BurmaNet News, May 17, 2006

[Editor]

May 17, 2006 Issue # 2964


INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Myanmar rebels make desperate call for ceasefire talks
Irrawaddy: Reports of major military reshuffle emerge from Royal City
Irrawaddy: UN’s Gambari seeks “tangible progress”
Mizzima: Two Burmese students sentenced to death
Irrawaddy: Appeal launched for jailed Shan leaders
DVB: Three Burmese youths on trial for writing a poem
SHAN: Shan army on "peace mission"

HEALTH / AIDS
Narinjara: Cholera outbreak in Maungdaw

BUSINESS / TRADE
AP: EU trade chief says free trade negotiations with ASEAN likely despite
Myanmar sanctions

INTERNATIONAL
Reuters: Protesters tell Myanmar to stop attacks on minority
AP: U.S. lawmakers denounce Myanmar's targeting of Karen minority
New Light of Myanmar: Appointment of Ambassador of UK agreed

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

May 17, Agence France Presse
Myanmar rebels make desperate call for ceasefire talks

Bangkok: Ethnic Karen rebels Wednesday issued a new plea for ceasefire
talks with Myanmar's military rulers, saying the plight of their people
was increasingly desperate in the face of a bloody offensive.

The Karen National Union, the oldest and largest rebel group battling
Myanmar's junta, said the violence had exacted a crushing toll on villages
in eastern Myanmar with some 11,000 people forced from their homes.

Advancing Myanmar forces had committed a litany of abuses against
civilians in their path, including rape, torture, forced labor and burning
of entire villages, the KNU said in a statement.

"The KNU solemnly call upon the SPDC military regime to immediately stop
its current military operations and withdraw its operational troops, hold
talks seriously with the KNU, abandon its policy of total obliteration and
resolve the country's problems by political means," the rebels said.

The junta, which calls itself the State Peace and Development Council
(SPDC), launched the offensive in February.

Fighting during the dry months is normal in Myanmar, but the KNU said the
military had stocked its front-line positions to press ahead even amid the
seasonal rains that make travel difficult.

"The KNU strongly protest and condemn the SPDC's wicked act of increasing
military operations against us, instead of working toward nationwide
ceasefire," the statement said.

The military has reached ceasefires with 17 other ethnic armed groups, but
talks with the KNU fell apart two years ago and have yet to resume.

The two sides had reached a "gentlemen's agreement" to stop fighting until
a ceasefire was hammered out.

Both sides insist they remain open to talks, even as the military presses
ahead with its offensive.

Although the KNU once controlled a vast stretch of Karen state, the
Myanmar military has made steady gains in recent years, leaving the rebels
with little more than a string of bases mainly along the Thai border.

Myanmar has faced mounting pressure to halt its offensive, with rights
groups denouncing its tactics.

Six UN human rights experts on Tuesday called on the military to end the
fighting because of its brutal impact on thousands of civilians.

The UN's top political official, Ibrahim Gambari, is due to arrive in
Yangon on Thursday in the world body's highest-level contact with the
reclusive junta in more than two years.

____________________________________

May 17, Irrawaddy
Reports of major military reshuffle emerge from Royal City - Aung Zaw

Since the beginning of this week, Burma’s secretive military regime has
been holding a belated quarterly meeting in Naypyidaw (Royal City) in
Central Burma and sending out wild rumors of an imminent major reshuffle
in the cabinet and military.

Last week, The Irrawaddy broke the news of an impending reshuffle as Burma
skipped the regional defense ministers meetings in Kuala Lumpur.

As of now, news from Royal City is still sketchy. Burmese official
newspapers published news of the retirement of ministers and deputy
ministers and the reorganization of the Ministry of Electric Power into
two separate ministries. But the military leaders keep everyone guessing
about personnel changes in the armed forces.

Some political observers in Rangoon speculate that more than 40 military
and government officials will be reshuffled. There is also a rumor that
Snr-Gen Than Shwe and his deputy, Gen Maung Aye, have reached a compromise
by appointing their close associates to key positions.

However, some critics in Rangoon remained unconvinced, believing the
standoff between Than Shwe and Maung Aye will continue. Than Shwe keeps
his trustworthy army generals in the war office.

This year, in a surprise move, the regime created a Bureau of Special
Operations 5 and appointed Lt-Gen Myint Swe to head the department. Myint
Swe is also head of Military Affairs Security.

Myint Swe is known to be a Than Shwe favorite and his appointment
indicates that the junta leader wants to pave the way for him to assume a
high-ranking position in the army. Shwe Mann, who is also considered to be
Than Shwe’s man, maintains good relations with Maung Aye. “Than Shwe won’t
trust people who are too close to Maung Aye,” said a source close to
military officers in Rangoon.

Some junior army officers have also been given powerful military command
positions. Although the list has not yet been confirmed, it is likely that
new blood is being injected into the armed forces. The regime’s most
senior and elderly generals, Than Shwe and Maung Aye, are unlikely to
relinquish their posts this time around, however.

Than Shwe, who is in his late 70s, and is commander in chief of the armed
forces, reportedly told his subordinates last year that he would resign
after discovering that his wife, Kyaing Kyaing, was involved in corruption
cases. But he has evidently changed his mind since, and has even told
Maung Aye, 67, to remain in the junta.

The two men have served in the junta since 1988, first in the State Law
and Order Restoration Council, and then in the State Peace and Development
Council, when that replaced SLORC in 1997.

However the relationship between the two aging generals develops, the
regime remains unchanged for now.

The Irrawaddy has obtained the following unconfirmed list of new
appointments within the armed forces, and will continue to update it as
more information comes to light:

Newly appointed regional commanders

Brig-Gen Thaung Aye—Commander of Eastern Command

Brig-Gen Aung Than Htut—Commander of Northeast Command

Brig-Gen Khin Zaw Oo—Commander of Coastal Regional Command

Brig-Gen Wai Lwin, formerly Deputy Commander of Rangoon Division—
Commander of  Naypyidaw command in Pyinmana

Brig-Gen Maung Shein—Commander of Western Command

Brig-Gen Thet Naing Win—Commander of Southeastern Command

New military appointments at the War Office

Maj-Gen Myint Hlaing, formerly commander of Northeast Command (Gen Maung
Aye’s former close aide who instigated the downfall of Prime Minister Gen
Khin Nyunt) is promoted to Lt-Gen and appointed Chief of Staff, Air
Defense, the position previously held by Prime Minister Gen Soe Win.

Maj-Gen Ye Myint, formerly Commander of Eastern Command, is promoted to
Lt-Gen and appointed head of Military Affairs Security. He is also Gen
Maung Aye’s closest associate.

Brig-Gen Tin Ngwe is appointed Brigadier GS (General Staff). He is a close
associate of Gen Thura Shwe Mann.

Reports from Rangoon suggest that the regime might appoint a general to
the Secretary Two position, which has been vacant for years. The position
was previously held by Lt- Gen Tin Oo and Lt-Gen Thein Sein, who is now
Secretary One. Secretary One and Two are political positions, ranking
third and fourth in the ruling council.

____________________________________

May 17, Irrawaddy
UN’s Gambari seeks “tangible progress” - Aung Lwin Oo

Senior UN diplomat Ibrahim Gambari’s visit to Burma is aimed at obtaining
“tangible progress in restoring democratic freedoms and full respect for
human rights,” a statement issued by the world body in New York said on
Wednesday.

The statement was issued as Gambari, the Under Secretary-General for
Political Affairs, left the US city for an official visit expected to last
at least three days.

He will arrive in Rangoon on Thursday and is scheduled to meet senior
leaders of the military junta on Saturday at their new administrative
capital near Pyinmana.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Anan regards Gambari’s visit “as an overdue and
potentially important opportunity to assess developments in the country
first hand,” the statement added.

Gambari expects to meet individuals from civil society and political
parties, including the main opposition National League for Democracy.

The opposition NLD told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that the Ministry of
the Interior had informed them they could nominate seven executive members
of the party to meet Gambari at a Rangoon government “guest house” on
Friday.

The UN official has also requested a meeting with detained opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi, but as he left New York there was no indication
that the request would be agreed by the junta. Gambari’s schedule was
drawn up by the regime, according to a source closed to the UN.

The visit comes amid international condemnation of ongoing Burmese army
attacks on Karen civilians which has led to the displacement of more than
17,000 people.

Gambari will convey a clear message to the junta that the UN wants to see
“tangible progress in restoring democratic freedoms and full respect for
human rights,” said the UN statement.

“Under the present circumstances in the country, it is time for the UN to
intervene,” said Myint Thein, a spokesman for the NLD. He said his party
hopes to be able to discuss problems facing Burma with Gambari and to seek
UN help in a process of national reconciliation.

“People on the ground look upon international organizations like the UN as
a ray of hope,” said Rangoon-based politician Amyotheryei Win Naing. “But
there is little hope that UN can help reform Burma as the regime has shown
[such] a tough stance.”

The state-controlled press recently reported on mass resignations from the
NLD. The junta’s Information Minister, Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan, had threatened
to outlaw the NLD for alleged ties with dissident groups.

____________________________________

May 17, Mizzima News
Two Burmese students sentenced to death - Min Thu

Two Burmese students who were kidnapped by an unknown armed group in India
and dragged back into Burma were sentenced to death by summary trial last
month inside Mandalay Prison.

Spokesperson for the Burmese Students’ Organisation Thura said Maung Maung
Oo and Chit Thein Tun were held in Mandalay Prison until the month of the
trial.

“We learnt that they were in Monywa prison until the end of March. Then
they were transferred to Mandalay prison in April. They were later
sentenced to death . . .” Thura said.

Both men were BSO members and were kidnapped from their home in Moreh on
the India-Burma border on January 14 by a band of men believed to have
included Burmese soldiers.

The Burmese military accused the men of involvement in bomb blasts at the
Nanpharlone market in Tamu township. In a February 22 press conference
information minister brigadier general Kyaw Hsan said the students were
arrested on the India-Burma border but failed to identify which country
they had been in.

Chit Thein Tun’s wife, Hnin Hnin, and his four-year old daughter were also
arrested along with his wife’s parents, Pho Zaw and Aye Myint. At the time
of the arrest, they were living in Burma.

Sources told Mizzima that Hnin Hnin, Pho Zaw, and Aye Myint were sentenced
to five years’ imprisonment for having connections with BSO. They are
serving their sentences in Monywa Prison.

“These three persons and four-year old baby have nothing to do with BSO.
Then they sentenced these innocent persons with prison terms by summary
trial. They could not see the political differences and could not see us
as opposition. They see us as enemy. This unfair practice proved their
injustice and inhumane nature,” Ko Thura said.

“They could not find and apprehend the real culprits in these bomb blasts.
Why? The answer is very simple. They did it themselves. But they want to
put blame on pro-democracy forces so that they intruded into Indian
Territory and arrested these innocent two Burmese students by a military
operation.”

____________________________________

May 17, Irrawaddy
Appeal launched for jailed Shan leaders - Khun Sam

A legal team from Burma’s main National League for Democacy party is
planning an appeal against heavy jail sentences handed down to political
leaders from Shan State. The appeal will be made at the military-run
Supreme Court in Rangoon, it was announced on Wednesday

Eight Shan leaders charged with high treason were handed down lengthy
sentences at a Rangoon court in November 2005. One later died, reportedly
of epilepsy, in Thandwe prison, Arakan State. “We will plead an appeal for
them at the Supreme Court, asking the court if it will accept the case on
May 31,” Aung Thein, an NLD lawyer in the team, told The Irrawaddy.

“The verdicts do not conform to existing laws,” he added. “The sentences
were the highest, and will even cover the span of their lives.”

Those sentenced included Hkun Htun Oo, chairman of the Shan Nationalities
League for Democracy, Sai Nyut Lwin, SNLD general secretary and Maj-Gen
Sao Hso Ten, president of the Shan State Peace Council. Sao Hso Ten was
sentenced to 106 years, Hkun Htun Oo to 92 years and Sai Nyut Lwin to 75
years.

The Shan leaders are serving their sentences in separate prisons. None has
any serious health problem, according to Aung Thein.

Asked what the legal team would do if the court did not accept the appeal,
Aung Thein said another one would be drawn up. This would have to be the
last appeal attempt under Burmese law.

A report in the state-run New Light of Myanmar on May 8 claimed 10 SNLD
members had resigned after the case “due to the party’s misdeeds.” The
paper added that the SNLD’s “activities have connections with insurgents,
and are aimed at causing regional instability and bad blood among the
nationalities.”

The SNLD claims members are being forced to resign by the military regime.

____________________________________

May 16, Democratic Voice of Burma
Three Burmese youths on trial for writing a poem

Three youths from Pegu in lower central Burma arrested on 29 March for
writing and distributing a poem titled Daung Man (the might of the
fighting peacock), have been tried behind closed doors inside the local
prison, without having access to legal representatives.

The three, Aung Aung Oo of A20 Computing Business, Zeya Aung of King Star
teashop and Aung Than, are currently detained in Pegu Prison.

According to their family members, the three are being indicted under the
notorious political act 5J, Printing acts, Act 17/1&2 for having contacts
with illegal organisations and crossing the border illegally.

Pegu Division National League for Democracy (NLD) legal advocate and high
court lawyer Aung Tun is attemping to represent them.

____________________________________

May 17, Shan Herald Agency for News
Shan army on "peace mission"

A 300-strong force was despatched last month by the Shan State Army-South
to areas in central Shan State, where one of its brigade commanders had
switched allegiance to a rival group last year, according to sources from
the border:

Despite speculation that the expeditionary force commanded by Lt-Col Pawng
Khurh might be on a combat mission against Col Moengzuen, formerly
Commander of the SSA South's 758th Brigade and currently Commander of the
recently renamed SSA 'Central', insiders maintain the operation was
essentially political. "We could have sent a bigger force, couldn't we?" a
senior officer asked rhetorically.

Since a hitherto unknown group led by some Shan elders, claiming support
of 48 of the 56 townships of Shan State, had set up a Shan Interim
Government (ISG) and declared Independence on April 17, 2005, tensions
have been mounting between the two sides, especially after Moengzuen's
defection. He has repeatedly ignored directive after directive from
Headquarters to present himself at Loi Taileng, the SSA South's main base
on the Thai-Burma border.

Apart from his erstwhile associates, Moengzuen and his troops in the
Six-Corner area (between Mongkerng, Kehsi, Mongnawng, Namzang, Loilem and
Laikha) are also facing an annihilation campaign by the Burma Army.

"It doesn't make sense to fight each other if both are fighting against
the common enemy, the Burma Army," said a worried militia commander who
called S.H.A.N. from his base. "We have let the people down once by an
eight-year internecine war between us (1972-1980, between the SSA, which
became the SSA-North, and the SURA, which became the SSA-South). The
lesson should have been properly learnt by now."

The 200-mile march from the Thai border to Mongkerng by Col Pawng Khurh,
however is not a peaceful one. The force was reportedly chased and
intercepted by columns of the Burma Army all the way from south to north
resulting in not a few clashes, according to local sources.

On April 28, at Namkarb, Mongpan township with Light Infantry Battalion
(LIB) 520; killed four and three captured; seized G-3 automatic rifles. On
2 May, at Kunghak, Mongnai township with LIBs 332, 520, 574 and 576;
killed 4 and wounded 3.

The clashes were neither confirmed nor denied by the SSA. All sources
nevertheless agree that the expeditionary force have arrived at its
destination in central Shan State.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

May 17, Narinjara News
Cholera outbreak in Maungdaw

At least 50 people from in and around Maungdaw Township have been admitted
to Maungdaw hospital with cholera, which broke out recently.

Most of the victims admitted to the hospital are children but their
condition is steadily improving following treatment, says a health worker.

Authorities at the hospital have controlled the outbreak and spread of the
disease in the hospital, but there is no information as to whether it has
been checked in the township.

According to sources, the outbreak occurred due to a shortage of water and
the change in season from summer to monsoon.

The disease usually breaks out in Arakan, including Maungdaw Township, in
the period between the end of summer and the beginning of rainy season.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

May 17, The Associated Press
EU trade chief says free trade negotiations with ASEAN likely despite
Myanmar sanctions - Sean Yoong

Kuala Lumpur: Europe is likely to begin free trade talks with Southeast
Asia this year despite ongoing sanctions on Myanmar, vilified as the
region's worst human rights offender, the EU's trade chief said Wednesday.

Peter Mandelson said Myanmar is an obstacle to Southeast Asia's political
and economic progress, but expressed hope it would not undermine plans for
a free trade pact between the European Union and the 10-member Association
of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN.

"We see Myanmar as an impediment to the political and economic development
of this region as a whole," said Mandelson. "But I don't see why the rest
of the ASEAN nations should be taken hostage ... internationally because
of the political conditions that operate in Myanmar."

Mandelson, on a short visit to Malaysia, said the 25-member EU could give
the go-ahead to begin trade negotiations with ASEAN by year's end, adding
it was not up to Brussels to decide whether an individual country was
undeserving of ASEAN membership or not.

Europe, he said, prefers to negotiate on a region-to-region basis than
with individual nations.

ASEAN's policy of noninterference in its members' affairs has come under
fire from the EU, which has imposed economic sanctions on Myanmar. It has
also urged ASEAN to do more to speed up democratic reforms in Myanmar and
free all political prisoners, including Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu
Kyi.

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

Also Wednesday, Mandelson urged ASEAN to open up their markets even
further to competition to help conclude the stalled Doha round of trade
talks, which require all 149 World Trade Organization members to agree to
liberalization.

"For this to happen, everyone has to show further flexibility and to take
some risks," said Mandelson at a business luncheon earlier Wednesday
attended by European and Malaysian business leaders.

"Europe will continue to negotiate cleanly and in good faith, others
should do the same," he said, calling on the Brazil-led group of 20
developing nations holding out now on industrial tariffs to match what the
EU has offered in freeing up its agricultural sector.

The group is seeking more access to richer countries' agricultural markets.

Time is particularly tight for the entire Doha round because of the July
2007 expiration of the U.S. "fast-track" authority, which requires the
U.S. Congress to either accept or reject international deals as a whole,
without being able to pick them apart line by line.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

May 17, Reuters
Protesters tell Myanmar to stop attacks on minority

Washington: About 70 demonstrators rallied at the Myanmar Embassy in
Washington on Tuesday, capping worldwide protests aimed at stopping what
activists called ethnic cleansing in the Southeast Asian country.

Some of the protesters in the U.S. capital echoed demands at coordinated
rallies at Myanmar's missions in Japan, Britain, Thailand and eight other
countries for U.N. intervention to stop an army offensive against the
isolated country's ethnic Karen minority.

"We call on the Security Council to take action and we call on countries
around the world, especially democratic countries, to condemn soundly the
military regime," said Sein Win, a member of Myanmar's parliament and a
cousin of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.

"Burma is a threat to the region that we cannot ignore," former Mongolian
Prime Minister Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, a leading Asian democracy activist,
told a rally of Myanmar exiles, school teachers and students.

Burma is the former name of the Myanmar, where the ruling junta ignored a
1990 landslide opposition victory and jailed students, intellectuals and
opponents. Suu Kyi has been under house arrest since her latest detention
in May 2003.

The protests came as U.N. human rights investigators called on Myanmar's
junta to stop targeting members of the Karen minority and cited
allegations of killings, rape and torture by soldiers in what appears to
be the biggest offensive against the ethnic group in 10 years.

The U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, Paulo Sergio
Pinheiro, and other U.N. investigators said Myanmar's army had been
driving thousands of ethnic Karen out of villages close to the junta's new
jungle capital.

Jeremy Woodrum of the U.S. Campaign for Burma said the drive against the
Karen, which intensified earlier this year, had destroyed 2,800 villages
since 1996. More than 15,000 people had been displaced in this year's
campaign, he said.

Ibrahim Gambari, the U.N. undersecretary-general for political affairs,
begins a three-day visit to Myanmar on Thursday, the first by a U.N.
official in more than two years, the United Nations said.
____________________________________

May 17, Associated Press
U.S. lawmakers denounce Myanmar's targeting of Karen minority -Foster Klug

Washington: U.S. lawmakers are blasting Myanmar's military for engineering
a humanitarian nightmare, joining a flood of international criticism of
the ruling junta's massive offensive against the country's ethnic Karen
minority.

As dozens of demonstrators protested Tuesday outside the Myanmar Embassy,
lawmakers from both political parties urged the U.N. Security Council to
condemn Myanmar's governing generals for orchestrating atrocities.

"The thugs of Rangoon are on an all-out rampage," Republican Rep. Joe
Pitts said in a statement. "The world knows what is happening in Burma. If
the international community does not act, we are complicit in the Burmese
regime's atrocities."

The United Nations says a counterinsurgency by Myanmar, also called Burma,
has led to the forcible displacement of thousands of villagers. Myanmar's
ruling military says its offensive against ethnic Karen minorities is
necessary to suppress bombings and other anti-government attacks.

Lawmakers described a devastated area from which journalists and officials
from relief groups and the United Nations are banned.

"Even in Sudan, aid agencies, journalists and representatives of the
United Nations and African Union are allowed; not so in eastern Burma,"
Democratic Rep. Joe Crowley said in a statement, referring to the African
country where civil war has killed at least 180,000.

Outside Myanmar's Washington embassy, dozens of people wore red headbands
printed with "2800" - the number of villages they say have been destroyed
in eastern Burma by the military. The protesters chanted: "2,800, maybe
more; what's the U.N. waiting for?"
____________________________________

May 17, New Light of Myanmar
Appointment of Ambassador of UK agreed

Yangon: The Government of the Union of Myanmar has agreed to the proposed
appointment of Mr Mark Canning as Ambassador Extraordinary and
Plenipotentiary of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland to the Union of Myanmar, in succession to Ms Vicky Bowman.

Mr Mark Canning joined the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO)
in 1974 and served in various capacities at different departments of the
FCO and at British Consulate General Offices and Her Britannic Majesty’s
Embassies in Freetown, Georgetown, Chicago and Jakarta. He is currently
serving as the Deputy High Commissioner at Her Britannic Majesty’s Embassy
in Malaysia.

Mr Mark Canning speaks French, Indonesian and Spanish. He is married.