BurmaNet News, August 23, 2006

[Editor]

August 23, 2006 Issue # 3031


INSIDE BURMA
AP: Myanmar accuses anti-government groups of meeting in Thailand to plan
terrorist attacks
Xinhua: Myanmar won't recruit minors for military service: Leader
Irrawaddy: Government accusations groundless, says NLD

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: Karen refugees in Ratchburi pushed closer to Burma border
Irrawaddy: Burmese Army has “thousands” of convict porters, says rights group

BUSINESS / TRADE
AP: U.S. trade chief says ASEAN must do more to push Myanmar toward
democracy despite pact
AP: Oil lures West to troubled Myanmar

ASEAN
AFP: Myanmar must defend itself if brought to UN Security Council: Indonesia

REGIONAL
Narinjara: Release octogenarian Burmese national: HC

INTERNATIONAL
Kantarawaddy Times: Australia to accept 150 refugees for resettlement

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

August 23, Associated Press
Myanmar accuses anti-government groups of meeting in Thailand to plan
terrorist attacks

Yangon: Myanmar's ruling military junta accused exiled anti-government
groups of meeting in Thailand last week to plan terrorist acts in Myanmar,
a state-run newspaper said Wednesday.

The New Light of Myanmar reported that more than 100 people, including
ethnic insurgents and members of groups that have been labeled terrorist
organizations by the government, met in the Thai border town of Mae Sot
from Aug. 14 to 19.

The newspaper said the National Council of the Union of Burma (NCUB)
conference was aimed at "causing instability in the country and committing
terrorist acts." Myanmar is also known as Burma.

The government also accused the NCUB, an exiled pro-democracy group based
in Thailand, of having contact with veteran politicians and a political
party in Myanmar and of providing financial assistance to create unrest
and launch terrorist acts inside the country, the report said.

The paper did not specify any political party but was apparently referring
to the party of detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the
National League for Democracy, which the junta has accused of having links
with illegal organizations.

NCUB spokesman Soe Aung said the junta calls his group a "subversive group
that is connected to terrorist groups because they want to undermine the
work of the organizations working outside Burma."

"I'm not surprised that the junta's mouthpiece, the New Light of Myanmar,
mentioned the NCUB's recently held conference at the border and continues
to accuse these organizations of being terrorist groups," Soe Aung said in
a telephone interview in Thailand.

Myanmar's military rulers took power in 1988. They called elections in
1990 but refused to recognize the results when Suu Kyi's party won a
resounding victory.

____________________________________

August 23, Xinhua General News Service
Myanmar won't recruit minors for military service: Leader

Yangon: The Myanmar armed forces will not to recruit minors for military
service, an official newspaper quoted a Myanmar leader as saying
Wednesday.

"The Tatmadaw (armed forces) will continue to supervise the personnel
concerned to ensure that they do not accept minors, and working according
to the law, rules and regulations and directives, " said First Secretary
of the State Peace and Development Council Lieutenant-General Thein Sein
at a meeting of the Committee for Prevention Against Recruitment of Minors
for Military Service held in Nay Pyi Taw on Tuesday.

"There are very few cases of recruiting minors for military service in the
Tatmadaw", Thein Sein said.

Noting that "Units are unknowingly accepting recruits who join the armed
forces without acknowledging their parents and who lie about their age,"
he said, adding "when the parents come to the units to take back their
sons, the units after scrutinizing their age return them to their
parents."

Citing the existing military principles, he said that all new members must
reach the age of 18, denying some foreign media allegations that the
Myanmar armed forces has child soldiers and using them in forward areas.

He also criticized the media's report for attacking Myanmar with
accusation of forced labor and sexual violence against national race
girls.

He called on the judicial, legal, social and labor sectors to work for
preventing juveniles against joining the armed forces and protect their
interest.

____________________________________

August 23, Irrawaddy
Government accusations groundless, says NLD - Yeni

Accusations that Burma’s opposition National League for Democracy was
little more than a puppet for Western governments—made in the state-run
press—have been dismissed as groundless by NLD officials.

The official newspaper The New Light of Myanmar aired its condemnation of
the NLD in a report on Wednesday that included photographs of US and UK
diplomats visiting the group’s Rangoon headquarters. The report stated
that US consulate staff have made 30 visits to the headquarters, while UK
diplomats have made more than 130 between January and July of 2006.

“The NLD is being a party which is a puppet of the Western bloc, and it is
seeking its own interests in order to grab power via a shortcut,” the
report said.

NLD spokesperson Nyan Win told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that such
accusations are common, but that such claims are entirely spurious. “The
party always works independently,” Nyan Win said. “The meetings with
diplomats are part of the routine work of the party’s foreign relations
department.”

Burma’s military government has recently stepped up pressure on the NLD by
harassing its members into resigning from the party.

The New Light of Myanmar report singled out recently credentialed British
ambassador Mark Canning and Shwe Sin Nyunt, a Burmese staff member in the
US consulate’s information department, saying that their visits with the
NLD were a “violation of the diplomatic code of conduct and [constituted]
inappropriate acts.”

Officials at the British embassy and the US consulate were unavailable for
comment.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

August 23, Irrawaddy
Karen refugees in Ratchburi pushed closer to Burma border

Some 8,000 Karen refugees currently living in Tham Hin refugee camp in
Thailand’s Ratchaburi province will be moved to a new location closer to
the Thai-Burmese border in Kanchanaburi and Saraburi provinces. Thai
authorities are concerned about the poor conditions that prevail in Tham
Hin, according to Wongsak Sawaspanit, governor of Ratchaburi. Meanwhile,
about 2,000 refugees from the camp are in the process of resettling to the
US and Australia. That process, which began last week, is expected to take
six weeks, according to a report in the Thai newspaper Matichon on
Wednesday. Tham Hin has long been considered the worst of Thailand’s
border refugee camps, due to poor housing conditions and lack of adequate
sanitation. The relocation of residents to other camps is expected to be
complete by the end of August.
____________________________________

August 23, Irrawaddy
Burmese Army has “thousands” of convict porters, says rights group - Shah
Paung

The Burmese military government is forcing thousands of convicts to work
as porters for the army in Pegu Division and northern Karen State,
according to a report by the Karen Human Rights Group.

The 32-page report, entitled “Less than Human” and released on Tuesday, is
based on interviews conducted over the past six months with 25 convicts.

KHRG field director Poe Shan said the title of the report was intended to
highlight the human rights violations inherent in the practice of forcing
convicts to work as porters and mine clearance personnel. “The porters are
not criminal, they’re human and also have their rights.” he said,
appealing to the international community to urge the regime to stop the
practice.

Poe Shan said the convict laborers were being used to carry military
supplies and ammunition and to clear mines. He charged they were denied
medical care and were even killed if unable to work. Many fled to the
Karen National Union, which took them in and cared for them.

One 42 year-old Shan from Muse said he saw soldiers beating porters who
were unable to climb a cliff with their loads. “The soldiers beat one of
my friends with bamboo sticks on his back many times,” he said. “I passed
him and did not see him again.”

A 48 year-old convict porter from Myitkyina said: “The soldiers did not
give us medicine, they said they had no medicine for convict porters, only
for soldiers.”

The KHRG report said the convict porters were Arakan, Burman, Shan, Akha,
Karen and ethnic Chinese and they came from prisons in Sittwe, Arakan
State, Mandalay, Insein, Thayet, in Pegu Division, Myitkyina, in Kachin
State, Lashio and Kengtung, in Shan State.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

August 23, Associated Press
U.S. trade chief says ASEAN must do more to push Myanmar toward democracy
despite pact - Eileen Ng

Kuala Lumpur: The United States trade chief said Wednesday that a trade
pact to be signed with ASEAN nations this week is a great boost to
economic relations but urged the bloc to do more to push Myanmar toward
democracy.

U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab said the Trade and Investment
Framework Arrangement, or TIFA, with the 10-member Association of
Southeast Asian Nations will create building blocks to broaden and deepen
relations previously hindered by Myanmar's poor human rights records.

"The U.S. is still very uncomfortable with policies of that government
relating to treatment of its own citizens. That said, we do not want our
concerns of Burma to jeopardize our broader relations with ASEAN," she
told The Associated Press.

"It has been our hope and expectations that ASEAN will always be doing
more to push Burma to move toward democracy and to have a better human
rights record." Myanmar is also known as Burma.

Schwab is due to sign the TIFA which sets the stage for a full-fledged
free trade agreement on Friday with the 10 ASEAN ministers. Myanmar's
Commerce Minister Tin Naing Thein will be signing on behalf of the
military junta, according to a copy of the draft obtained by the AP.

U.S. President George W. Bush earlier this month renewed sanctions against
military-ruled Myanmar following its refusal to speed up democratic
reforms and free political prisoners, including pro-democracy leader Aung
San Suu Kyi.

ASEAN has a policy of not interfering in each other's affairs but is
increasingly frustrated over Myanmar's slow pace of reforms. However,
ASEAN officials insist continued sanctions imposed by the European Union
and the United States may not help Myanmar's military junta in moving
toward democracy.

Schwab acknowledged that the TIFA has been scaled down from a binding
formal agreement, to a nonbinding framework arrangement, to overcome
Myanmar sensitivities in Washington but said it has not affected the
purpose of the pact.

"A TIFA is designed to help create building blocks that can be used to
broaden and deepen relationships. The fundamental purpose of the TIFA is
served by this version. We don't believe we have in anyway, watered down
the substance of the potential of the TIFA," she said.

She said the two sides would work on creating a work program for joint
trade projects but declined to say if Myanmar would be part of it.

Malaysian Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz said earlier Wednesday that
Myanmar's political and human rights situations have not hindered its
participation in ASEAN's economic activities.

"We are going ahead together. In the economic sphere, we don't think
politics at all," she said.

The draft text says it will ensure that U.S. intellectual property is
better guarded in a region infamous for violations. It says all parties
must "promote transparency and good governance, including by combating and
preventing unlawful activities in international trade and investment."

Washington has frequently complained that ASEAN member nations aren't
doing enough to crack down on software and movie piracy. Malaysia, one of
ASEAN's key members, are among several Asian nations on a U.S. watch list
of intellectual property rights violators.

Friday's agreement, in part, also addresses some of Washington's concerns
over access.

ASEAN nations remain fiercely protective over its national companies,
where foreign entities at most are only allowed minority stakes.

Signatories must promote "an open and predictable environment for
international trade and investment while recognizing "the essential role
of investment, both domestic and foreign, in furthering economic growth
and development," the draft said.

Associated Press writer En-Lai Yeoh contributed to this report.
____________________________________

August 23, Associated Press
Oil lures West to troubled Myanmar - Aaron Clark

Bangkok: Governments both East and West are often critical of Myanmar's
human rights abuses, but the country's energy production is rising, and
nations are quietly doing lucrative business with its junta leaders.

Although the U.S. leads the chorus of criticism and has slapped economic
sanctions on the country, giant oil company Chevron Corp. and an upscale
tourist operator are among American enterprises doing business in the
Southeast Asian nation.

"Clearly what many governments and corporations say and what they practice
are completely different things," says Ka Hsaw Wa of EarthRights
International, a nonprofit group that documents human rights and
environmental abuses.

While the ruling military junta has brutally repressed political dissent
and keeps pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi
in detention, the country is the 16th largest natural gas exporter in the
world and new discoveries suggest it may harbor one of the largest gas
yields in Southeast Asia.

It was recently announced that undeveloped fields in Myanmar's Bay of
Bengal could yield between 5.7 and 10 trillion cubic feet of tappable gas.

This past week, Myanmar reported it agreed to increase its natural gas
exports to Thailand and could raise production from just one field by 25
percent.

"Over the long term this is going to increase," said Vichitr Kuladejkhuna,
an energy analyst with Singapore-based DBS Vickers Securities. "There is
significant potential for future development."

Thailand joined in tough criticism leveled at Myanmar also known as Burma
at the annual meeting of Association of Southeast Asian Nations last
month. But the sharp rhetoric has done little to curb the business deals
that activists claim enrich and empower the country's generals.

Barely a week after the ASEAN conference, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra quietly visited the country to meet the regime's supreme
leader, Gen. Than Shwe, requesting exclusive rights for Thailand's
state-run PTT Exploration and Production oil company to develop Myanmar's
gas reserves.

So far, Thailand is the only country that imports gas from Myanmar. In
2004, Myanmar earned $578 million from Thailand, or 23 percent of its
official total export revenues. Timber, gems and other products are
smuggled to neighboring countries and not accounted for officially.

The country's largely undeveloped gas reserves, however, have set off a
fierce bidding war between China, India and Thailand that could bring in
up to $17 billion for the regime, according to the Shwe Gas Movement, a
grassroots coalition monitoring Myanmar's energy sector.

Malaysia's energy giant, Petroliam Berhard, signed a memorandum of intent
this month to cooperate with Myanmar on oil and gas projects, the
state-run newspaper New Light of Myanmar said.

Myanmar's Asian neighbors are not alone.

Despite sanctions by the European Union and the U.S., French and American
oil companies Total SA and Chevron operate in Myanmar's lucrative Yadana
gas fields through grandfather clauses and sanction loopholes.

The U.S. imposed economic sanctions on Myanmar in 1997, prohibiting most
new investment in the country. In 2003, a more stringent law banned nearly
all U.S. imports from Myanmar and further restricted financial dealings
with the country.

"Chevron maintains its investment in Myanmar assets for compelling
business reasons, fundamental of which is to better meet Southeast Asian
demand for energy supplies," said Charlie Stewart, a Chevron spokesman.
"Providing safe, reliable and secure supplies of natural gas will
contribute to economic growth and stability in the region."

According to The Burma Campaign, a British advocacy group, more than 100
international companies do business with Myanmar. The firms include
U.S.-based luxury tour operator Abercrombie & Kent Inc. and Britain-based
timber company Morgan Timber, which sells Burmese teak.

But it's energy needs that are driving foreign investment.

Earlier this year, Thailand's MDX Group signed a $6 million contract to
build a dam that will supply Thailand with electricity, one of five
planned in Myanmar along the Salween River. Environmentalists say the
development will ravage a delicate ecosystem, and activists say it
threatens numerous marginalized ethnic groups.

Thailand claims its policy of "constructive engagement" is helping speed
Myanmar toward democratic and economic reforms.

"Most of the cooperation programs we have with them go down to the grass
roots. It involves local people, it involves local well-being. I think
that would contribute not only to economic prosperity, but national
reconciliation," said Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Kitti Wasinondh.

But the Karen Rivers Watch group said a Myanmar military offensive has
driven thousands of ethnic Karen from their homes, in part to open up the
area for the building of the dams.

"Of all the business that is going into Burma ... the amount that goes
toward the health and education of the people is pathetic, said Ka Hsaw Wa
of EarthRights International. "Most of it just goes to the military junta
and helps to strengthen their military power."

____________________________________
ASEAN

August 23, Agence France Presse
Myanmar must defend itself if brought to UN Security Council: Indonesia

Jakarta: ASEAN has told military-ruled Myanmar it will have to defend
itself alone if it is taken to the UN Security Council, Indonesia's
foreign minister said Wednesday.

Washington is lobbying for an unprecedented Security Council resolution
calling on the regime to change its repressive policies.

Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said the patience of Myanmar's nine
fellow Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members had worn
thin over its failure to show any progress in democratising.

At the last meeting of the regional group in Kuala Lumpur last month,
Myanmar had again failed to brief members about what it was doing, he
said.

"As we are not well informed about what they are doing, so we all thought
that we are not well equipped to help defend Myanmar," Wirayuda said.

He said ASEAN leaders had sent Myanmar a very clear signal: "You must
defend yourself" if brought before the Security Council.

Wirayuda said ASEAN believed that the core problem in Myanmar was a "sense
of insecurity on the part of the military junta about their future in
democratic Myanmar."

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

A number of ASEAN nations have openly expressed frustration and
disappointment with the pace of democratic reform in Myanmar, with some
calling for heavyweights China and India -- which have strategic interests
in the country -- to exert more influence.

_____________________________________
REGIONAL

August 23, Narinjara
Release octogenarian Burmese national: HC

Dhaka, Bangladesh: The High Court yesterday ordered the release of an
octogenarian Burmese citizen who has been languishing in Cox's Bazaar jail
for the last 12 years. He was sentenced to only two years in jail.

A division bench comprising Justice Nazrul Islam Chowdhury and Zubair
Rahman Chowdhury also asked the jail authorities to explain within six
weeks why the detention of Abdul Malek, 82, for more than his term should
not be declared illegal.

The order came following a writ filed by Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services
Trust (BLAST).

The bench also ordered the authorities concerned to hand over Abdul Malek
to the custody of BLAST.

In 1994, the Bangladesh Navy arrested him along with 17 other Burmese
nationals when he was entering the country in a trawler loaded with
cattle.

They were sentenced to two years' in jail for smuggling. All his
accomplices were repatriated to Burma after serving their jail term, but
only Malek continues to languish in the jail as his identity as a Burma
citizen could not be confirmed.

Advocate Idrisur Rahman moved the writ petition while advocate Sigma Huda
appeared as intervener, said a BLAST press release.

_____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

August 23, Kantarawaddy Times
Australia to accept 150 refugees for resettlement

Australia will accept 150 refugees from Karenni refugee camp (2), on the
Thai-Burma border, for resettlement, according to a source from the UN
High Commissioner for Refugees office in Thailand.

Last Monday and Tuesday, 165 households applied for resettlement and the
applicants will be interviewed by UNHCR officials on August 29.

"Widows, widowers, the physically challenged, victims of violations, child
soldiers and helpless children will be given priority in regard to
resettlement," said an official from the UNHCR office in Thailand.

Saw Naing Hlin, when asked why his family applied for resettlement in a
third country, explained, "For the future of our children, for their
education, for their safety and to escape from the abuses by the Burmese
junta."

However, a refugee who refused to apply for resettlement said, "I think of
the future of my children. When they get there [third country], they will
get citizenship, but they won't get equality. When they go there, they
will forget their own language and culture."

A UNHCR delegate said the resettlement programme is not only to raise the
living standard of refugees but also to share the burden that Thailand is
enduring.

Refugees who arrived in camps after 2001 are not eligible to apply for
resettlement in a third country, but those who arrived earlier, since 1992
are.

Selection of refugees for resettlement in third countries will continue
till January 2007.

There are 667 households which comprise 3,671 refugees in the Karenni
refugee camp (2).