BurmaNet News, September 27, 2006

[Editor]

September 27, 2006 Issue # 3054


INSIDE BURMA
DPA: Myanmar opposition party celebrates anniversary amid detentions
AP: Myanmar detains three activists as opposition party celebrates
anniversary
IMNA: NMSP to join NC as observer while welcoming UNSC move

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: Burmese workers fear Thai ID papers

BUSINESS / TRADE
Bloomberg via IHT: To slake its thirst for oil, China scours backwaters of
the world
Irrawaddy: Call for Daewoo to be probed on Burma arms trade

INTERNATIONAL
UPI: Myanmar to U.N.: Remove us from SC agenda
AP: Political persecution prevents democracy in Myanmar, U.N. rights envoy
says

PRESS RELEASE
Conservative Party Human Rights Commission: Aung San Suu Kyi invited to
Conservative Conference

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

September 27, Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Myanmar opposition party celebrates anniversary amid detentions

Yangon: Myanmar's (Burma's) main opposition party, led by Nobel laureate
Aung San Suu Kyi, on Wednesday marked its 18th anniversary amid an
outpouring of support from the international community but more detentions
on the homefront.

As 400 members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) gathered at
their Yangon headquarters to mark their 18th year as one of the world's
most persecuted political parties, three student leaders were being
detained and interrogated by Myanmar's junta.

Myanmar security personnel early Wednesday rounded up student leaders Min
Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi and Htay Kywe and took them to the Home Affairs
Ministry for questioning.

"I think the calling away of the three student leaders was related to the
(anniversary) ceremony," said NLD spokesman Kyaik Ma Raw. "I don't know
what had been brewing."

At least 50 people, not linked to the party, staged a peaceful sit-in
outside the NLD headquarters Wednesday to demand the immediate release of
Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest since May, 2003.

The NLD won 392 out of the 485 contested seats in the 1990 general
election but it has been blocked from political power by Myanmar's
military hierarchy who have ruled the country since 1962.

Political protests are prohibited by Myanmar's ruling junta, the
self-styled State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).

This year the NLD has something to celebrate.

On September 15, the United Nations Security Council voted in favour of a
US-led proposal to put Myanmar on their agenda for the first time, citing
the country's ongoing political instability as a serious threat to
regional security.

"The National League for Democracy and all the democratic activists, who
had been longing for this action, are much delighted by this event, said U
Lwin, chairman of the NLD.

Lwin extended special thanks to the US ambassador to Yangon and the
governments of the UK, France, Denmark, Greece, Japan, Peru, Argentina,
Ghana and Slovakia who voted in favour of the UN motion.

Lwin also thanked the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for
its recent shift in policy towards Myanmar's military regime.

"It is now found out that the countries from the ASEAN have changed from
their initial stance and are now openly supporting NLD's position and we
must thank the ASEAN Inter Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus for its
encouragement backed by its political influence," said the NLD chairman.

On its 18th anniversary the NLD was inundated with an unprecedented number
of letters of support from governments and international leaders.

"The United States reaffirms its support for Aung San Suu Kyi, the
NLD, and all those around the world who are working to promote freedom,
respect for human rights and democracy in Burma," said a press statement
issued by the US State Department to mark NLD's anniversary.

"The democratic forces of Mongolia urge the UN Security Council to act on
Burma, and urge the Burmese people to continue their fight for freedom. We
have faced tyranny before, and won," said a letter from Elbegdoj Tsakhia,
former prime minister of Mongolia.

"Just as apartheid fell in South Africa and just as communism ended in the
Soviet Union, victory will be yours," said US Congressman Tom Lantos.

"I regard the persecution and imprisonment of members of the National
League for Democracy as a crime and the fact that the international
community stands idly by as a great disgrace," wrote Nobel laureate Vaclav
Havel.

"On this special occasion, we would like to express our solidarity and
unity with NLD and the people of Burma," said a statement from the ASEAN
Inter-Parliamentray Myanmar Caucus.

____________________________________

September 27, Associated Press
Myanmar detains three activists as opposition party celebrates anniversary
- Aye Aye Win

Yangon: Myanmar's military junta arrested three pro-democracy activists
Wednesday as the political party of detained Nobel peace laureate Aung San
Suu Kyi marked its 18th anniversary, activists said.

Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi and Htay Kywe who served lengthy prison sentences
of a decade or more and were released along with hundreds of dissidents in
late 2004 were picked up by police early Wednesday morning before the
party began its anniversary celebrations in Yangon, activists said.

The activists declined to be named for fear of government reprisals.

A relative of Htay Kywe, who also refused to be identified for fear of
reprisals, said in a telephone interview that the family was very worried
about the arrest.

The three activists all served prison sentences of a decade or more and
are part of a "88 Generation Students Group," which the government often
accuses of trying to destabilizing the country.

The military junta could not be immediately reached for comment on the
reported arrests.

Meanwhile, dozens of activists descended on the National League for
Democracy headquarters to celebrate the party's anniversary. Some 70
activists sat in front of the party offices amid tight security chanting
"Free Aung San Suu Kyi," while foreign diplomats, reporters and activist
attended the event inside.

"We have asked permission from authorities to hold the ceremony today,"
party spokesman Nyan Win said. "A statement will be issued and the party
secretary will give a speech."

Dozens of police officers watched the events, some video taping and taking
photographs. But no one was has so far been arrested, witnesses said.

The NLD won a landslide victory in a 1990 general election, but the
military re-fused to hand over power, claiming it had to first write a new
constitution.

Since then, the party and its members have faced constant harassment and
Suu Kyi has been detained since May 2003. Members also are often arrested
ahead of events celebrating Suu Kyi or the party.

Myanmar's military government on Tuesday said the country is steadfastly
implementing a seven-step road map to democracy and criticized the United
States for putting it on the U.N. Security Council's agenda.

The U.S. State Department said it would seek a Security Council resolution
demanding freedom for political prisoners in Myanmar and a democratic
movement to-ward national reconciliation, claiming political repression
there is damaging stability throughout Southeast Asia.

"Myanmar has done nothing that can undermine the peace and security of any
country, let alone regional or international peace and security," Myanmar
Foreign Minister Nyan Win said in a speech to the U.N. General Assembly in
New York.

Associated Press Writer Paul Alexander at the United Nations contributed
to this report.

____________________________________

September 27, Independent Mon News Agency
NMSP to join NC as observer while welcoming UNSC move - Chan Mon

The Mon cease-fire armed group, the New Mon State Party (NMSP) has decided
to join the military government’s National Convention as an observer yet
again, at it’s the party’s Central Committee meeting.

It also welcomed the United Nations Security Council’s move to put the
Burma issue on its permanent agenda.

The NMSP is the strongest among Mon armed groups and arrived at a
cease-fire agreement in 1995 after more than four decades of fighting
successive military governments.

The NMSP spokesman, Nai Aye Mon said “The best way to solve our country’s
problems would have been within the country. But, with the problem still
not solved we welcome the United Nations involvement in resolving the
political stalemate. We want to solve it peacefully,” he added.

The NMSP held a four-day meeting from September 23 and decided to welcome
the UNSC move while a Karen cease-fire group, Democratic Karen Buddhist
Army (DKBA) has gone against the UNSC stance.

The NMSP will send three senior leaders to observe the national convention
and it will be led by Nai Thin Hla a former party representative.

In the beginning of the month, the NMSP had sought the views of the Mon
people on whether it should attend the NC or not. Recently the Overseas
Mon Coordinating Committee requested NMSP not to attend the NC.

The NMSP has also demanded that the military government change some parts
of the drafted constitution at the NC. It raised the demand with 12 other
ethnic armed groups in 2004. The NMSP led the demand but it was ignored.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

September 27, Irrawaddy
Burmese workers fear Thai ID papers - Khun Sam

Many Burmese migrant workers in Thailand are declining to fill in new ID
papers, or else are giving false information, because they fear the
information might be used against them and their families by the Burmese
regime.

The ID forms, due to be handed in by September 29, are the result of an
agreement reached between Thailand and Burma in August to provide special
visas for Burmese working illegally in Thailand. But the information in
the forms will be sent back to Burma—something which few migrants like.

Pranom Somwong, of the Chiang Mai-based Migrant Assistance Program
Foundation, said that the Burmese authorities will verify the information.
Any migrant workers Burma recognizes as its citizens will be issued a
passport to legally work in Thailand.

Sai Norm, a Shan who works at a construction site in Chiang Mai, said: “I
did not fill the form because I am worried my family back in Shan State
could be in danger if the authorities knew my details and home address.”
She is one of many thousands who left Burma illegally to find work in
Thailand. He said many of his friends are also declining to fill in the
forms, or else are giving phony information.

Pranom added: “Employers are also forcing the workers to fill the forms
because they have to send the papers to the [Thai] employment department.”
She said Burmese workers were “afraid because they don’t trust the
Burmese. It is against the law to leave Burma without the permission.”
Many migrants are from ethnic minorities not recognized by the Burmese
government, she added.

According to official Thai figures, about 600,000 Burmese workers
registered as migrant workers in Thailand this year while the actual
number is thought to be over 1 million.

____________________________________
BUSINESS TRADE

September 27, Bloomberg via The International Herald Tribune
To slake its thirst for oil, China scours backwaters of the world -
William Mellor and Le-Min Lim

Pyay, Myanmar: In a steamy jungle clearing in Myanmar, a lone drilling rig
topped by limp red flags bears testimony to China's insatiable thirst for
oil.

A century ago, the British firm Burmah Oil made a fortune for its
shareholders from oil fields that lie beneath the teak forests and
golden-spired Buddhist pagodas of the country formerly known as Burma. In
its successor state, Myanmar a military dictatorship under Western
economic sanctions there is little hope of striking another gusher, said
Ma Guiming, a stocky project leader for China National Petroleum.

''Gou qiang,'' Ma said of the search for oil, using a Beijing slang term
that literally means it will be chokingly difficult. ''But we have no
choice. This is something we have to do.''

As recently as 1992, China was self-sufficient in oil. Today, the world's
most-populous country is importing 40 percent of its needs a figure that
will rise to 75 percent by 2025, the U.S. Department of Energy predicts.

Chinese oil consumption has almost quadrupled to 7.4 million barrels a
day, making China the No.2 consumer behind the United States, and already
ahead of Japan. As demand soars, production at the biggest Chinese oil
field, Daqing, is in decline.

''There's no gentle way of saying this,'' said Han Wenke, deputy director
of the Energy-Research Institute, an arm of the Chinese planning ministry
that is based in Beijing. ''We need to find oil fast.''

In its search, China is scouring the backwaters of the world, from
monsoon-lashed Myanmar to the deserts of Iran to the seas off Sudan and
North Korea, cutting deals with nations that the United States and many
other countries consider pariahs.

Oil diplomacy is putting China on a collision course with the United
States and Western Europe, which have imposed sanctions on some of the
countries where it is doing business.

A case in point is Iran. The United States and Europe are pushing the
United Nations to impose sanctions because of its refusal to suspend
uranium enrichment programs. Although China, a permanent member of the
Security Council, supported the UN's demand that Iran curtail the program,
it has threatened to veto any measures imposing sanctions.

Around the globe, from Angola to Venezuela, China is locked in competition
for oil resources with Western nations and another emerging giant, India.

Jaspal Singh, an adviser to the World Bank based in Washington, compares
this struggle with the Great Game: the 19th-century rivalry between the
British and Russian empires in Central Asia.

''The world is entering the post, post-Cold War era, where securing a
stable energy supply will be the main theme of the Great Game,'' he says.

China's search for oil is driven by its growing economic might. Over the
past 28 years, the Chinese economy has grown at an average of 9.7 percent
a year; in the quarter ended in June, it grew at 11.3 percent. In the
first half of 2006, China imported 522,000 barrels a day from Angola, its
largest supplier; 464,000 barrels from Saudi Arabia; and 338,000 barrels
each from Iran and Russia.

''I see China and the U.S. coming into conflict over energy in the years
ahead,'' says Jin Riguang, a Chinese government oil and gas adviser and
member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People's Political
Consultative Conference.

Already last year, U.S. lawmakers cited national security concerns when
they rejected an $18.5 billion cash bid by Cnooc, the No.3 Chinese oil
company, for Unocal, based in El Segundo, California.

Lawmakers claimed that Cnooc, which is 66 percent state-owned via its
parent, China National Offshore Oil, is really the Chinese government, and
said that al-lowing it to own Unocal could endanger U.S. oil supplies.
Chevron, the No.2 U.S. oil company, eventually bought Unocal for $17.8
billion in cash and stock.

Nowhere is the potential for clashes with the United States more evident
than in China's dealings with Iran. When Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected
president in June 2005, Hu Jintao, president of China, was among the first
to send congratu-lations.
The second-biggest Chinese oil company, China Petrochemical, also known as
Sinopec Group, signed a preliminary agreement in 2004 to buy a 51 percent
stake in the Yadavaran oil field, located in the Western Kurdistan, Iran.

If completed, the deal would also allow China to buy 150,000 barrels of
Iranian crude a day at market rates for 25 years as well as 250 million
tons of lique-fied natural gas. China could pay Iran as much as $100
billion for the stake and the purchases of oil and gas over 25 years.

The Iran agreement should give pause to investors in China Petroleum &
Chemical, the New York Stock Exchange-listed unit of Sinopec, Green says.
''These are un-stable countries, and if I was a shareholder in Chinese oil
companies, I would be asking if it's worth the risk,'' he says.

Many of China's most controversial oil assets are held by state-owned
parent companies, which in turn control the publicly traded companies,
allowing U.S. investors to buy shares in companies whose parents are
operating where sanctions are in place. The public companies and their
parents often have the same slate of senior executives.

China has no option but to deal with regimes that the United States
disapproves of, says Guan Bin, an analyst at Merrill Lynch in Beijing.

''China is a late comer to the oil exploration scene, and the choicest,
most-productive areas have been taken by the BPs and Shells of this
world,'' Guan said.

To ensure that they get deals, Chinese companies have been paying premiums
for the oil fields and companies they buy, said Jonathan Woetzel, a
director at McKinsey in Shanghai. In Nigeria, Cnooc ended up paying $2.7
billion, 19 percent more than it had originally said it would, for an
offshore block.

''On average, the country's national oil companies pay at least 10 percent
more for foreign reserves than major international oil companies do,''
Woetzel said.

____________________________________

September 27, Irrawaddy
Call for Daewoo to be probed on Burma arms trade

More than 20 South Korean non-government organizations and trade unions,
including Amnesty International South Korean Section, the Federation of
Korean Trade Unions, and Friends of Asia, have urged the Seoul government
to investigate Daewoo International Corporation for allegedly sending
armaments technology to Burma. South Korean media recently reported that
agents from the public prosecutor’s office had searched Daewoo offices on
suspicion of exporting lathes and other material used for making the fuses
of bombs.

The protest groups issued a statement on Wednesday criticizing the South
Korean government for failing to tackle the problem earlier. The groups
said it had been known that Daewoo had been engaged in dubious exports to
Burma since 2000. “We strongly condemn the South Korean government for its
failure to monitor the issue for more than five years,” said the
statement. The protestors also complained about Seoul supporting the
Burmese regime under the slogan of energy security. Daewoo is engaged in
developing Burmese offshore gas fields in the Bay of Bengal.

_____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

September 27, UPI
Myanmar to U.N.: Remove us from SC agenda

United Nations: Myanmar says it poses no threat to regional peace and
security and therefore should be removed from the U.N. Security Council's
agenda.

Myanmar Foreign Minister U Nyan Win told the U.N. General Assembly Tuesday
Security Council members have misused their mandate by placing the former
Burma on the agenda.

Speaking during the annual general debate, he said "the attempts by some
strong and powerful states to impose their will on developing countries"
had created an environment of hostility. This was a clear reference to the
United States, which called for the Southeast Asian nation to be discussed
by the 15-member panel.

"The founders of the United Nations did not intend the world body to
become a forum where some members with political and economic clout could
gang up against a member state, and label it for what it is not," he said.

Win said Myanmar enjoyed close relations with all of its neighbors and had
done nothing to undermine the peace and security of any country.

Therefore it was a "glaring abuse of the mandate" to suggest that it poses
a threat to the region.

He urged other member states to help Myanmar or other countries in the
same situation "resist attempts by those powerful states to influence the
Security Council."

The Foreign Minister also called for the expansion of the council's
membership, both permanent and non-permanent, to "reflect today's
political and economic realities."

Security Council reform attempts failed earlier this year because of a
failure to reach agreement.

____________________________________

September 27, Associated Press
Political persecution prevents democracy in Myanmar, U.N. rights envoy
says - Bradley S. Klapper

Geneva: Myanmar's persecution of political opponents is preventing any
real transition to democracy, the United Nations' special envoy for human
rights in the country said Wednesday, a day after the military government
criticized the United States for putting it on the U.N. Security Council's
agenda.

Independent U.N. expert Paulo Sergio Pinheiro told the Human Rights
Council, the global body's 47-nation watchdog, that the junta had
authorized grave abuses, such as the targeting of ethnic minorities by its
armed forces and a total crackdown on opposition leaders and activists.

He said the Southeast Asian country's disregard for fundamental freedoms
had made political change nearly impossible.

"The persecution of members of political parties in the opposition and
human rights defenders shows that nowadays the road map for democracy
faces too many obstacles to bring a genuine transition," said Pinheiro,
who was appointed by the former U.N. Human Rights Commission in 2001 to
monitor the situation in reclusive Myanmar, also known as Burma.

Pinheiro's comments contradicted the military regime's claim Tuesday that
it is steadfastly implementing a seven-step road map to democracy.

Foreign Minister Nyan Win told the U.N. General Assembly that his
government has been unfairly targeted by the United States, and urged
other countries to resist "powerful states" seeking Security Council
action against Myanmar.

"The founders of the U.N. did not intend the world to become a forum where
some members with political and economic clout could gang up against a
member state and label it for what it is not," Nyan Win said.

The country's National Convention will resume work Oct. 10 on a new
constitution. The junta calls the convention the first step in the road
map toward democracy that is supposed to lead to free elections though no
timetable has been set to complete the task.

Pinheiro said the arrest of political opponents, such as Aung San Suu Kyi,
precluded any chance of "national reconciliation." He also criticized the
government, which has barred him from conducting fact-finding missions in
the country since 2003, for permitting "numerous cases" of forced
evictions and the military driving people from their homes, and for
preventing the international Red Cross from visiting nearly 1,200
political prisoners.

Human rights groups and ex-prisoners say torture, poor food, little
medical attention and brutal guards are common in Myanmar's extensive
network of prisons and labor camps. The government denies such charges,
but has given no specific reason for suspending the ICRC's prison visits.

"Grave human rights violations are indulged not only with impunity but
authorized by the sanction of laws," Pinheiro told the council. "The
stability of Myanmar is not well served by the arrest and detention of
several political leaders or by the severe and sustained restrictions on
fundamental freedoms.

The one positive note in Pinheiro's speech was recognition that the
country had made some progress on combatting forced labor.

The military junta took power in 1988 after crushing a pro-democracy
movement. It refused to yield two years later when Suu Kyi's political
party won a land-slide victory in general elections. The Nobel peace
laureate has been held, mostly under house arrest, for about 10 of the
last 17 years.

The National Convention was first convened in 1993, but its work was
aborted three years later after delegates belonging to Suu Kyi's National
League for Democracy party walked out in protest, claiming the military
was manipulating the proceedings.

The convention was resurrected in 2004, though Suu Kyi's party continued
its boycott. Its members have faced constant harassment.

Earlier Wednesday, three pro-democracy dissidents were arrested as the NLD
marked its 18th anniversary in Myanmar's capital of Yangon, according to
activ-ists who declined to be named for fear of government reprisals.

Associated Press writers Paul Alexander at the United Nations and Aye Aye
Win in Yangon, Myanmar, contributed to this report.

_____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

September 26, The Conservative Party Human Rights Commission
Aung San Suu Kyi invited to Conservative Conference

www.conservativehumanrights.com

Burma's democracy leader, Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, was invited to
speak at next week's Conservative Party Conference in Bournemouth, but
remains 'incommunicado' under house arrest in Rangoon.

Speaking today on the 18th anniversary of the founding of Aung San Suu
Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), the Chairman of the
Conservative Party Human Rights Commission, Gary Streeter MP, called for
the release of all political prisoners in Burma. The Shadow Foreign
Secretary, William Hague, has written a letter of support to NLD, which
will be delivered in Rangoon today.

Gary Streeter wrote to Aung San Suu Kyi and the Burmese Ambassador in
London U Nay Win over two months ago, but has received no reply from
either. (See Notes to Editors).

Aung San Suu Kyi has spent over 10 years in house arrest. In 1990, the NLD
won over 80 per cent of the parliamentary seats in an election, but the
military regime rejected the results and imprisoned many of the victors.

In his letter to the NLD, Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague writes:
"You and your members have shown extraordinary courage and commitment over
the past 18 years, in the face of appallingly repressive treatment, to
keep alive the vision of a democratic, peaceful Burma, in which the human
rights of all the people of Burma are respected .... We will continue to
urge the British government to be active in support of a better future for
the people of Burma."

The UN Security Council this month voted to put the issue of Burma on its
formal agenda for the first time. Mr Hague said: "We believe it is urgent
that Burma be bought to the agenda of the United Nations Security Council,
and that a resolution must be passed requiring Burma's junta to implement
a plan for national reconciliation and restore democratically-elected
government."

Zoya Phan, a Karen activist from Burma, has been invited address the
Conservative Party Conference during the foreign affairs session.

For further information please contact:

Nigel Double, Special Adviser to Gary Streeter MP
Tel: 0207 219 5033;   Mobile: 07718 349 853
Email: DOUBLEN at parliament.uk

Ben Rogers, Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party Human Rights
Commission:
Tel: 0208 329 0041; Mobile: 07919 030575; Email: brogers50 at hotmail.com