prize laureates including former President Carter, and 170 countries
that voted "yes" on the resolution including a surprise approval by Cuba.

Under the rules for the new council, any U.N. member can announce its
candidacy any time until the vote is completed. Countries can serve a
maximum of two three-year terms and must leave the council before running
again.

To ensure global representation, Africa and Asia would have 13 seats each;
Latin America and the Caribbean eight; Western nations, seven; and Eastern
Europe, six.

In a statement appealing for support for its candidacy, Cuba said it has
"tremendous achievements" in human rights, most importantly in exercising
the right of self-determination against "the unilateral policy of
hostility, aggression and blockade imposed on it by the superpower."