BurmaNet News, June 24-26, 2006

[Editor]

June 24-26, 2006 Issue # 2991

INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Top men arrested in Rangoon Customs Department raid
DVB: Burma junta's plot to frame, arrest pro-democracy elements leaked
Irrawaddy: ICRC continues to reduce staff in Burma

ON THE BORDER
BBC Burmese service: Thai authorities tighten security around Maelaoo camp

BUSINESS / TRADE
Irrawaddy: Burma only country left on money-laundering blacklist
Narinjara News: 100,000 acres of rubber to be planted in Arakan

HEALTH / AIDS
Irrawaddy: Malaria warning on Thai-Burmese border
VOA: Burma restocking avian flu hit poultry farms

DRUGS
Irrawaddy: Burma claims it’s winning the war on drugs
AP: Myanmar, second-biggest producer of opium, holds 1-ton drug burning

REGIONAL
Thai Day BBC Monitoring: Thai foreign minister wants Burma to remain in
regional body
ABC Premium News (Australia): Vanstone to boost Burmese refugee intake
Indo-Asian News: Indians face trial in Myanmar

INTERNATIONAL
Reuters: Myanmar says "villain" US seeks to topple regime
VOA: Burma calls on US to back its effort at civilian rule

OPINION / OTHER
International Herald Tribune: Pressure on Myanmar

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

June 26, The Irrawaddy
Top men arrested in Rangoon Customs Department raid

The office of Burma’s Customs Department in Rangoon was raided by police
on Friday and about 40 of its high-ranking officials, including the
director-general, were arrested, according to government staff and
business sources in Rangoon.

Director-General Col Khin Maung Lin was among the arrested, a low-ranking
staff member of the Customs Department said on the phone. The staffer, who
spoke anonymously, said corruption appeared to be the reason for the raid
and arrests.

Thein Tun Tin, Deputy Director-General, was also arrested but released the
same day after interrogation, the staffer said.

A number of Customs Department staff at Burma airports and sea ports had
also been removed from their posts, the Rangoon source said.

A businessman based in Rangoon said the raid at the Customs Department had
prompted several people involved in corrupt business dealings to go into
hiding.

Last month, 13 officials of the Customs Department and Department of
Border Trade were arrested on charges of corruption in Muse, on the
Burma-China border.

____________________________________

June 24, Democratic Voice of Burma
Burma junta's plot to frame, arrest pro-democracy elements leaked

The Ministry of Home Affairs od Burma's military junta, the State Peace
and Development Council (SPDC) has issued an order that members of the
National League for Democracy (NLD) and pro-democracy elements be arrested
under fabricated charges, according to sources close to the Police Special
Branch.

The plot to frame false charges and make the arrests is to be drawn up by
the Military Affairs Security Department. Key officials who carry out the
scheme are Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) Secretary
Aung Thaung, Minister for Information Brig-Gen Kyaw San (Hsan), Police
Chief Khin Yi, and Lt-Col Than Han, who is also known as the "Butcher of
Dipeyin/Tabayin", said the sources close to the Police Special Branch.

Also, a USDA official of Eastern District, who did not wish to be
identified, said he had received a directive to distribute papers
disparaging the military regime in the name of organizations in exile -
Internal Branch of National Council of the Union of Burma (NCUB), Internal
Branch of All Burma Students' Democratic Front ABSDF), and others. These
papers are not to be distributed among the people but only sent to the NLD
members and pro-democracy elements. Once that is done, Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan
and a few of his selected journalists will expose and criticize the
distributed papers in the newspapers and journals. The USDA official said
that once the campaign started, the Police Special Branch (SB) will raid
the homes of and arrest the people the papers had been sent to.

Sources close to the SB told the DVB that more plans have already been
drafted in case the present one fails. We contacted the authoritative
organizations concerned about the news but received no reply from them.
However, DVB was told today by several pro-democracy elements who did not
wish to be identified that papers containing anti-military regime
materials and written in the name of the "internal branch of the NCUB"
were received by them via mail.

____________________________________

June 26, The Irrawaddy
ICRC continues to reduce staff in Burma

The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Monday it will
continue to scale down its operations in Burma in the absence of a
solution that would allow the organization to resume prison visits. The
ICRC has cut staff numbers since January, particularly expatriates who
have been reassigned to other countries. But it has also had to recently
reduce its Burmese staff from 278 to about 240. The organization has cut
its foreign staff from 54 to 28 since suspending prison visits last
December because of what it says is interference by junta-affiliated
groups, including the Union Solidarity and Development Association and the
Myanmar Women’s Affairs Federation, which insisted on accompanying ICRC
staff during inspections.

The deputy head of mission, Thierry Ribaux, said the ICRC had still not
reached agreement on the issue with its government liaison, the Ministry
of Health: “We haven’t been able to find common ground,” he said, adding
there was still hope of finding a solution as long as discussions
continue. The ICRC says it has no problem with other parallel prison
programs or with providing technical assistance for related initiatives,
but that its code of conduct says its own jails visits must remain
independent. Meanwhile, the USDA has itself been visiting Burmese jails.
State-run The New Light of Myanmar said the organization has donated food
and medical supplies to prisoners in Thayet and Meiktila in the past two
months.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

June 26, BBC Burmese service
Thai authorities tighten security around Maelaoo camp

Thai authorities fear the influx of refugees in their land.

Refugees in the camp in the northwestern part of Thailand were ordered
recently not to go out of the camp and not to allow new arrivals in the
camp.

Thai authorities did not explain the reason for taking such measures but
it is believed that they were concerned over the Karen refugees who are
now across the border poised to enter Thai territories.

Thousands of Karens have fled their homes in recent months following the
offensives launched by government troops in their areas. Many have arrived
Thai-Burma border.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

June 26, The Irrawaddy
Burma only country left on money-laundering blacklist - Clive Parker

Burma is now the only country left on a list of governments that have
failed to cooperate in the fight against money laundering and terrorism
financing.

The inter-governmental Financial Action Task Force announced that Nigeria
would be removed from its blacklist, which named 23 nations when it was
first drawn up between 2000 and 2001. That leaves Burma as the only
country left to comply with the standards set to tackle the problem of
illicit money transfers.

“The FATF continues to urge the country [Burma] to fully implement its
enacted reforms so that it can be removed from the list in the future and
continues to call on financial institutions to scrutinize transactions
with persons, businesses, or banks in Myanmar [Burma],” the
inter-governmental body said in a statement.

Improvements had been made by Burma, it added. The FATF now plans to send
a team to Burma to assess the level of progress, although it is not clear
when this would happen.

In an effort to combat money laundering, the Burmese government has in the
past four years passed a series of laws aimed at eradicating the problem,
including the Control of Money Laundering Law of June, 2002. A month later
it set up the Central Control Board on Money Laundering and then, in
January 2004, created the Financial Intelligence Unit.

Since then, the Burmese authorities have investigated a number of banks.
In August 2005, the government closed the Myanmar Universal Bank after its
major shareholder Tin Sein was found to be using the bank to launder the
profits of a drugs ring for which he received the death sentence. He and
his wife had accumulated 24.3 billion kyat (US $18.4 million).

While the Burmese authorities have been eager to promote their successes
in tackling money laundering—progress the FATF has recognized—they
privately recognize that Burma’s banking sector is still not complying
with new laws and guidelines.

Following recent onsite inspections of public and private banks, the
Central Bank of Myanmar concluded in a letter dated June 7 sent to all
Burmese banks as well as government departments, including the Ministry of
Home Affairs and the Ministry of Finance and Revenue, that “almost all the
banks are very weak in identifying suspicious transactions.” The
notice—which makes specific reference to Burma’s current status of
non-compliance with FATF recommendations—adds that some are also failing
to report suspicious transactions.

In addition, there are banks that have not collected all relevant
information on account holders and have failed to enforce the stipulation
that new customers be certified by two existing account holders, said the
notice, which was signed by the central bank’s deputy governor Than Nyein.

The Central Bank warned that “action will be taken under the Control of
Money Laundering Law and Rules if the banks do not address these
deficiencies in due course.”

____________________________________

June 26, Narinjara News
100,000 acres of rubber to be planted in Arakan

The Burmese military government has recently announced a plan to cultivate
more than 100,000 acres of rubber plants in Arakan State in the near
future, according to a report from government officials.

The announcement came out while General Khin Maung Than from Burma's
Defense Ministry visited a rubber nursery in Ponna Kyunt Township in
Arakan State on 16 June, 2006.

According to sources, the Ponna Kyunt nursery is cultivating over 40,000
rubber plants; the government will plant the rubber plants in several
locations around Arakan during this rainy season.

The local army authority has already confiscated large tracts of people's
farms in Arakan for the rubber plants and other crops, with most of the
confiscated land along the Akyab-Rangoon motor road, a local source said.

Rubber projects require long-term plans and large investments of money.
Thus, it is expected that this project will be carried out by the
government and its partner companies.

In Arakan State there are at least six government agricultural projects,
including such crops as teak, pepper, onion, castor and palm oil. For such
agricultural projects, the military authority confiscates large numbers of
locally owned farms.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

June 26, The Irrawaddy
Malaria warning on Thai-Burmese border - Sai Silp

A malaria warning was issued on Monday to tourists planning to visit the
Burmese-Thai border area near Mae Sot in Thailand’s Tak province.

Dr Kanoknart Pisuthikul, director of Mae Sot Hospital, told The Irrawaddy
that early rains were increasing the risk of contracting malaria and
dengue fever. Although Thailand’s public health program was reducing the
annual incidence of malaria cases, “migrant workers and villagers living
along the border are still at high risk from mosquito-borne diseases."

Tak province accounts for 25 percent of malaria cases in Thailand, Dr
Kanoknart said.

The worst hit districts in the province are those on the Burma border: Mae
Sot, Mae Ramat, Tha Song Yang, Phop Phra and Umphang.

Around 900 cases of malaria were treated in May at Dr Cynthia’s Mae Tao
Clinic, near Mae Sot. A clinic spokesperson said, “This month [June]
already looks as if there will be as many again, if not more. We expect
once the heavy rains start in July and August to be swamped by people
coming from Burma with malaria.”

The clinic treats up to 80,000 Burmese people a year for malaria,
workplace accidents, landmine injuries, malnourishment, birth
complications and respiratory infections.

____________________________________

June 24, Voice of America
Burma restocking avian flu hit poultry farms

Livestock officials in Burma say they will begin restocking poultry farms
in regions hit by bird flu.
Burma's Livestock Breeding and Veterinary department says farms affected
by bird flu and the subsequent culling program will receive new stocks of
birds and poultry feed.

The areas will stay under close surveillance, although no new bird flu
outbreaks have been discovered since April 6th.

Outbreaks of the H5N1 strain of the virus were first reported March 13th
in the central Mandalay and Sagaing regions.

Officials placed tight restrictions on the movement of animals and closed
markets in the region. Thousands of chickens, quails and their eggs were
culled in the region.

Disease investigations were also carried out by UN experts from the Food
and Agricultural Organization and the World Health Organization

____________________________________
DRUGS

June 26, The Irrawaddy
Burma claims it’s winning the war on drugs - Khun Sam

Burma marked International Anti-Drug Day on Monday with a disputed claim
that is winning the war on illicit drugs.

Minister of Home Affairs Maj-Gen Maung Oo said Burma has been successful
in the first five-year phase of its 15-year narcotic drugs eradication
program that began in 1999-2000. In a message quoted by the state-run The
New Light of Myanmar, Maung Oo said the area of poppy cultivation and the
amount of drug production were both declining.

The newspaper reported that Burma destroyed 10,249.85 acres of poppy
during the 2005-2006 cultivation season—409.54 acres more than the year
before. The paper also reported that 232 drug-related cases had been
exposed in May alone, accounting for 374 arrests.

A Burmese analyst, Aung Kyaw Zaw, reported from the China-Burma border,
however, that the drug trade was rampant in that region. And, at the same
time, China claimed that heroin was still being trafficked from Burma to
China.

Aung Kyaw Zaw told The Irrawaddy in a phone interview from the Chinese
border town Ruili that all types of drugs could be bought on the city’s
streets. “Just in my sight in front of a shop near me, I can see they (two
men) are exchanging heroin,” he said.

Aung Kyaw Zaw, who has lived in the border region for 20 years, maintained
the Burmese junta had failed in its drug-eradication program.  Several
armed groups, some still fighting the Burmese government, were involved in
drug production, which made it impossible to solve the narcotics problem,
he said. There could be no solution until political stability was
established in Burma, he maintained.

China’s claim that heroin is being trafficked to China from Burma came at
a press conference given by Chen Cunyi, vice chairman of China’s National
Narcotics Control Commission.

“Although the planted area of opium poppy in the Golden Triangle has
reduced, most of the heroin produced in the region is trafficked to
China,” Chen was reported as saying.

China arrested 46,000 drug suspects and seized some 6.9 tons of heroin
last year. But Aung Kyaw Zaw claimed only a small percentage of drug
abusers were arrested and that most bought their freedom with a bribe.

“From the Chinese side, the problem is, firstly, the corruption of some
wanton Chinese authority. On the Burmese side, the Burmese junta assumes
drugs are merely a social problem, not a political problem.”

____________________________________

June 26, Associated Press
Myanmar, second-biggest producer of opium, holds 1-ton drug burning - Aye
Aye Win

Myanmar, the world's second-largest producer of opium, on Monday destroyed
more than a ton of seized substances with a street value of over a hundred
million dollars (euros) to mark international anti-drug day, officials
said.

Speaking at the drug burning, police chief Maj. Gen. Khin Yi said Myanmar
has made the eradication of "the scourge of narcotic drugs ... a national
priority" resulting in a sharp decline in opium poppy cultivation and a
drop in the quantities of seized drugs.

Drug enforcement officials said they torched 170 kilograms (374 pounds) of
heroin, 691 kilograms (1,519 pounds) of opium, more than 20 million
methamphetamine tablets, 102 kilograms (224 pounds) of crystallized
methamphetamine, and chemicals used for making drugs, worth a total of
US$148.4 million(euro123 million).

The ceremony was held at the at the Drug Elimination Museum in Yangon to
mark International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, and was
attended by senior government officials and members of the foreign
diplomatic corps.

According to the U.S State Department's annual survey of worldwide drug
production and trafficking, Myanmar "is the world's second largest
producer of illicit opium, accounting for more than 90 percent of
Southeast Asian heroin." Heroin is derived from opium.

It noted that Myanmar supplies just a small share of worldwide heroin, for
which Afghanistan is the major source. In 2005, Myanmar produced an
estimated 380 metric tons of opium, it said, less than 8 percent of the
opium produced in Afghanistan

The report, released in March, said that Myanmar is also a main source of
amphetamines in Asia.

Khin Yi, who is also secretary of the Central Committee for Drug Abuse
Control, said that drug eradication programs conducted with U.N. help had
seen opium production drop by about 60 percent over the past four years.

Khin Yi also said heroin seizures had fallen from 1,400 kilograms (3,080
pounds) in 1997 to 811 kilograms (1,784.2 pounds) in 2005.

He cited major drug seizures and the arrests and exchange of major drug
traffickers as the successful result of collaboration with neighboring
countries.

Myanmar gets little international assistance for its drug control efforts
because its military government is shunned by many Western countries for
its poor human rights record and failure to hand over to a democratically
elected government.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

June 24, Thai Day BBC Monitoring
Thai foreign minister wants Burma to remain in regional body

Excerpt from report in English by Thai newspaper Thai Day website on 24 June

Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon yesterday urged the United Nations
to play a bigger role in bringing democracy to Myanmar but insisted ASEAN
[Association of Southeast Asian Nations] should not sever its links with
the military-ruled country.

Responding to comments by his Malaysian counterpart that ASEAN was close
to giving up on Myanmar, Kantathi urged greater UN involvement but
insisted that ASEAN continued to engage with Yangon [Rangoon].

"We were hoping the UN would have a bigger role. It's been a long-standing
ASEAN position that it encourages the UN to be active in trying to improve
the situation," he told a news conference.

"It's important to keep Myanmar engaged even though we are disappointed,
but engagement is better than no communication. The channel of
communication we need to keep open." [passage omitted]

Kantathi said ASEAN was united in its efforts to bring democracy to
Myanmar but urged the generals to accept its offer of help.

"We [ASEAN] would like to be useful to Myanmar but Myanmar would have to
give us the opportunity to be useful," he said.

"ASEAN members have expressed a degree of frustration regarding the
slowness of the progress. There is a feeling that time is not unlimited."

Kantathi was speaking after returning from a three-day trip to Azerbaijan
where he attended a meeting of the 57-member Organization of the Islamic
Conference (OIC) as an observer.

He said the OIC had commended the Thai government for its efforts to
restore peace in its Muslim-majority southernmost provinces but voiced
concerns about the recent wave of bomb attacks there.

Kantathi said the insurgency was not a conflict over religion and said the
government would embrace the religious and ethnic diversity of the people
in the South. [passage omitted]

Source: Thai Day website, Bangkok, in English 24 Jun 06

____________________________________

June 26, ABC Premium News (Australia)
Vanstone to boost Burmese refugee intake

The Federal Immigration Minister, Amanda Vanstone, says Australia will
take more refugees from Burma because they are in the "most in need"
category.

Senator Vanstone has been visiting the largest refugee camp in South-East
Asia, on the Thai-Burmese border.

There are 45,000 refugees in the Mae Lah camp, they are mostly Karen
people, an ethnic minority that has fought and fled Burma's brutal regime.

Thousands have been living in the camp for the past 22 years in
overcrowded conditions, for some of the children it is the only home they
have ever known as travel outside the camp has been restricted by Thai
authorities.

Today Senator Vanstone visited a group who are about to leave for
Australia under the Government's humanitarian program.

"In the year we've just concluding we expect to take 900 that's more than
double what we took the year before and we expect in the next financial
year to have another substantial increase," Senator Vanstone said.

She says Australia could take up to 1,400 Karen refugees in the next
financial year under the refugee resettlement program.

____________________________________

June 25, Indo-Asian News Service
Indians face trial in Myanmar

Twenty-one Indian nationals, including a six-year-old boy, will face a
trial in a court in Myanmar after being arrested on charges of illegal
timber trafficking, a report said.

The group was arrested near the India-Myanmar border May 6 along with
three trucks near Aisi village in Tonzang area.

"They were also charged with illegally crossing the international
boundary," Mizzima News quoted a Tonzang lawyer as saying.

The Indians, most of whom are from the northeastern state of Manipur, were
in police custody and expected to face the trial Monday. The arrest and
the trial come in the wake of a fresh Myanmarese military crackdown on
those involved in the illegal timber trade.

Last week authorities in northern Shan state of Myanmar deported more than
400 Chinese who had been detained for illegal timber smuggling.

Published by HT Syndication with permission from Indo-Asian News Service.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

June 25, Reuters
Myanmar says "villain" US seeks to topple regime

 The United States should back Myanmar's roadmap to democracy instead of
seeking to oust the military junta, state-run newspapers said on Sunday.

"The notorious villain has been following the old pattern of trying to
topple the ruling military government," said a commentary published in
several newspapers considered mouthpieces of the regime.

The United States, which has imposed sanctions on Yangon and is one of its
loudest critics, wants the U.N. Security Council to put pressure on a
regime Washington says is a threat to "stability, peace and security in
the region".

The commentary said Washington should instead support Yangon's seven-step
democracy roadmap which it says will return the former Burma to civilian
rule after more than 40 years of military diktat.

The roadmap is still only halfway through its first step of drafting a new
constitution through a National Convention of delegates from across the
country, most of them handpicked by the military government.

The opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) is boycotting the
convention, which is due to resume later this year, while its leader Nobel
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi remains confined.

Suu Kyi's house arrest was extended for one year last month despite
international pressure for her release. The 61-year-old democracy icon has
spent 10 of the past 17 years under some form of detention.

The United States and other Western critics say the roadmap is a sham
without the participation of Suu Kyi's party, which won landslide
elections in 1990 only to be denied power by the junta.

The commentary said Washington should pressure the NLD to join the
convention "if it truly values democracy and wishes the people of Myanmar
to enjoy the fruits of democracy".

"The stance of the ruling military government is clear and decisive. It
will transform the nation into a democracy.

"Can democracy be introduced to Myanmar only when Daw Suu Kyi is elected
as head of the state?," the commentary said.

____________________________________

June 25, Voice Of America
Burma calls on US to back its effort at civilian rule

Burmese media have published a commentary saying the United States should
back Burma's seven-step road map to democracy instead of seeking to oust
the military junta.

In commentary, published in several state-run newspapers, including the
New Light of Myanmar, the United States is referred to as a "notorious
power" that has been following the old pattern of trying to topple Burma's
ruling military government.

Delegates from across Burma are participating in a National Convention
that is writing a constitution for the country.

The opposition National League for Democracy or NLD is boycotting this
year's National Convention, while its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, remains
under house arrest. The Nobel laureate has been under house arrest for 10
of the past 16 years.

The commentary says Washington should pressure the NLD to join the
convention if it values democracy and wishes the people of Burma to enjoy
the fruits of democracy.

The United States is seeking a U.N. resolution putting pressure on Burma
to change policies. But Burmese officials say such a resolution is
unacceptable because what is happening in their country poses no threat to
the international community.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

June 24, The International Herald Tribune
Pressure on Myanmar

As co-author of a report, commissioned by the former Czech president
Vaclav Havel and Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu, calling for a UN Security
Council resolution on Myanmar, I was surprised to read "A crack in the
Burmese door" (Views, June 21), by Ibrahim Gambari, an under secretary
general at the United Nations.

Gambari suggests that ''sustained engagement may be the only way to arrive
at a fuller assessment of the prospects for democratization, development
and reconciliation.''

But since Myanmar's elections in 1990, 28 resolutions have been adopted by
the UN General Assembly and the UN Commission on Human Rights urging
change in the country, all to no avail. Diplomacy will only be truly
successful if it is done under the mandate of the UN Security Council.

Most disturbing is the implication by Gambari that Aung San Suu Kyi and
her National League for Democracy actually support further engagement with
the United Nations in lieu of action by the UN Security Council. The
league does want further UN engagement, but under the auspices of the
Security Council.

A binding UN Security Council resolution would give the United Nations
diplomatic leverage to resolve Myanmar's ongoing crisis.

Jared Genser, Washington