BurmaNet News, October 14-16, 2006

[Editor]

October 14-16, 2006 Issue # 3066


INSIDE BURMA
AP: Leading member of Myanmar junta says 'big nations' threaten national
culture
Mizzima: AAPP takes up rights defender's case with UN
Irrawaddy: Burma flood toll rises
Vancouver Sun: 4,000th day in detention
AFP: Myanmar activists take rare action with petition drive
Bangkok Post: Burma carries strange birthday greeting

ON THE BORDER
IMNA: Workers protest demanding rights in Mea Sot

DRUGS
AP: UN: Opium poppy cultivation drops in Myanmar

BUSINESS / TRADE
Xinhua: Myanmar to raise onshore crude oil production
Xinhua: Myanmar foreign investment in 2005-06 registers highest in 18 years

INTERNATIONAL
Associated Press: Myanmar removed from list of money-laundering countries
Irrawaddy: Burmese candidate says he is future of WHO

OPINION / OTHER
The Ottawa Citizen: We need to help people living under bad regimes
National Post: UN pushes Myanmar to revisit democracy

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

October 16, Associated Press
Leading member of Myanmar junta says 'big nations' threaten national culture

A leading member of Myanmar's military junta has warned that "some big
nations" are threatening the country's culture and nationalist spirit,
state-run media reported Monday.

"The big nations are making attempts overtly or covertly to shape the
country as they wish using various tricks such as persuasion, pressure and
penetration in economic and cultural aspects," Lt. Gen. Thein Sein was
quoted saying by the New Light of Myanmar and other newspapers. He did not
identify which nations he was talking about.

Thein Sein, Secretary One of the ruling State Peace and Development
Council, was speaking Sunday at the opening of the 14th Myanmar
traditional cultural performing arts competition at the new administrative
capital of Naypyidaw, 450 kilometers (250 miles) north of Yangon.

"In the process of globalization, some big nations misusing their
superiority in wealth, technology and domination of the world media for
political gains are making attempts to dominate the developing countries
like Myanmar politically and culturally while instilling (them) with their
ways of thinking, customs and social system or lifestyle," he said.

Thein Sein appeared to be referring to Western nations, particularly the
United States, with which the military government has very poor relations.
Western governments are critical of the junta's poor human rights record
and its failure to hand over power to a democratically elected government.

State media often accuses Western nations of conspiring with the
opposition National League for Democracy of detained Nobel laureate Aung
San Suu Kyi to foment trouble and take over the country. The NLD won a
1990 general election, but the military refused to cede power.

"External and internal destructive elements, lackeys of the aliens, are
instilling wrong thoughts in youth that patriotism and nationalistic
spirit are out of date these days," Thein Sein warned.
"They are also instigating the youth to entertain the tendencies of
confrontation and violence in their mind," he added.

____________________________________

October 16, Mizzima News
AAPP takes up rights defender's case with UN representative - Mungpi

A Thailand based welfare group today took up the case of a Burmese human
rights defender, arrested by the military junta in Rangoon last month,
with the UN Special Representative of the Secretary General on Human
Rights Defenders.

Myint Aye, who was arrested on September 30 following the arrest of five
88 generation student leaders, has not been in touch with his family and
his whereabouts is unknown, said the Assistance Association for Political
Prisoners (Burma).

"We want the UN special representative to investigate the matter and
question the junta about his [U Myint Aye] whereabouts," said Ko Tate
Naing, secretary of the AAPPB.

Myint Aye had begun his activities peacefully in 2005 by talking and
explaining to people, particularly youths about the United Nations
declaration on Human Rights.

Following the arrest of the five 88 generation student leaders on
September 27, Myint Aye released a statement calling for the release of
the student leaders and condemned the authorities for the arrest. On
September 30, he was called from his home in Rangoon by two police
officers on an excuse to have a 'discussion with a higher officer'.

"The arrest and detention of U Myint Aye proves the SPDC military junta]
is not serious about protecting the human rights of its citizens," Tate
Naing said. " U Myint Aye was not engaged in political work - he was only
concerned with defending and promoting human rights in Burma."

Myint Aye, who has been arrested four times prior to his current
detention, was a former NLD chairman of Kyimyindine Township.

The AAPPB hopes that after the UN Special Representative of the Secretary
General on Human Rights Defenders reviews Myint Aye's case, they will
question the military regime in Burma about the nature of the charges
against him and the reason for his continued detention.

____________________________________

October 16, Irrawaddy
Burma flood toll rises - Shah Paung

The death toll in the floods that have ravaged regions of Burma has risen
in the Mandalay Division to 19, the official press reported on Sunday.
Local sources, however, say the true toll is higher.

According to the state run Myanma Ahlin, falling trees in Mandalay killed
five people, while flood waters swept away 11 in Kyaukpadaung Township and
three in Sintgaing Township, Mandalay Division.

Local sources estimate that 20 people have died in the floods in Mandalay
alone. Kyaukse Township, Mandalay Division, has been particularly hard
hit, with more than 5,000 people forced from their homes. An official
report on October 12 said an estimated 3,000 people had been affected by
the floods.

A number of Kyaukse residents have reportedly died in the floods, but this
has not been confirmed. Local relief volunteers are busy in Kyaukse,
distributing emergency aid, including food, water and medical supplies.

Hundreds of flood victims in Kyaukse complain of inadequate assistance.
Thierry Ribaux, deputy head of the International Committee of the Red
Cross in Rangoon, confirmed to The Irrawaddy on Monday that no assistance
had yet been provided. A relief program would first of all have to be
discussed with the Myanmar Red Cross Society. The MRCS says it has
provided some emergency temporary housing to flood victims.

A travel agency in Nyaung Shwe, northern Shan State, told The Irrawaddy on
Monday that several major roads had been seriously damaged. Some areas of
Nyaung Shwe were still under water. An official at the government
information department in Myingyan, Mandalay Division, said that heavy
rain had caused a landslide at Mount Popa, a popular tourist destination.
Residents in the area said several houses had been washed away by the
flood waters.

The floods have also inundated areas of Sagaing Division and Tachilek, the
Shan State border town. Schools in the flooded areas had closed. Myanma
Ahlin said the local authorities were repairing damaged roads and helping
flood victims. Local people, however, complain that adequate assistance is
not being provided.

____________________________________

October 16, The Vancouver Sun
4,000th day in detention

Monday last week was a signal day of sorts in the political history of
Southeast Asia.

It was the 4,000th day in detention for Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of
Burma's National League for Democracy.

She has been under various forms of arrest since 1989. In 1990, Burma's
military regime refused to accept the result of elections conclusively won
by Suu Kyi's NLD.

And the day after Suu Kyi's bleak anniversary the junta reconvened its
13-year-long national convention allegedly aimed at producing a
constitution allowing a return to civilian rule.

It would not be sensible for anyone to hold their breath awaiting the
outcome.

____________________________________

October 15, Agence France Presse
Myanmar activists take rare action with petition drive - Griffin Shea

Kyaw Min Yu has a piece of paper inside his bag that he believes could
transform politics in Myanmar.

The single, photocopied page asks for the military government to agree to
talk to the political opposition, and to free the 1,100 prisoners of
conscience that are believed to be locked away here.

Below are blank lines for people to write their names and addresses, and
to place their signatures. So far, 220,000 have signed it, organizers say.

Kyaw Min Yu, who is better known by his nickname Jimmy, says that some of
the signers have done so publicly, but many of those who signed did so in
secret for fear of reprisals from Myanmar's junta.

That makes it impossible to verify the number of signatures, but the
petition has nonetheless created a ripple in Yangon, where it appears to
be the first large-scale show of political discontent in at least a
decade.

"Myanmar people have to stay away from politics, because the government
tries to keep them out. They are always looking for a way to participate
in politics, so that is why we are trying to involve them," Jimmy said at
a small gathering with three other organizers.

He and other activists started the petition on October 2, after five of
their colleagues -- Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, Htay Kywe, Min Zeya and Pyone
Cho -- were arrested at their homes by authorities who said only that
"senior officials" wanted to question them.

Like Jimmy, the five men who were arrested were among the students who led
an uprising in 1988 against military rule. That was the year that the
long-time dictator Ne Win fell from power, only be replaced by the junta
that currently runs the country.

That was also the year that Aung San Suu Kyi entered politics and formed
her National League for Democracy party, calling for a peaceful transition
to democratic rule. The party's 1990 landslide election victory was never
recognized by the junta.

The military has silenced Aung San Suu Kyi by keeping her under house
arrest for more than a decade since then. They dealt with the student
leaders by sentencing them to long prison sentences, often served in the
notorious Insein prison outside Yangon.

Several of the most prominent students were freed last year, including Min
Ko Naing, who found upon his release that he had become one of the most
authoritative voices in the pro-democracy movement, which often seems
rudderless without Aung San Suu Kyi.

They began to call themselves the '88 Generation Students, loosely
grouping all those who had been involved in the 1988 uprising as well as
another student protest in 1996 that was also brutally put down by the
military.

When Min Ko Naing and the others were arrested late last month on charges
of inciting unrest, the others in the group immediately began thinking
about how to press for their release without inviting another violent
crackdown by the military.

They settled on the petition, and called for people to wear white shirts
as a sign of peaceful protest.

"We have been through years of imprisonment, and we know that by starting
this movement, we could be arrested again," Jimmy said.

The activists say they know the military is unlikely to be swayed by a
stack of mostly secret signatures, but that they feel they have succeeded
in inspiring people to take at least some small political action.

"I consider this movement successful, not because we think the student
leaders will be released, and not because we think the government will
change its position," said Mya Aye, one of the organizers of the petition
drive.

"But by doing this we have managed to bring people out of their fear, even
though fear is all they have known in their lives," he said.

____________________________________

October 16, Bangkok Post
Burma carries strange birthday greeting

Rangoon: Burma state-run media, typically dominated by upbeat reports on
agricultural production and the military junta's visits to the
countryside, on Saturday carried rare coverage of an opposition
politician's birthday.

All state-owned dailies on Saturday reported on the 61st birthday
celebrations held for Arakan League for Democracy opposition politician
Aye Tha Aung, Secretary of the inactive Committee for Representing the
People's Parliament (CRPP), on Thursday (October 12.)

The Arakan League for Democracy is closely alligned with the National
League for Democracy (NLD) which is the party led by Nobel peace prize
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest since May,
2003.

Present at the birthday bash held at a Buddhist temple in Rangoon were
executive members of the NLD, other veteran opposition politicians and
members of "88 Generation Students" group, and a representative of the
information office of the US embassy, reported the New Light of Myanmar
newspaper, a government mouthpiece.

Burma-watchers were puzzled by the birthday coverage because firstly, the
state media in the past has studiously ignored all activities, not to
mention birthdays, of NLD members and any other groups opposed to the
government, and secondly, because October 12, was not Aye Tha Aung's
birthday, which falls on December 10.

October 12 was, however, the anniversary for the setting up of the Arakan
League for Democracy, one of a dozen anti-military parties that contested
the 1990 general election in which the NLD won 80 per cent of the seats
but other smaller parties also claimed seats.

Observers speculated that the NLD may have used the faux birthday
celebrations as a pretext for an unofficial gathering of the opposition
politicians, whose activities are severely restricted by the junta.

"Maybe the regime just wants to let the NLD know that they are on to
them," opined one Rangoon observer.

Aye Tha Aung was imprisoned on April 26, 2000, on a 21 year sentence for
his political activities. He was released in August 16, 2002, on grounds
of ill health.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

October 15, Independent Mon News Agency
Workers protest demanding rights in Mea Sot - Banyol Kin

Over 200 workers have been demanding their rights in terms of wages and
humane treatment from the management in Mea Sot in BB Top Co Ltd (also
known as Wool Co Ltd) since this morning.

“The workers are angry mainly with the factory manager who beat up two
girls and threatened to kill them. The manager has been treating them
badly so now they want to be insured,” said Paw Gyi, vice secretary Young
Chi Oo Migrant Workers Association.

The two girls Ma Gyi Gyi Thein and Ma Hnin Aye Thin came to work late, so
the manager took them off their work and also tried to kill them on
October 7. The incensed workers demanded their rights, he added.

The two girls avoided police checking and arrived at the work place an
hour late. The manager took them off their duty without paying any
insurance. While they were going back, the manager tried to crush them
under his car and also hit them. The workers nearby intervened and rescued
the two girls, he added.

“We are dissatisfied with not only the case of the two girls, but there
are many such cases as they (employers) do not care for our work
conditions. They also treat us badly so we can no longer be patient and
have begun to protest,” said Min Htat a worker at the BB Top Co Ltd.

Since many workers are dissatisfied with the manager, the factory
management tried to move its machines and equipment as of October 9 and
close down totally yesterday, Min Htat added.

Now the Young Chi Oo Workers Association has organized things for them
temporally and will raise the issue with the Thai Labour Protection
Organization tomorrow.

“Most factories in Mea Sot when they need workers, they order what they
want. But when they do not need their services, they are not willing to
negotiate with the workers. They ask the police to threaten workers and
create a conflict,” Moe Swe head of the Young Chi Oo Migrant Worker
Association said.

This apart, 42 workers from the Progress Ceramic Co Lt also demanded their
rights and the factory management took them off work. They are being
temporarily looked after by the YCO organization. They have asked the Thai
Labour Protection Organization to ensure their rights.

____________________________________
DRUGS

October 14, Associated Press
UN: Opium poppy cultivation drops in Myanmar

Opium poppy cultivation plunged this year in Myanmar, the second biggest
producer of opium after Afghanistan, but the government must continue to
encourage farmers toward alternative crops, the U.N.'s drug agency said
Saturday.

Opium cultivation in Myanmar fell to 21,500 hectares (53,100 acres) in
2006, a 34 percent decline from 2005 and a whopping 83 percent less than
the 130,000 hectares (321,200 acres) of poppies cultivated in 1998,
according to a statement from the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.

"The trend of continuing decrease in the opium poppy cultivation is
positive but it also poses serious challenge," UNODC representative Shariq
Bin Raza said in the statement, calling on the international community to
provide assistance to eradicate opium cultivation in a sustainable way.

Higher opium prices in 2006 increased farmers' incomes by 49 percent,
making them less willing to abandon poppy cultivation, Raza said.

The government and its development partners need to ensure food security
and create alternative means of income for the farmers, he said.

"Failing to do so may lead to a humanitarian disaster and human misery in
Myanmar," he said.
According to the 2006 Golden Triangle Opium survey conducted by the
Myanmar government and the UNODC, opium poppy cultivation in the "Golden
Triangle" the region where Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet has dropped 85
percent since 1998. Myanmar's share of the world's poppy cultivation
dropped from 66 percent in 1998 to only 12 percent in 2006.

_____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

October 16, Xinhua General News Service
Myanmar to raise onshore crude oil production

Myanmar has designed to raise its onshore crude oil production starting
December to help meet the country's oil demand by drilling more test
wells, the local newspaper Myanmar Times reported Monday.

The onshore oil output will be increased to 10,000 barrels from the
current 9,400 barrels per day, the state-run Myanmar Oil and Gas
Enterprise (MOGE) was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

According to the report, Myanmar yields about 20,000 barrels of oil per
day from both onshore and offshore areas, accounting for 40 percent of the
total amount the country consumes. The rest of demand was fulfilled
through import from Singapore and Malaysia.

To cut the cost of oil imports, the government introduced a program in
August 2004 to substitute fuel with gas for transportation purpose,
converting some 9,000 diesel and petrol vehicles to run on compressed
natural gas (CNG).

Myanmar's 19 onshore oil fields include Yenangyaung, Ayadaw, Chauk,
Myanaung, Mann, Ky-aukkhwet/Letpando, Htaukshabin, Kanni and Nyaungdon.

Meanwhile, the Myanmar energy authorities announced in March 2005 that it
would not grant onshore oil exploration by new foreign oil companies but
the MOGE.

In addition to the onshore areas, Myanmar has abundance of natural gas
resources in the offshore areas. With three main large offshore oil and
gas fields and 19 onshore ones, Myanmar has proven recoverable reserve of
18.012 trillion cubic feet (TCF) out of 89.722 TCF's estimated reserve of
offshore and onshore gas, experts said.

The country is also estimated to have 3.2 billion barrels of recoverable
crude oil reserve, official statistics indicate.

The Myanmar figures also show that in the fiscal year 2005-06 (April
2005-March 2006), the country produced 7.962 million barrels of crude oil
and 11.45 billion cubic meters (BCM) of gas. Gas export during the year
went to 9.138 BCM, earning over 1 billion U. S. dollars.

Since 1988, investment in the oil and gas sector has reached 2. 635
billion dollars as of March this year, dominating the country's foreign
investment sectorally.

According to official statistics, there are nine foreign oil companies
engaged in onshore oil and gas exploration and production.

Foreign oil companies engaged in the oil and gas sector mainly include
those from Australia, Britain, Canada, China, Indonesia, India, South
Korea, Malaysia and Thailand.

____________________________________

October 14, Xinhua General News Service
Myanmar foreign investment in 2005-06 registers highest in 18 years

Myanmar absorbed a contracted foreign investment of 6.065 billion U.S.
dollars in the fiscal year of 2005-06, registering the highest annual
foreign investment the country has drawn since 1988, according to the
latest figures released by the Central Statistical Organization (CSO).

The contracted investment in 2005-06, which ended in March, mainly came
from Thailand with 6.03 billion dollars, showed the Monthly Economic
Indicators.

The Thai investment was injected into the power sector which was reported
as the 110-megawatt Ta Sang hydropower project on the Thanlwin River in
southern part of Shan state and is expected to complete in six years.

The Thai investment had sharply raised Myanmar's contracted foreign
investment by about two times from 7.78 billion dollars to 13.84 billion
dollars, according to the compiled figures.

Other investments during 2005-06 were from India with 30.575 million
dollars in oil and gas, from Thailand with 4.4 million dollars also in oil
and gas and from China with 700,000 dollars in mining, totaling over 35
million dollars, the CSO figures indicated.

In Myanmar's foreign direct investment (FDI) mainly coming from member
countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ( ASEAN), oil and
gas accounted for 34 percent, manufacturing 20  percent, real estate 13.7
percent and hotels and tourism 13.3  percent.

Other sectors include mining, livestock and fisheries, transport
communication, industrial estate, construction and agriculture.
Myanmar enacted the FDI Law in late 1988 when it started to adopt a
market-oriented economic policy, and the energy sector, which comprises
oil and gas and hydropower, is seen as standing the main contributor to
the increase in FDI in Myanmar in the future.

_____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

October 14, Associated Press
Myanmar removed from list of money-laundering countries

Myanmar's military government welcomed Saturday a financial watchdog's
decision to remove the country from a list of uncooperative money
laundering nations, saying that suppression efforts have paid off.

The Financial Action Task Force, a Paris based intergovernmental group,
has removed Myanmar from its blacklist of non-cooperative countries whose
systems support money laundering activities.

"We are happy that the FATF recognized the progress we have made," Police
Col. Sit Aye, head of the Home Affairs Ministry's Transnational Crimes
Department, told the Associated Press by telephone. "It took us five to
six years to have Myanmar removed from the blacklist and our efforts had
paid off."

Sit Aye said despite its lack of facilities and skills, Myanmar took all
necessary measures in line with international and FATF compliance
standards to implement the money laundering law.

Citing examples of Myanmar's crackdown, Sit Aye said that the private Asia
Wealth Bank and Myanmar Mayflower Bank accused by the United States of
money laundering and of being linked to drug traffickers were deregistered
in 2005.

The chairman of the private Myanmar Universal Bank was given a life
sentence last year under the money laundering law.

Myanmar's anti-money laundering law, introduced in 2002, gives authorities
wide-ranging powers to investigate and seize assets acquired through
criminal activities such as trafficking in humans, drugs and weapons.

"As we have been removed from the blacklist, Myanmar will be able to
cooperate more closely with international organizations to fight money
laundering," Sit Aye said, adding that Myanmar still needs technical
assistance and training.

A fact-finding delegation from the Financial Action Task Force, an
international cooperative effort to curb money laundering, visited Myanmar
in late September.

____________________________________

October 16, Irrawaddy
Burmese candidate says he is future of WHO - Clive Parker

Dr Nay Htun, Burma’s candidate for the top World Health Organization post,
told The Irrawaddy on Monday that he is the right choice if the world body
is to develop a more complete approach to tackling global health issues.

When the list of 13 candidates was announced last month, eyebrows were
raised at the inclusion of the Burmese diplomat alongside doctors with
years more medical experience. While Nay Htun is considered an expert in
many areas, particularly the environment and conflict resolution, his
résumé does not show the same level of experience in medicine.

“I recognize that medical science and practices are critical to health
outcomes and are core functions of the WHO,” he said on Sunday from New
York, where he is based as a professor at the UN University and an advisor
to the UN secretary-general’s envoy to North Korea.

Nay Htun argues that the WHO has already outlined the path it plans to
take over the next decade in its General Work Program, which calls for a
greater appreciation of non-medical factors that have a direct bearing on
the world’s health—a focus he says he possesses.

“My track record underscores my extensive knowledge of and experience in
determinants of global public health
 particularly environmental, social,
economic and developmental, and the ability to integrate them,” he said.

The public does not seem to agree. A posting on the blog HIV Information
in Myanmar [Burma] says: “[I] cannot see that he has any experience in
health at all. Nay Htun for DG [director-general]? I don’t think so.”

The media has largely ignored Nay Htun, instead focusing on higher-profile
candidates such as Dr Pascoal Manuel Mocumbi, the former prime minister of
Mozambique and sole representative from Africa, and the Mexican Health
Minister Julio Frenck, who appeared on the short list during the last
election for the position three years ago.

However, backed by the foreign ministers of Asean, Burma’s candidate hopes
that WHO’s desire to evolve will make him the obvious choice in a field of
medical specialists that also includes Dr Shigeru Omi of Japan, the
current head of the Western Pacific arm of the world health body, and Dr
Margaret Chan of China, WHO’s top official for pandemic influenza
preparedness.

A WHO statement announcing the list of nominees in September suggested
that clear medical experience would be a priority. The new
director-general “will face a series of pressing tasks, from the threat of
a bird flu pandemic to ongoing battles against HIV/AIDS, malaria and
tuberculosis,” it said.

Indeed, past director-generals have almost always had such expertise. The
late Dr Jong Wook Lee, previous director-general of WHO prior to his death
in May and the man Nay Htun is seeking to replace, had 19 years of
experience at the Geneva-based health body, working on tuberculosis and
immunization.

Nay Htun’s own working relationship with WHO began in the late 1970s when
he worked on a chemical safety program. This was followed by further
projects on sanitation and water with the world health body in the 1990s
and later with the WHO Center of Health Development in Japan. He has also
contributed expertise to regional health and environmental programs backed
by WHO and believes this will give him a good understanding of the
organization’s working methods.

“I am confident I will be able to motivate, lead and manage WHO
efficiently and effectively,” he says.

Whether he will get the chance will be decided on November 9 when the
World Health Assembly votes on who will fill the vacant position.

_____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

October 16, The Ottawa Citizen
We need to help people living under bad regimes - Kate Heartfield

Everyone knows we're not supposed to give money to despots anymore. A new
mantra in foreign aid is focus: Give money only to governments that can
use it well. Ghana should get aid but Zimbabwe should not.

It's a simple and correct idea. There is no way Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe
should get his hands on a penny of my money. But what about the people of
Zimbabwe? They've got nowhere to live and little to eat, and refugees are
turning up on the borders.

This is the dilemma of international development. If some aid goes to
waste in countries with bad governments, taxpayers in donor countries will
be less willing to fund foreign aid at all. But the very countries where
aid is most necessary -- for security and humanitarian reasons -- are also
often the ones with bad governments.

Afghanistan has an elected government now, but it's certainly not an easy
country to help. Canada hasn't officially given up on it's "3D" approach:
defence, diplomacy, development. Nor should it. Schools are the best
weapon against the Taliban in the long term -- if we can keep the Taliban
from killing the teachers.

In its latest report, the Senate security committee calls for foreign aid
to be doubled. It also questions what Canada is doing with its money in
Afghanistan.

That country gets more of Canada's aid than any other, but most of it
doesn't seem to be going into the troublesome Kandahar region (even the
Senate committee has trouble getting detailed answers from the Canadian
International Development Agency.) Most aid is going through Afghanistan's
government, which the committee says "has developed a reputation for some
degree of corruption."

In a section called "New-Think/Old-think/Dumb-think," the committee blasts
CIDA for ignoring its own chanting of another foreign-aid mantra:
decentralization, or avoiding central governments that can't use or won't
use aid well.
The committee concludes that the Canadian military should deliver Canadian
aid to Afghanistan until the country is more stable. There are good
arguments for and against that, but at least it would make Canada's
intentions in Afghanistan clear, and it would probably be more effective.

The problem is worse in countries where Canadian boots aren't on the
ground. But if we ignore the horrors in those countries, we could need to
find boots for a lot more soldiers. Security is linked to aid because war
is linked to repression, and repression is linked to poverty.

The Zimbabwe, Myanmar (Burma), North Korea and Belarus regimes show no
signs of reforming or disappearing anytime soon. Those four countries were
named in a 2005 report of the UN's Millennium Development Project as being
unworthy of direct aid.

Instead, the report recommends helping people "through NGOs that can
ensure delivery of services on the ground. Any aid directed through the
government should be conditional on significant improvements in human
rights and economic policies."

This is easier said than done. Dictators are, by definition, adept at
getting in the way and ignoring the needs of their people. The Global Fund
to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria pulled out of Myanmar last year
because the regime's travel restrictions and other mischief hindered its
work.
Now, Europe and Australia have created a new fund for fighting those
diseases in Myanmar. It happens to be called the 3D Fund (the D in this
case stands for diseases.)

Dr. Chris Beyrer, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University, says it
is "highly likely" this 3D Fund will run into the same problems the Global
Fund did. So, should we do nothing at all? Dr. Beyrer warns in a report
that Myanmar's rampant disease threatens all of Southeast Asia, especially
as the regime can't be trusted to report outbreaks. The Back Pack Health
Worker Team that delivers health care on the Thai-Myanmar border shows the
regime's figures are grotesque underestimates.

Government-to-government assistance should be limited to viable countries
-- CIDA has a list of 25. But there are self-serving and humanitarian
reasons for putting money into awful countries, too. That's much more
difficult. It requires country specific strategies to circumvent the
governments.

In Afghanistan, it means using soldiers to deliver aid. In Myanmar, it
means maintaining Canada's support of the Back Pack Health Worker Team and
other such groups. I don't know what it means in Zimbabwe or Belarus.

It's a hard slog, but short of a global campaign of regime change, it's
the best option we've got.
Kate Heartfield is a member of the Citizen's editorial board.

E-mail kheartfield at thecitizen.canwest.com

____________________________________

October 16, National Post (Canada)
UN pushes Myanmar to revisit democracy - Peter Goodspeed

Threatened with international sanctions after being placed on the UN
Security Council agenda for the first time, Myanmar's military junta has
suddenly decided to reactivate its "road map to democracy."

With as much fanfare as they could muster, the ruling generals reconvened
a 1,000-member assembly to draft a new constitution for Myanmar
(previously known as Burma) last Tuesday.

The drafting process actually started 13 years ago, and the convention,
which has been boycotted by the country's main pro-democracy groups, had
not met for more than eight months.
But as the United Nations prepared to begin monitoring events in Myanmar
monthly, the generals rushed to reopen their constitutional convention --
on the 4,000th day of Aung San Suu Kyi's imprisonment.

Ms. Suu Kyi, the charismatic daughter of Burma's independence hero Aung
San and winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for her struggle to bring
democracy to her country, has been confined to her home without contact
with the outside world for almost 11 of the past 17 years.
She has been imprisoned in her white-washed lakeside villa on the shores
of Yangon's Inya Lake continuously since May, 2003.

Like South African leader Nelson Mandela, Ms. Suu Kyi is widely regarded
as a symbol of heroic and peaceful resistance in the face of oppression.

Her release has long been a demand of the international community and
Burmese pro-democracy demonstrators.

But, in advance of the constitutional convention, the junta tightened
security around her home and imposed new restrictions on her contacts with
outsiders, limiting her to one visit from her doctor every two months.
Before, Ms. Suu Kyi, 61, who has high blood pressure, was allowed to see
her physician once a month.

The only other people she sees are a live-in maid who shares her
imprisonment and her jailers.
As the star prisoner of one of the world's most brutal and repressive
regimes, Ms. Suu Kyi has been the focus of attention for much of the
world's disgust with Myanmar's generals.
But even as the military tried to sidetrack sanctions by toying with the
idea of change and repeatedly raising the possibility of releasing her, it
has also showed it will brook no opposition.
In the past two weeks, at least five other pro-democracy leaders, who
formed the core of a new protest group known as the '88 Generation
Students Group, have been arrested. They had just launched a petition
demanding the re-lease of all political prisoners and calling for dialogue
between the military, the political opposition and ethnic minorities.

But like Ms. Suu Kyi, the group is a constant reminder of the military's
brutal human rights record.
In 1988, Burma was swept by a massive and peaceful "people power" movement
demanding an end to the military dictatorship.

The generals, who had seized power in 1962 and turned Burma into one of
the most repressive and reclusive nations on Earth, reacted by killing
thousands.

Ms. Suu Kyi, who had returned home at the height of the protests, became
head of the opposition and leader of the National League for Democracy.

In early 1989, she was placed under house arrest. But she still managed to
win national elections in 1990 by a land-slide.

The military simply nullified the election and tightened its restrictions
on her.

Over the years, her enduring popularity and courageous defiance have left
a series of generals baffled over what to do next.

They briefly released her in 1995, only to have her rally tens of
thousands to her cause and challenge the restrictions placed on her travel
inside the country.

She was finally rearrested and confined to her home in 2003 after an armed
squad attacked her convoy when she ignored a government order not to
travel to the northern city of Mandalay.
Since then, the generals have turned a deaf ear to calls for reform, while
continuing to peddle drugs, use prisoners as slave labour, fight ethnic
minorities and rapaciously exploit the country's natural resources.

Last month, international condemnation of their human rights record
reached a critical stage as the United States and Britain managed to push
Myanmar on to the Security Council's permanent agenda. While China is
expected to veto any serious action, the UN's constant scrutiny may invite
consumer and corporate boycotts.

International hopes that Myanmar might somehow be influenced to reform by
the 10-member Association of Southeast Nations disappeared during last
month's military coup in neighbouring Thailand.

Now, in a bid to distract international attention, the junta intends to
push for a new constitution by the end of the year.

It will then set about a long and gradual return to civilian rule -- while
continuing to repress the real democracy movement.

But as happened last week, the enforced silence surrounding the villa of
the lady by the lake may once again ruin their plans.

pgoodspeed at nationalpost.com