BurmaNet News, May 5, 2006

[Editor]

May 5, 2006 Issue # 2956


INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Myanmar bans smoking in public places

ON THE BORDER
DVB: Biggest democracy: Indian army trucks carrying unknown ‘goods’ enter
Burma
Bangkok Post: 9 Thais arrested, disappear in Burma

BUSINESS / TRADE
Indo-Asian News Service: India to present alternate gas import routes to
Myanmar
AFP: ADB welcomes plans by ASEAN+3 to look at single currency

ASEAN
AFP: Myanmar absent from first ASEAN defence ministers' meeting
Xinhua: ASEAN needs to step up cooperation with UN on regional security

REGIONAL
AFP: Indonesia to deport stranded Myanmar Muslims

INTERNATIONAL
New York Times: U.S. eases curbs on resettling Burmese refugees
AP: Danish foreign minister to discuss Iran, North Korea with China next week

OPINION / OTHER
South China Morning Post: Damming up the flow of information - Michael
Richardson
The Times (London): More aid for Burma (Letter)

PRESS RELEASE
Christian Solidarity Worldwide: CSW issues response to EU statement on
Burma crisis

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

May 5, Agence France Presse
Myanmar bans smoking in public places

Yangon: Myanmar's military rulers have banned smoking in public places
with stiff penalties coming into effect next year, state media said
Friday.

The government introduced the law Thursday, banning smoking in all areas
of hospitals, schools, universities and airports as well as in cinemas and
department stores, state media said.

Smoking on public transport and in other public spaces is also banned.

The law, which caught smokers by surprise, is the first in Myanmar
attempting to deal with the health effects of smoking.

Fines for breaking the law range from 1,000 to 5,000 kyats (about 0.80
cents to four dollars) depending on the location and would come into
effect from next year, the official New Light of Myanmar said.

Vendors caught selling cigarettes in those areas and to people aged under
18 could also be fined and face up to two years in jail, the newspaper
said.

A typical monthly wage in Myanmar is 50,000 kyats although income varies
dramatically throughout the impoverished country.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

May 2, Democratic Voice of Burma
Biggest democracy: Indian army trucks carrying unknown ‘goods’ enter Burma

Over 50 trucks from the Indian military arrived in Tamu, Burma, from
Moreh, India, on 27 April.

A resident in Tamu said the trucks from the Indian military had proceeded
to Kalemyo in northwest Burma after arriving in Tamu by crossing the
Indian-Burmese border via Moreh.

“At around 6.30 or 7pm on Thursday (27 April), I saw over 50 Indian
military trucks, covered with tarpaulins, from Moreh heading towards
Kale,” said the resident.

The Indian military trucks were accompanied by five vehicles carrying
fully-armed Burma’s ruling junta, the State Peace and Development Council
(SPDC) military officers. It is still unknown what was on board the
military trucks as they were fully covered with tarpaulins.

However, local people in India's Moreh and Burma's Tamu said the Indian
military trucks were carrying weapons for the Burmese military regime. In
order to learn more about this, we contacted the Indian Ministry of
Defence and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but we were told that the
officials responsible for replying to queries were unavailable at that
time.

However, an official from the SPDC embassy in New Delhi said that there is
an agreement that states India would provide 100 to 200 military vehicles
to the Burmese military regime and that those military trucks could be
part of the agreement. He said that since he had not been closely
observing this issue, he was unable to give detailed and exact
information.

Dr Tint Swe, a cabinet minister from the National Coalition Government of
the Union of Burma (NCGUB), criticized India as not only cooperating
closely with the SPDC military regime in politics and economic issues, but
also as selling weapons to Burma.

“This incident has proved that India, the biggest democratic country, is
not conveying democracy to Burma, but instead it is transporting weapons.
We sadly note that it has further distanced democracy from people who
desire to have it.”

____________________________________

May 5, Bangkok Post
9 Thais arrested, disappear in Burma

Nine Thais who went to Burma on what apparently was a gambling trip are
missing in the secretive country, and Thai officials are not even sure
who, or where to ask about their fate.

The three men and six women from Chiang Rai and Payao have been missing
since last Tuesday when they crossed the Chiang Rai province border at the
Burmese town of Ta Chi Lek. Reports say they were arrested for gambling
there.

Attempts to find them have been futils so far, said Thai authorities in
Chiang Rai, who went to Burma seeking information and assistance for their
release.

The nine were reportedly charged with illegal gambling, but further
information has not been available. It was unclear who charged them or
where they were held.

Local administrators of Chiang Rai's Mae Sai district went to Ta Chi Lek
to meet their Burmese counterparts and discuss the release of the Thai
detainees.

There has been no response from the Burmese. Local officials said they had
to wait for word from high-level authorities in Rangoon -- or maybe from
the new capital of Pyinmana, no one seemed to know.

The only thing clear is that Burmese law supposedly grants consular access
to arrested foreigners, and also provides a sentence of between six months
and three years for illegal gambling.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

May 2, Indo-Asian News Service
India to present alternate gas import routes to Myanmar

With China keen to get gas from Myanmar and Bangladesh not ready to offer
transit, India will present as many as eight alternate routes, including
by land and sea, for importing gas from that country.

This would be done during a two-day meeting of A-1 offshore block partners
that commenced in Yangon Tuesday. State-owned GAIL (India) Ltd and ONGC
Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC),
hold 30 percent stake in two exploration blocks - A-1 and A-3 - offshore
Myanmar.

The operator of both the blocks is Daewoo International Corporation with
60 percent stake while (South) Korea Gas Corporation holds the remaining
10 percent stake.

"At the operators committee meeting being held in Myanmar, GAIL as the
preferred buyer of gas from Block A-1 would be presenting eight options
for import of gas including three land routes, three sea route options
besides bringing the gas as liquefied natural gas (LNG) and compressed
natural gas (CNG)," a petroleum ministry official told IANS.

The official admitted that none of the options being presented to Myanmar
include transit through Bangladesh, which had in fact stalled the whole
process and led to Myanmar considering a request for large gas supplies to
China. Yangon had repeatedly urged India to speed up alternate plans,
including setting up power projects near the gas fields.

"GAIL would presenting the detailed feasibility report for a Myanmar-India
gas pipeline bypassing Bangladesh and pre-feasibility report of the other
alternate plans proposed," the official said.

The detailed feasibility report (DFR) has been done with the help of SUZ
Tractebel of Brussels (Belgium) as technical consultants.

The European infrastructure consultants had been briefed to "carry out a
study for preparing the detailed feasibility report (DFR), environment
management plan (EMP) and rapid risk analysis (RRA) study report for the
Myanmar-India pipeline project via the northeast Indian territory".

The detailed report proposes routing the pipeline through the states of
Mizoram, Assam, West Bengal and Bihar. The pipeline will also have the
provision to transport gas from developing gas fields in Tripura and
Assam, the official said.

The various options are expected to firm up commitment from Myanmar to
supply gas to India, which has so far not been made, official sources
said.

Besides its own share of gas from the A-1 block in which so far Myanmar
has announced 2.88 to 3.56 trillion cubic feet of in-place gas reserves,
India is keen to get additional gas supplies to make the import plans more
feasible and help bridge the growing shortfall of the clean energy fuel
available in the country.

____________________________________

May 5, Agence France Presse
ADB welcomes plans by ASEAN+3 to look at single currency

Hyderabad: The Asian Development Bank welcomed Friday an announcement by
ASEAN members along with China, Japan and South Korea that they would
consider a single Asian currency similar to the euro.

"We highly welcome a study by ASEAN+3 governments (Japan, China and South
Korea) on a regional monetary unit," said Masahiro Kawai, head of the
bank's unit of Regional Economic Cooperation and Integration.

"We will support ASEAN+3 governments in this area in any way possible," he
said in the southern high-tech Indian city of Hyderabad where the ADB was
holding its annual general meeting.

The ADB has been spearheading a proposal for the creation of an Asian
currency unit or ACU as part of a bid to bolster monetary stability, spur
regional economic growth and even out disparities.

"We have asked our deputies to conduct a study on the future of the
regional currency unit," South Korean Finance Minister Han Duck-Soo said
Thursday ahead of the formal start of the ADB talks here.

"We are conducting the study at the level of ASEAN (Association of
Southeast Asian Nations) along with China, Japan and Korea," he said.

ASEAN is made up of Thailand, Brunei, Indonesia, Cambodia, Malaysia, Laos,
Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Vietnam and the Philippines.

ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda told a seminar on Asian economic integration
the region's options included "European-style comprehensive and deep
integration with a common trade and monetary policy" or the North American
path of a free trade area.

"The European style of integration seems to have the greatest potential
for realizing the dynamic benefits of a common trade area and monetary
policy," he said Thursday.

As in the case of the euro, the first step toward a common currency unit
would be coordination of foreign exchange policies.

The ADB said last year it planned to create a theoretical currency unit
made up of a basket of Asian currencies that would be similar to Europe's
Ecu which eventually became the euro.

The theoretical unit would provide a benchmark for Asian countries
allowing them to see how much their currency deviated from it.

____________________________________
ASEAN

May 5, Agence France Presse
Myanmar absent from first ASEAN defence ministers' meeting

Kuala Lumpur: Military-ruled Myanmar has bowed out of the inaugural
meeting of Southeast Asian defence ministers next week, citing other
engagements, a Malaysian defence official said Friday.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) defence ministers'
meeting on Tuesday will see the other nine countries mull a range of
regional security issues.

Ministers from Singapore, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, the Philippines and
Thailand had confirmed their attendance, while Brunei and Vietnam were
sending deputy ministers, the Malaysian ministry official said.

But Myanmar, which has been under intense pressure from the grouping over
the slow pace of democratic reforms there, would not be at the table at
the key inaugural meet.

"They said they had their own commitments," the official told AFP,
speaking on condition of anonymity.

The military junta in Myanmar has been keeping its neighbours at arm's
length, failing last year to inform other ASEAN nations it was moving its
administrative capital from Yangon to the remotely-located Pyinmana.

ASEAN foreign ministers at their annual retreat in Indonesia last month
were also left frustrated and disillusioned after failing to find common
ground with the military junta.

The one-day defence talks in the Malaysian capital were part of an attempt
to "mainstream" defence issues into the ASEAN framework, said spokesman
for the ASEAN secretary-general M.C. Abad.

"The culmination of... a strategic shift in the perception of defence
issues from being a sensitive or even provocative subject into a
legitimate realm of regional dialogue and cooperation," he said.

____________________________________

May 5, Xinhua General News Service
ASEAN needs to step up cooperation with UN on regional security

Kuala Lumpur: ASEAN needs to seek ways to step up its cooperation with the
United Nations to support the world body in peacekeeping operations and
promote peace and stability in the region, Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed
Hamid Albar said here on Thursday.

"ASEAN would need to explore ways and means to enhance cooperation with
the UN, giving particular attention towards enhancing the capacity and
effectiveness of the world body to carry out its peacekeeping function,
with a view to promoting peace and stability in the region," he said.

Regional organizations like ASEAN cannot replace the role of the UN in
peacekeeping as the UN is the primary body responsible for the maintenance
of international peace and security, he told an ASEAN-UN seminar here.

Regional organizations tend to see conflicts in their regions through the
tinted glasses of narrow national or regional self- interest, and
countries in a region usually have close economic, political and military
connections with the conflicting parties, he told dozens of government
officials and scholars attending the seminar.

They are less able and likely to conduct impartial peacekeeping, he said,
adding that all too often, regional states are part of the problem and not
part of the solution, in particular if they may be used by the more
powerful to expand their influence at the expense of the weak.

In reality, the regional organizations are far less capable than the UN,
in capacity or experience, for sustained peacekeeping as they have neither
sufficient military capacity nor diplomatic leverage, he said.

"This is certainly true in the case of ASEAN, ostensibly the most
successful regional organization from the developing world," he noted.

However, the minister believed that regional organizations could play an
important contributory role in UN peacekeeping operations, citing the UN
peacekeeping operations in Cambodia and Timor Leste as examples.

Believing that cooperation between the UN and countries in the region will
endure and continue to remain mutually beneficial, Syed Hamid said that
Malaysia and other ASEAN countries are prepared to continue to play their
part in maintaining international peace and order.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) currently embraces 10
countries in Southeast Asia -- Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar,
Vietnam, the Philippines, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia and Thailand.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

May 5, Agence France Presse
Indonesia to deport stranded Myanmar Muslims

Jakarta: Indonesia will deport 77 Myanmar Muslims who became stranded on a
small island in Aceh province on the way to seek work in Malaysia last
month, an immigration official said Friday.

"When everything is ready, we will return them to their country," Sumarli
Said, the head of the immigration department on Sabang island, told AFP.

Aswoto Saranang, commander of Sabang's naval base where the boatpeople are
currently sheltering, said several of the boatpeople had contracted
malaria but were recovering.

The immigration chief said sending the group back into international
waters was not under consideration.

"Their boat is not seaworthy," he said.

He said an official from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
in Jakarta told him earlier Friday that the agency planned to interview
the boatpeople to determine their status.

The UNHCR was still looking for interpreters for the purpose, the
immigration chief said.

Two UNHCR officers from Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province, had
earlier tried to interview the boatpeople but encountered language
problems.

Officials said last month that the boatpeople did not wish to be
repatriated and wanted to continue their journey to seek work overseas.

The men landed on Rondo island off northern Sumatra after their boat ran
out of fuel. All are men and ethnic Muslim Rohingyas from Myanmar's Arakan
state, aged between 20 to 45.

Officials have said they had left Myanmar to seek better livelihoods in
Malaysia's Penang and were not fleeing persecution.

In 1992, more than 200,000 Rohingyas, about a third of their population,
fled over Myanmar's border into Bangladesh, accusing the Yangon regime of
persecution.

About 20,000 remain in two refugee camps while others are living illegally
in the surrounding area.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

May 5, The New York Times
U.S. eases curbs on resettling Burmese refugees - Rachel L. Swarns

Washington: After months of deliberation, the Bush administration has
agreed to move forward with the resettlement of thousands of Burmese
refugees, a State Department official said Thursday.

The refugees' indirect support for armed rebels opposed to their
repressive government had put them in technical violation of an American
antiterrorism law.

The decision was welcomed by officials at the United Nations and refugee
resettlement agencies who had criticized the administration for delaying
the processing of the Burmese refugees because of a provision in the USA
Patriot Act.

But United Nations officials and others warned that the antiterrorism
provision would still sharply limit the number of Burmese eligible for
resettlement, despite the administration's decision, and would continue to
block the admission of other vulnerable refugees.

The Patriot Act denies entry to anyone who has provided material support
to a terrorist or armed rebel group, and it applies even if that support
was coerced or if the aims of a group in question match those of American
foreign policy.

The law also broadens the definition of terrorist groups to include
organizations that do not appear on the State Department's list of
designated groups, effectively barring refugees loosely linked to armed
groups that have resisted authoritarian governments like those in Myanmar,
formerly Burma.

Some Burmese refugees paid taxes to rebel groups that controlled their
communities. Others offered food or small sums to relatives or
acquaintances with ties to rebels or were forced to provide such support,
refugee resettlement agencies said.

United Nations officials and members of Congress said the refugees posed
no known security risks to the United States. In an acknowledgment of
that, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice signed a waiver this week to
allow the United States to proceed with the processing of about 9,300
Burmese refugees, who are now in a camp in Thailand.

But that waiver will not apply to scores of other refugees whose
resettlement has been delayed by the provision, including 146 Cubans who
offered support to armed opponents of Fidel Castro in the 1960's; 200
Burmese refugees housed in Malaysia; 30 Hmong refugees in Thailand; 11
Vietnamese Montagnard refugees in Cambodia; and a small number of
Liberians and Somalis. The State Department will have to seek separate
waivers for each of those individual groups, officials said.

''It's a very welcome development,'' Mark Hetfield, senior vice president
at the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, said of the Bush administration's
decision. ''But it's only a Band-Aid. It does not address the underlying
problem.''

Kenneth H. Bacon, president of Refugees International, echoed those
concerns. ''The waiver is a breakthrough, but a limited one,'' Mr. Bacon
said.

United Nations officials noted that the waiver did not apply to Burmese
refugees who had been members of rebel or armed groups. Those refugees,
who may include people who worked as teachers or nurses in rebel-held
territories, will still be barred from the United States.

____________________________________

May 5, Associated Press
Danish foreign minister to discuss Iran, North Korea with China next week

Copenhagen: Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller will discuss North
Korea and Iran with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Foreign Minister Li
Zhaoxing during a visit next week to Beijing, the government said Friday.

Talks also will focus on human rights in China and the situation in
Myanmar, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Moeller will travel to China with Environment Minister Connie Hedegaard
May 8-14. They will be accompanied by a business delegation to promote
Danish companies within the energy, environment, pharmaceutical and health
sectors.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

May 5, South China Morning Post
Damming up the flow of information - Michael Richardson

Controversy has swirled around a proposal to build a series of
hydroelectric dams on the Nu River - one of the last free-flowing
waterways in China. Decisions made by central government authorities on
the final shape of the project will affect countries downstream, namely
Myanmar and Thailand. Yet the plans are shrouded in official secrecy.

The issue is emerging in China as a test of national priorities. To what
extent are communist party and government officials, both central and
local, prepared to listen to dissenting voices? And how will they balance
the needs for energy and growth against those for conservation and
sustainable development?

Beginning high on the Tibetan plateau, the Nu, which means "angry", passes
through a remote mountain region of southwestern China before entering
Myanmar. There, it is known as the Thanlwin, or the Salween in English.
The river forms Myanmar's border with Thailand for 120km, then flows
through Myanmar and into the sea. More than two-thirds of its 2,800km
length is in China, where a group of state-owned companies announced in
mid-2003 that it planned to build 13 power dams. Together, they would
generate 22,000MW, the equivalent of about two dozen big nuclear-power
stations.

But Premier Wen Jiabao suspended the project in April 2004, telling
officials it needed more careful scrutiny. Environmental activists, and
some Chinese scientists, had opposed any dams along the river, arguing
that they would displace thousands of villagers, threaten fisheries and
wildlife, and disrupt the flow of the Nu into Myanmar and along the Thai
border.

The United Nations also entered the dispute. Last year, its
culture-protection agency, Unesco, expressed its "gravest concerns" about
the potential damage to a wilderness area in Yunnan province , which the
Nu flows through. In July 2003, Unesco had listed the area as a world
heritage site.

The latest reports suggest, however, that Chinese authorities have decided
to proceed with the hydropower project on a smaller scale. They apparently
plan to begin by building only four dams, ostensibly to limit any local
disruption and damage to the environment. Under China's Environmental
Impact Assessment Law, comprehensive reviews are supposed to be made in
the planning stages of major projects - involving public participation,
such as hearings where objections can be raised and considered. But the
Ministry of Water Resources has blocked the release of the environmental
impact assessment report on the Nu project, saying it contains state
secrets.

The governments of Myanmar and Thailand haven't been much more forthcoming
about their plans for hydropower development on the river. They agreed, in
December, to build at least five dams on the Salween, which would generate
11,800MW. But that deal was not published until a British journalist
posted it on a website in March.

China has a strong case for harnessing its rivers. It is short of energy
and needs to reduce reliance on burning coal, which pollutes the
atmosphere and releases gases that are warming the world to dangerous
levels. But keeping its people and neighbouring countries in the dark
about its plans will only fan fears about adverse consequences, making it
seem that there is much to hide.

Michael Richardson is a visiting senior research fellow at the Institute
of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.

____________________________________

May 5, The Times (London)
More aid for Burma (LETTER)

Sir, More than 11,000 people have been forced to flee their villages in
Karen state, Burma, in the past few weeks alone. Civilians have been
chased by the Burma Army, shot at point-blank range, tortured and
beheaded.

A nine-year-old girl was shot after seeing her father and grandmother
killed. Those who have survived are trapped in the jungle without food,
medicine or shelter. A few brave relief teams have been able to reach them
with some basic aid, but much more is needed.

In total since 1996 more than 2,800 villages have been destroyed or
forcibly relocated at gunpoint in eastern Burma alone. More than a million
people are displaced. Some other governments are providing humanitarian
aid, through relief teams based in Thailand. The Department for
International Development (DFID) says it wants its aid to be directed at
the most vulnerable people. There is no one more vulnerable in Burma today
than the displaced people hiding in the jungles.

DFID should consult with other governments, and find a way to fund relief
teams carrying out life-saving work in the conflict zones of Burma.

VERA BAIRD MP, JOHN BERCOW MP, Co-Chairs, All-Party Parliamentary Group
for Democracy in Burma, YVETTE MAHON, Director, Burma Campaign UK, MERVYN
THOMAS, Chief Executive, Christian Solidarity Worldwide

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE



May 4, Christian Solidarity Worldwide
CSW issues response to EU statement on Burma crisis

Christian Solidarity Worldwide today issued the following response to the
European Union's statement yesterday on the escalating crisis in Karen
State, Burma:

"Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) welcomes the statement issued by the
European Union yesterday in response to the current emergency in Karen
State, Burma.

CSW believes, however, that a more timely response to the immediate and
urgent crisis should have been made.

Furthermore, CSW expresses its concern about some aspects of the EU
Statement.

We wish to remind the EU that the Karen National Union (KNU) has engaged
in ceasefire talks with Burma's State Peace and Development Council (SPDC)
on numerous occasions. The KNU has always emphasised its desire to find a
solution through peaceful, political means. The SPDC has continuously
disregarded requests for peace talks, or violated the spirit of such peace
talks when they have taken place.

Furthermore, the current offensive in Karen State, the worst since 1997,
is affecting thousands of unarmed, innocent civilians, including women and
children. Over 13,000 civilians have been forcibly displaced. A nine
year-old girl has been shot. Villagers have been beheaded, and one man's
body was found with his eye gouged out and nose cut off. Civilians have
been shot at point-blank range.

It is therefore misleading for the EU to refer in its statement to a
"campaign against the Karen National Union". The term "dislocations" used
in the EU Statement underestimates the scale of the crisis. Thousands of
people have been forcibly displaced at gun-point.

CSW urges the EU and its member states, and the Council of Ministers, the
European Commission and Members of the European Parliament, to unite in
condemning unconditionally the atrocities currently perpetrated in Karen
State.

CSW reminds the EU that gross violations of human rights have been
perpetrated by the SPDC over many years, and continue to be perpetrated,
not only in Karen State but also against other ethnic nationalities in
Burma, including the Karenni, Shan, Mon, Chin, Kachin, Arakan, Wa and
Rohingya, and against the National League for Democracy and other
pro-democracy activists.

CSW urges the EU to adopt a more timely and robust position in regard to
Burma."

For more information, please contact Ben Rogers at Christian Solidarity
Worldwide on 020 8329 0041 or email press at csw.org.uk or visit
www.csw.org.uk

CSW is a human rights organisation which specialises in religious freedom,
works on behalf of those persecuted for their Christian beliefs and
promotes religious liberty for all.

 NOTES TO EDITORS:

The European Union issued a statement yesterday on the situation in Karen
State. It said:

"The EU Presidency is very concerned by the fact that the Myanmar/Burmese
Army has recently stepped up its campaign against the Karen National Union
(KNU). The fighting is reported to have created a significant number of
displaced persons in northern Karen state, and contributed to a further
significant movement of refugees to Thailand.

The EU Presidency calls upon the Burmese leadership to cease abuses and
dislocations of civilians in the zones of conflict and urges both sides to
strictly adhere to international humanitarian law.

The EU supports the territorial integrity of Myanmar/Burma and the
protection of human rights of all citizens and groups in the country
regardless of ethnicity or religion. The EU Presidency strongly believes
that the country's inter-ethnic conflicts should be resolved by peaceful
political and democratic means.

The EU Presidency therefore calls upon the Government of Burma/Myanmar and
the KNU to pursue talks leading to a genuine and lasting ceasefire and to
a sustainable political settlement."

In recent weeks over 13,000 civilians have been forced to flee their homes
in Karen State.

For further details see previous press release at
http://www.csw.org.uk/latestnews/article.php?id=498
To see full reports on the crisis see www.freeburmarangers.org